Call the Midwife - Ruf des Lebens

As I was a student nurse in the East End of London during the mid fifties,(now an ex-pat living in Mexico) this series brings back many memories. I'm glad that some episodes include general nursing and even male patients as well as midwifery. Perhaps doctors were not always as good as the nurses in those days.I even remember an anaesthetist who sat doing his crossword puzzles during operations and no one dared utter a word of reproach.

Now that the East End is suddenly fashionable, even Shoreditch and Brick Lane, what has happened to Wapping where I trained and which used to be so scruffy?

One thing has changed for the better. In those far off days when a woman was admitted with an attempted abortion, euphemistically called "incomplete abortion", the police had to be notified and a policewoman would sit by the bed (drinking tea with the night nurse) until the unfortunate patient (who probably already had half a dozen children at least) was well enough to be arrested.

Whether or not this series' depiction of the East End in the 50's is completely accurate or not seems of little relevance to me. The characters are very likable and the acting, even by the guest actors, is brilliant. However, the main reason I love and wholeheartedly recommend Call the Midwife is because it is so well written, without avoiding the harsh realities of life yet filled with hope and incredible human connection. Miraculously, it manages this without ever becoming cheesy. Every episode leaves me feeling proud to be a human being. I don't think many TV series are able or even try to achieve this and it feels especially important in our times when faith in humanity seems to be in decline.

I have to say I am a bit of a BBC miniseries junkie. So, I am always looking for a new world to jump into. I have to say that "Call the Midwife" is one of the best series I have seen. I am enchanted by the young girls and their commitment to caring for their community. And what makes it even more perfect is that they work alongside nuns and can see the world through their eyes. I watch this show over and over again hoping to be dazzled once again (and I always am). I don't know how accurate it is (I have not studied the time), but I do think it is a fantastic commentary on poverty, the role of women, and social class differences. If this were only a drama I wouldn't watch it again and again. But the humor (CHUMMY!!) and the light hearted moments among the business of birth is perfect! Truly, I would love to drop myself into that time and live simply where my only goal was to help women and love people well. You will thoroughly enjoy this show it sisterhood, faith, love, and courage interest you.

The first three seasons, based on the books by. Jennifer Worth, were among my favorites of all time. It had sentiment but not sentimentality, and dealt with the real problems of people in the East End of London and the women who provided them the service they needed. A lot of the cast changed over the years, but generally kept up the quality, and some characters who were rather stereotypical in the first couple years were allowed to mature, but the show continued to deal with real problems, such as, birth control, the strengths and weaknesses of the National Health service, the effect of certain drugs on pregnancy, etc. The Christmas shows are particularly wonderful. The past couple of years, however, have started to get away from the original idea of dealing with health and societal issues into more of a soap opera. Season 13 was a disappointment, and hope the writers either get back to the issue oriented approach or recognize it is time to wrap it up.

I recently found this series on Netflix and instantly fell in love with it. I have never read the books, so I have nothing else to go by. The characters are fabulous. The actors/actresses are amazing. I think every episode has made me both laugh and cry, and I'm looking forward to more!

Some of the episodes can be hard to watch, especially since I am pregnant, and I think that anyone feeling overly anxious about their pregnancy may want to hold off watching this series, because it really shows the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of pregnancy and child birth.

I found one major goof that had me laughing: In one episode they mention knitting blanket squares, and people are shown knitting them. When assembling the squares to make a blanket what they actually have are crocheted granny squares.