Simone Louise
As Call the Midwife celebrates 10 years on our screens, the series continues to cover topics that are still prevalent in today’s society. If you are not familiar with Call the Midwife, allow me to get you up to speed. Also, have you been living under a rock for these past ten years?
A group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950s deal with the pressures of their day-to-day lives while trying to cope with the changes in the world around them.
It is unflinching in its portrayal of maternal care during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Amidst the romance, frivolity, and feel-good scenes of precious newborns cooing in their mothers’ arms, there are stories that don’t end well. Often a portrayal of life.
As the series has gone on, many characters have also come and gone. And many of them have had groundbreaking storylines, each individual character, main leads, and supporting characters are given a chance to shine. Despite the show being about babies, I certainly can’t envision myself giving birth. Sounds rather horrible yet natural. However, this show still remains timeless 10 years on.
The Writing
One thing you can count on with this series is amazing writing, the show is written by British screenwriter and playwright, Heidi Thomas. There is such care and research into the stories being told and they still manage to tug your heartstrings. As the series is continuing to cover even the hard-hitting stories, the writing never fails to impress. Throughout the show, you go on an emotional roller coaster.
In a Q&A with PBS, Stephen McGann who plays Doctor Turner said of the series’ success “Everyone can recognize themselves in it. It’s about love, life, passion, and family. It’s about the very stuff of life, which everyone understands. It’s not a new world, it’s their world and it’s our world.”
The Issues
One of the reason’s why I love this series is simply because the stories they tell are topical subjects concerning contemporary issues in society, including teen pregnancy, infertility, adoption, the value of community, miscarriages and stillbirths, abortions, unwanted pregnancies, birth defects, poverty, common illnesses, epidemic diseases, prostitution, incest, religion and faith, racism, and female genital mutilation. Each episode explores different aspects of love, such as maternal, paternal, filial, fraternal, sisterly, romantic, or the love of friends.
These are stories of real people who deserve to have their stories told and be given a voice. These stories are told as gently as possible, despite their uncomfortable and sometimes heartbreaking nature. Call the Midwife restores humanity in every story they tell.
It Includes A Variety of Voices
As much as the series focuses on women, Similarly, it gives voice to groups that have historically been marginalized. Among the topics discussed in Call the Midwife are race, immigration, poverty, and homosexuality, all of which are topics bubbling beneath the surface of life in London’s East End – and in other parts of the world – in the 1950s that would receive more attention in the years to come. As the series goes on, new voices are heard with each episode ending with some wise words for the viewers. The show may leave us in floods of tears every Sunday, but it never fails to make us smile.
Dr. Turner and Sister Bernadette’s Forbidden But, Sweet Love Story
Call the Midwife has many great love stories, but Dr. Turner and Sister Bernadette’s love story is the show’s best one. They are also a long-term couple who have gone through their own trials and tribulations. When Dr. Turner had difficulties with his son and him being a single parent, Sister Bernadette was often there to lend a helping hand.
As they battled with their growing feelings for each other and Sister Bernadette’s struggle with finding her true vocation, it wasn’t long till these soulmates got together and went on to marry, raise children, and thriving in their careers by each others side. They happen to be the strongest couple on the show and watching their love story makes you love them more.
via Michaela Conlen on tumblr.
The Characters
In the first few series, we don’t see any diversity which represents the time in which it is set in. As you follow the characters as they go on their individual journeys professionally and personally. As a viewer, you form a connection with these characters and watch their journeys are fulfilling. This show is about women of faith and young women who have chosen work over marriage (and sometimes in addition to marriage) living together. While these two groups appear to come from different worlds, they complement each other by offering different viewpoints. Nonnatus House is a safe place where all the women’s voices are heard and encouraged. The show has featured such a wide variety of characters that every woman can relate to.
The series will be continuing for another few more years, so that should give you time to catch up on this amazing show, Call the Midwife airs on BBC 1 and all the series are available to watch on BBC iPlayer. It paints a complex portrait of women’s roles, emotions, and ambitions as mothers, daughters, sisters, lovers, friends, employees, and everything in between. This show will make you see how far we’ve come in 60 years — and how far we haven’t.
Featured image courtesy of Compare Fibre on Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
