@LucieTheLakie, I thought of “Home Fires” too. In fact, when I saw the preview blurb on my DVR refer to a tragedy in the finale, I thought it might be Dr. Turner.
It’s funny. I just clued in that they weren’t Catholic nuns very recently.
In fairness, @Barbalot, Anglicans being “High Church” are very similar to Catholics, so it’s easy to confuse the two.
Trixie’s engagement to the the parish priest Tom Hereward is another clue that they’re Anglicans and not Catholics.
Speaking of vicars, don’t miss James Norton as the dreamy Sidney Chambers on “Grantchester”!
The last episode of Grantchester was AWESOME! I can’t wait to see how things work out next season. I won’t say more as I don’t want to spoil for anyone who hasn’t included Grantchester on their watch list. James Norton is dreamy, @LucieTheLakie!
I love “Call the Midwife” and thought Sunday’s season finale was outstanding. Sister Evangelina was always one of my favorites… very touching ending.
I just read a brief profile in the NYTimes Sunday Review about Charlotte Ritchie, the singer/actress who plays Barbara. I had no idea she was a well-know singer or that she is Kate Burton’s daughter.
Thanks for sharing the tidbit about Charlotte Ritchie being Kate Burton’s daughter. Now that you mention it, I can see a resemblance despite the difference in hair color. Kate Burton is the Meryl Streep of television, IMO - good at everything she does.
Wow, Kate Burton of Scandal fame? I just looked her up and see Kate is the daughter of Richard Burton and is Welsh-American.
“(I’m assuming that many of them are, indeed, live babies, and not clever special effects or dolls. They sure LOOK like live babies!)”
Last year they said in one of those behind-the-scenes pieces shown after the episode that they use some very life-like newborn dolls for many (most?) of the birth scenes, supplemented with some footage of real, wiggling babies.
As for this season, I knew Sister Evangelina was a goner as soon as she tucked up warm and comfortable by the fire. Otherwise there was no reason to show that scene.
I like the current cast okay but I miss Chummy and Nurse Lee. And I liked Nurse Miller better as a nurse than as a nun.
One thing I continue to struggle with is the constant use of British slang and brand names in the dialogue that have no particular meaning in the US. Example from the recent episode: repeated references to “Horlicks.”
I remember the whole thalidomide disaster when it happened. I was in late elementary school. I recall in the 7th grade reading a Life magazine article about it with many pictures of the horrifying deformities. Dr. Frances Kelsey is still to this day honored at the FDA as an American hero, because she was the young FDA officer who insisted the research into the drug’s safety wasn’t rigorous enough and, despite a lot of pressure put on her, refused to approve thalidomide for use in the US. Thus, thanks to her vigilance, and except for a few mothers who got prescribed the drug while abroad, Americans were spared the horrors of the thalidomide tragedy.
I too remember the magazine and news coverage about Thalidomide. The photo spreads in LIfe or Look were so dramatic and shocking. Even though we were all young girls then, the images still are memorable and haunting all these years later.
I had not heard of Frances Kelsey but a hero for taking a stand.
The New York Times ran a really nice obituary on Dr. Kelsey when she died last year. She was 101!
It is very tough to withstand pressure. There are a ton of pharma reps in DC, from all companies. Also many of the med centers and MDs earn significant sums from pharma.
I just saw the episode wher Chummy’s mother dies. It was so beautifully written and executed, what a treat.
I can’t read through this entire thread yet, because I started binging through CTM late last week and there would be too many spoilers!
I just wanted to say that every once in a while my H would come into the kitchen, where I was watching on my laptop, and it seemed that every time he came in, it was in the middle of a childbirth scene, lol. He’s only ever been at one real one himself. I think he was a bit overcome after the fifth…or tenth… :))
We are watching this now and H has lost interest. He said how many ways are there for a baby to be born? I am enjoying the characters and the wholesome nature of this show, compared to many others. Since my very conservative, religious mother lives with us, this is the perfect show for her.
You guys enticed me. I’ve been binge watching on NetFlixs and have one more episode of season 5 to go. My middle school science teacher was a thalidomide baby, Ms. Shell. She did have useful movement of her ‘little arms’ she had to hold the chalk with two hands and wrote with a whole body motion but she had the most amazing perfect cursive writing I ever saw! I think she might have been adopted from England but I’m not sure, she was a great science teacher.
@3scoutsmom , that’s the best story I’ve ever read, anywhere.Ms Shell, To you!
When I was at school in England we spent Christmas one year in Tunisia. The father of one of the families we met there – Hammamet-- was, IIRC, either a Thalidomide baby, or someone similarly aflicted. He had only vistigial arms. His legs and feet were so adept that he wore a watch on his ankle and was able to eat very neatly using his feet instead of hands/arms. I believe that he worked for an organization that advocated for handicapped children. He had several children himself. An inspirational individual.
Is it going to continue, or is it done?
@Consolation , found this article:
Indicates CTM will have a 6th season including a Christmas special to air Dec 2016 with regular episode most likely airing in Spring 2017.
Thanks for that article, @bearpanther , it not only soothed my fears re CTM but led me to a couple of new series to watch. (Most of them I’d seen.)
Thinking further about the man without arms I mentioned in an earlier post, obviously he could not have been a Thalidomide baby himself because he was probably born in the 20s, like my parents, since he had teen-aged children at the time, like them.
Just saw this posted on Facebook –