Moderator: Krista
THE SPECS:
Who: “Call the Midwife” is a period drama series, originally produced by and airing first on BBC in the United Kingdom, about a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950s and 1960s. It typically airs in the UK on BBC in the winter; the most recent series then airs on PBS in the United States fall Sundays at 8:00 PM.
What: Created by Heidi Thomas and originally based upon the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, who worked with the Community of St. John the Divine, an Anglican religious order at their convent in the East End, the series stars Jessica Raine, Miranda Hart, Helen George, Bryony Hannah, Laura Main, Jenny Agutter, Pam Ferris, Judy Parfitt, Cliff Parisi, Stephen McGann, and Ben Caplan in Series 1 and 2. The show has, in future seasons, extended beyond the memoirs to include new, historically sourced material. For the most part, the show depicts the day-to-day lives of the midwives and those in their local neighborhood of Poplar, with certain historical events of the era having a direct or indirect effect on the characters and storylines.
When: Series 1 aired on PBS in the USA from September 30, 2012, through November 11, 2012, with a total of six episodes. Series 2 aired on PBS with a total of 9 episodes, including the preceding Christmas special (precise air dates unknown).
Where: The action in both series is set in Poplar, East End London, England, United Kingdom in the 1950s, with Series 1 transpiring in early 1957 and Series 2 occurring in 1958.
Why: To find out why individual podcast panelists started watching this show, listen to the podcast episode via the link below!
How – as in How Was It? – According to the Special “Call the Midwife” Ratings Scale:
5 NUNS – You love it!
4 NUNS – You like it.
3 NUNS – It’s okay.
2 NUNS – Meh.
1 NUN – Skip it.
Call the Midwife = 4.8 nuns, by an average of the podcast panel.
SYNOPSIS
The story follows newly qualified midwife Jenny Lee (Raine), as well as the work of midwives and the nuns of Nonnatus House, a nursing convent and part of an Anglican religious order, coping with the medical problems in the deprived Poplar district of London’s desperately poor East End in the 1950s. The nuns and midwives carry out many nursing duties across the community; however, with between 80 and 100 babies being born each month in Poplar alone, the primary work is to help bring safe childbirth to women in the area and to look after their countless newborns.
The first series, set in early 1957, tackles the “Baby Boom,” issues of poverty in the East End, and post-war immigration. The second series, set in 1958, depicts the introduction of gas and air as a form of pain relief, unexploded ordnance, an outbreak of tuberculosis, a baby born with spina bifida, and the condemnation of the Nonnatus House building.
THOUGHTS
Frequent CPU! contributors and panelists often suggest shows for CPU! to cover in our podcast episodes – loyal listeners should have picked up on this particular trend by now. As the podcast has been underway for several years now, many of our resident and seasoned Couch Potatoes and some of our adjacent and freshly peeled Couch Spuds enthusiastically requested to talk about British period drama Call the Midwife. Thus, herein we offer the first episode of CPU!’s Call the Midwife Catching Up Series, in which we recap and discuss Series 1 and 2 and in which our new panel remarks upon the success or lack thereof of the series. The panel convening at the Water Cooler tonight includes Sarah, who is currently our third most involved panelist and part of our moderating team; Gina, who previously Looked Back at Reign; two brand new panelists; the Chief Couch Potato (whose voice you might have heard a time or two); and serving as tonight’s moderator is one of our Associate Potatoes and also one of our moderator team, Krista, who also currently moderates our The Crown panel. Our newly constituted panel of would-be midwives and sisters of the highest order, therefore, gathered “Around the Water Cooler” to take a “First Look” at this period drama about women supporting women throughout the streets and avenues of mid-twentieth century East End London, and in so doing, to ruminate in-depth upon the production values, performances, and other aspects of this program.
Tonight’s episode is the first episode of a five-episode series in which CPU! gets caught up on this show, which premiered on PBS in the United States in 2012. In this chapter, our panel reflects upon and recaps Series 1 and 2 of Call the Midwife, and the reviews are nothing short of generally glowing, with only a few qualms to dissect, which we do thoroughly in tonight’s episode.
This episode was recorded in September 2021, and there are, without question, MAJOR SPOILERS, as the panelists cover key plot points of the first two series of the show. Listen at your own risk, and let us know what you think by commenting below!
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Remember, new episodes and blog posts are published weekly! Next Wednesday, our Supernatural panel triumphantly returns, after a lengthy hellatus, for one of its final two meetings at the CPU! Water Cooler with the first episode of our two-part Goodbye Miniseries, in which we say a long and complicated adieu to the longest-running science-fiction/fantasy/horror show to have ever aired by recapping and reviewing Season 15B – i.e. the second half of the final season – of giant cult favorite (and one of ours now too) Supernatural. Stay tuned!
RECOMMENDATION
Call the Midwife is enthusiastically and unanimously recommended by our latest CPU! panel to fans of period dramas; fans of British television shows; and fans of dramas that explore historical context against the backdrop of character studies, since Call the Midwife is chock full of colorful and endearing characters in which to become invested as the seasons/series and years depicted therein progress. Additionally, this program will probably appeal most to those who enjoy mid-twentieth century motifs, including fashion palettes and hairstyles, as the show is fastidiously accurate with its costumes and makeup, and to mothers, who might find something to which to relate vis-a-vis memories of their own labor experiences. In keeping with other shows produced in the UK and for the BBC, both series are short, with a focus toward quality over quantity, and the ensemble cast is built from natural chemistry evolving from the “who’s who” of new faces and seasoned veterans staffing it from Britain’s rote pool of thespians. Our panelists particularly laud the producers’, writers’, and production staff’s attention to deal with respect to not only the historical backdrops but the art direction and other visual aesthetics that allow the audience to readily suspend disbelief and to immerse themselves in a period and location that feels distant, even as the episodes explore social, political, familial, and gender-related issues that reverberate decades into the future and continue to resonate today, since some of these issues endure, even if in different contexts and forms. Because of the program’s accessibility and relatability to anyone interested in its subject matter, our panel (of women supporting women) highly recommends Call the Midwife and remains only too eager to catch up on the next two series, 3 and 4, which we will discuss in Episode Two of our “Catching Up” on Call the Midwife series in April!
THE FUTURE OF THE SHOW
Call the Midwife was renewed for Series 11, which has begun airing on the BBC in the UK as of January 2, 2022 (following the 2021 Christmas special). A premiere date for PBS airing Series 11 in the USA has not yet been announced; keep a weathered eye to CPU! for any details regarding a premiere date announcement. In the meantime, CPU! will next visit Call the Midwife in Episode 2 of this “Catching Up” Series next month, during which our panel will focus upon Series 3 and 4. Like, follow, and/or subscribe to the website, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Castbox, Amazon Music, or our social media accounts to stay abreast of new episodes regarding Call the Midwife as well as new episodes for all of our podcast panels! And, if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Thank you!
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