For younger viewers this episode has been greatly misunderstood!.
As usual I will avoid spoilers, except to say that being of a certain age, I and others born in the '40's,' 50's and the 1960's WILL know only too well, just how real and desperately sadly true!, this story line / script really is!.
I watched this particular episode with MY Ex- Wife and some kids (now young adults). The general opinion from the kids and their friends was that the episode was far fetched and definitely unlikely to have ever happened in the UK.
My Ex-wife was literally crying throughout most of this episode, our marriage may have ended years ago, but the pain and heartbreak we suffered and shared as, a young married couple has never ended nor completely healed.
I do not wish to describe what happened to us as a family nor do I wish to resurrect dreadful & hugely painful memories.
Suffice to say, for my Wife and I, this episode was not only NOT FAR FETCHED, but instead painful reality!.
This was a time when the man (the Husband) was very often only told about the suffering of his Wife or the loss of his child after the fact!. Many (in fact the majority) of the hospitals completely denied the Father All access to the Mother (Wife) until (as one Nurse described it to me) After Mother Has Done Her Job!!.
The Younger IMDB contributers here, will wonder why I keep using words like Husband and Wife, this is because unmarried couples were unseen and unheard of back then.
IF a young woman found herself pregnant, she had two choices, either get married immediately or pretend to be married, buy a ring and use the Fathers name.
Unmarried Mothers were shunned by their Parents, extended Family members and their siblings and literally blanked and shun from their neighborhoods.
Sounds terrible and unlikely nowadays, but this was the cold hard reality!.
In fact, a Mother relied on the Nurse or Midwife / Doctor in charge in her ward, simply to have access to her own child!.
If the Midwife or Doctor considered a Mother to be overly emotional or suffering baby blues, then the Midwife / Doctor could and DID refuse to allow the Mother to have her child.
In all cases the baby was brought to the Mother's bedside only! And was often given a timescale like 20 or 30 minutes with her baby.
Please foegive me, I have taken up so much time on this subject!.
Back to the episode:
Liz White as the Mother, is genuinely Exceptional in the part!. Believe me when I say her acting is definitely of at least Awards standard!.
Having witnessed first hand this situation, I was bloody impressed by Liz, it was almost as though she had lived through it!, though she is of course far too young. Just Wonderful!!.
Laura Main, an actress also far too young to have heard of, never mind experienced such a situation, was equally impressive.
Her ability to show compassion and empathy for her Patient (Liz White) was something to behold!.
IMHO, both Ladies are great actors and sadly, both are greatly under appreciated!.
If this rather odd world of Acting was a more equal society, then these two wonderful actors would be so much in demand that even sleep would be an issue for both ladies!.
No, I don't refer to inequality among the Sexes, but rather inequality among acting abilities, as we all well know of certain actors who though dreadful, are pulling huge paychecks, while greats such as White and Main go on doing exceptional acting roles with little recognition, SADLY!!
IN general, the acting quality in Call the Midwife is always somewhere between Excellent and Exceptional!. There have been few in the greater or extended cast who one might consider to be any lower than simply Good!.
Such is the quality of actors which Call the Midwife has always been able to obtain!.
To conclude, I have gladly given Call the Midwife 5.1 an easily earned
9 out of 10.
Again apologies for the lengthy statement above.
