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Storyline
Based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth; the story follows twenty-two year old Jenny, who in 1957 leaves her comfortable home to become a midwife in London's East End. She is surprised to find that she will be living in a convent: Nonnatus House. Working alongside fellow nurses and the medically-trained nuns, Jenny has her eyes opened to the harsh living conditions of the slums, but she also discovers the warm hearts and the bravery of the mothers. Even after Jenny leaves Nonnatus, she continues to chronicle the lives of the midwives who have become her family.
Written by
L. Hamre
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Nonnatus House is a pseudonym for The Community of St. John the Divine, an Anglican religious order of nuns founded in London in 1848. The order relocated to Birmingham in 1976, and ceased to practice midwifery in 1990.
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Goofs
When
Vanessa Redgrave (the voice of mature Jenny) appears on screen for the first time, the on-screen caption gives the date as 2005 and her husband Philip (
Ronald Pickup) suggests she write her memoirs. However by 2005, the first two volumes (Call the Midwife and Shadows of the Workhouse) had already been published.
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This is a wonderful television series for women of all ages! Somehow the subject of child-birth, and everything around it, never stops fascinating. Whether you are a young woman with it all in front of you, or past child-bearing age - it is forever interesting! :-) This series really have it all: humour and high drama, sorrow and happiness, love of all kinds, interesting characters, and a touch of religion. It is also educating: you learn a lot about midwifery, medicine, and modern history.
The actors are all great for their parts - I could not find fault with anyone of them! I could relate most easily to Miranda Hart/Chummy, as I am also tall for being a woman - or at least I was considered very tall when I was young. (Nowadays there are quite a few young girls the same height as I.) I can still remember the problems with people staring and having to comment on my height, with many otherwise interesting men being shorter than myself, the feeling of being ungainly, the self-doubts... In fact, I also had dreams of entering a convent from exactly the wrong reasons - just the same as Chummy (to get out of the love-searching once and for all, and not having to think about it anymore).
The reason I am not giving this series 10 stars, though, is that I have read the books, and I think the television producers have changed too much. I can in some cases see that the revised version of an event makes better television - but as the books are supposed to be non-fiction, I think this was still wrong. There can still be real people out there who are alive, and have to watch important memories from their youth or child-hood pictured in the wrong way.