Call the Midwife

This is one of the most beautiful shows I've ever watched. The writing and acting are both superb, and the incredible stories take us on a journey to show us the true meaning LOVE. Do people with this much compassion actually exist? They do, and Call the Midwife reminds us of that.

This show epitomizes acceptance, patience, and perspective. It's the unconditional love and nonjudgemental views of the characters that make your heart swell while you watch.

I'm rewatching and this time with my 13 year old daughter. I recommend the show to all my friends and get excited when they tell me they've started.

It's hard to believe that anyone could be as compassionate and tender as the midwives in Call the Midwife, compassion and tenderness being rare qualities in the increasingly disconnected world of the 21st century. I suspect those qualities are a real incentive for even the casual viewer of this series, which depicts the lives of midwives toiling in the east London of the late 50s- early 1960s. The world of almost 60 years ago was a very different one from today, both from a social and technological standpoint. I'm impressed by the attention to detail in the series, which allows viewers to immerse themselves in the stories, which touch upon issues such as abortion and incest, as well as the then real threats of polio and tuberculosis. More recent stories have even addressed the thalidomide tragedy. The acting is, without exception, top notch, especially that of Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan. I tend to be especially critical of shows that rely on lachrymose sentimentality to further the story. Call the Midwife is at times tender, sweet tempered and, well, nice, but never false as it displays the panorama of the human condition.

I would have scored 10 for this series, except for the fact that it doesn't truly follow the accounts written in the book from which it is taken.

Some of the diversions from the book are to allow the characters other than Jenny Lee to have stronger story lines, which I can accept to an extent. But some of the story lines have been expanded for dramatic effect, so they are not relying upon the original author's memoirs, but rather the imagination of the scriptwriters, which I think is somewhat regrettable.

Having said that I am finding the series entirely watchable, and enjoyable. All the cast seem to be good, but I must say I am most impressed with Miranda Hart as Chummy, what a brick she is.

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.

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.