Is "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" just not doing it for you anymore? Craving a television show with a little substance? I suggest "Call the Midwife," an outstanding show that has been airing on BBC and PBS since 2012. Despite the shows multiple seasons and gradual rise to fame, many Americans still have not heard of it.
The show is based off the Call The Midwife book trilogy written by Jennifer Worth. It details the private and professional life of Jenny Lee, a 1950s midwife who works with the poor residents of Poplar, East London. Nurse Lee lives with the Nuns of St. Nonnatus and a few other on-call midwives. The Nonnatus Nuns run a midwifery service right in the heart of their very own convent, Nonnatus House.
"Call the Midwife" mainly focuses on the four young midwives who live at Nonnatus: Jenny Lee, Trixie, Cynthia, and Chummy. Nurse Lee is willing to take risks to protect her patients but prefers to stay on the sidelines when it comes to love. The spitfire "natural" blonde of the group, Trixie often throws parties with her fellow midwives after the nuns are asleep that involve alcohol and loud records. Cynthia is the quiet one with a good heart. Chummy, who is new to midwifery, is clumsy and easy to love. The girls' distinctly different personalities mesh together nicely.
Where do the nuns fit in, you may ask? Besides organizing weekly clinics in town and being midwives themselves, the nuns frequently show up as a voice of reason or bring comic relief. Watch to find out more about the nun-sense these lovely ladies have to deal with on a daily basis.
Overall this series deserves a solid 7/10 stars. -1 star for lackluster acting skills, as some of the cast members struggle to perform well in more serious episodes. Stand out actresses from the series include Pam Ferris as Sister Evangelina (who played Ms. Trunchbull in Matilda) and Helen George as Trixie Franklin.
Another star was subtracted as a result of repetitive storylines. There is a featured pregnant mother in every episode and sometimes the backstory of the soon-to-be mother gets redundant. This is more noticeable, however, if you binge-watch the entire series in a short period of time...like I did.
The special effects and makeup team do an exceptional job of accurately portraying pregnancy and the birthing process, but sometimes it is overdone. The final star was deducted due to birthing scenes that contain copious amounts of blood. Just like the occupation of midwifery, this show is not for the faint of heart.
Although the knowledge accumulated by watching this show may not be of particular use to non-nursing majors or non-health professionals, it is always nice to walk away from a television show feeling like you've learned something. If you LOVE drama, romance, history, religion, crime, babies and/or medicine, I highly suggest you watch this series. Seasons 1-5 of "Call the Midwife" can be found on Netflix and Season 6 airs April 2nd on your local PBS station at 8/7c.
