Sunday evenings have been prety damn good TV evenings recently. With Sherlock and Downtown (which I still haven't seen!) loads of people have been talking about what they're watching at the end of the weekend. For me though the last couple of weeks have been a particular highlight as BBC has been showing Call the Midwife
Jennifer Worth was a midwife in the east end of London in the 1950s and I understand that she worthed with the BBC production team on the TV adaptation before her death last year. I have to admit that I've not read her memoirs but I am completely gripped by the TV programme. The role of the midwife is really well portrayed and the level of detail shown really makes you understand just how difficult their job was and also how hard things were for the mothers of the east end.
The cast are fantastic, with notable household names like Pam Ferris and Jenny Agutter as two of the Sisters, but for me a special mention has to go to Miranda Hart who plays newly qualified midwife Chummy. Whilst we're used to seeing Miranda and her very physical brand of humour in her sitcom of the same name, this programme allows her to show off the rest of her acting talent with some very moving scenes beautifully done.
If you've not discovered this wonderful programme yet then the good news is that the first two episodes are still available on the BBC iPlayer and there are also still four more episodes to look forward to.
Watching this too! Really makes me appreciate advances in standard of living and medicine… Imagine having 24 kids… It’s a real history lesson and I’m pleased they don’t make it as awful as it could be – still a feel good show for someone about to give birth.
I loved the book so was very worried that the TV series would be a let down and I’ve been so pleased to be shown to be wrong. Shout if you want to borrow it
I was also not sure about Miranda Hart but she was brilliant – a pleasant surprise again!
They have signed for a new series as well.
Oh wow – that really is good news. Hope they manage to keep the quality as high and retain the original cast too.
Very tempted to borrow and read the book. Might need to make a decent dent in my to be read pile first though…