This is like a cup of Horlicks, a pair of fluffy slippers and a cuddle all knitted into one lovely bit of Sunday night telly. This is not One Born Every Minute (there seems to be a distinct lack of clueless men in baggy jogging bottoms who can’t string a sentence together) but a nostalgic and crafted look at the lives of a group of midwives in London’s East End during the 1950s, based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth. Main character Jenny, a newly qualified midwife, could be straight from the pages of a 1950s perfect woman magazine. Demure, reserved and a little naïve, it’s soon clear that she’ll be more likely to be delivering babies from the Bianca Jackson’s of the world rather than a posh yummy mummy in Chelsea. It’s great watching how she has to quickly adapt to dealing with all sorts of women, warts and all (quite literally.)
In episode two, new character Chummy arrives (a shortened version of her very posh name which is long and hyphenated more than 3 times.) On her arrival she tells the Sister ‘I answer to Chummy. My Pa used to say long dogs need short names.’ Chummy (played excellently by Miranda Hart) is gangly and a bit self conscious, and confesses (much to the horror of her fellow baby deliverers) that she cannot ride a bike (a bike was THE way to get to a pregnant lady in this day it seems.) Although, it does appear she can ride a horse (and I bet it’s a fine philly too.) Most of the episode for her was trying to learn to ride a bike, it was all very awkward, but she got there in the end despite the odd narly crash (good old Chummy hurrah!) We also saw her a little out of her depths as she was faced with a breach delivery for the first time (a slightly scary thought considering she had previously only excelled at the London College of Needlework.) The moment she delivered the breach baby (or ‘arse first’ as she so eloquently described it to the poor woman in labour) was both moving and dramatic, and we all said yay for Chummy for doing such a spiffing job. I’m quite glad that Miranda Hart doesn’t do her comedy piece to camera like she does for her show Miranda, that could be quite disconcerting mid labour. No-one likes a comedy midwife mid-contraction.
Other notables in this Sunday evening treat are the characters Fred, Sister Evangelina and Sister Monica Joan (no, it’s not Sister Act 3 Back in the Habit Again, but they all live together in a convent called Nonnatus House.) Fred is the jovial big hearted handyman (well, every convent needs one) who pops in every now and then with some witty comment (which he thinks is witty, a bit like your Dad used to think he was laugh out loud in front of your friends.) He’s played by the guy who used to be Minty in Eastenders, so in actual fact he’s really just being Minty a few decades earlier and with a whispery bit of facial hair which perches on his top lip like a milk moustache. Likeable all the same though. Sister Evangelina is the very stern matriarchal knowledgeable one, played by Pam Ferris (she of the Ma Larkin fame – who I always picture eating a fry up in the bath with Pa Larkin. All very greasy. All very wrong.) She’s good, though she reminds me of the one person who you sit next to each day who moans about everything. Finally, Sister Monica Joan who is a sweet old dear, but who is as mad as a bag of squirrels. She seems to eat all the convent’s cakes much to the annoyance of the others who desperately try and hide them in unusual places so she can’t find them, but she is smarter than that. A cake thief in a habit. Brilliant.
Call the Midwife is a good chunk of cosy TV with lots of atmosphere to boot, and I’m especially enjoying watching a prime time show based around female characters for once. Girl power and all that.
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