Call the Midwife (2012-Present)

I picked up this British period drama a couple years ago on Netflix.  I’d heard good things about it, and after An Adventure in Space and Time, I was definitely pro-Jessica Raine, who played the amazing Verity Lambert there and plays the initial audience-viewpoint character Jenny here.  It started slow for me, but before long, I was all in.

In 1957, Jenny Lee, newly trained as a midwife, arrives in London’s East End to serve the residents of the working-class neighborhood.  She lives at Nonnatus House, an Anglican convent, with her fellow nurses and a number of medically-trained nuns.  Jenny and the other women at Nonnatus enter expectant and new mothers’ homes when they’re at their most vulnerable, guiding them through their struggles, encouraging them through their fears, and sharing with them in both their joy and heartbreak.  The midwives are privy to everything from the most terrifying medical complications to the most intimate secrets, and it’s their job to remain strong and calm throughout, showing compassion rather than condemnation.

Call the Midwife is what I’d call a “Kleenex show.”  SIDS, severe congenital disabilities, spouse abuse, post-partum depression, abject poverty, mid-century racism, criminal negligence, social outcasting – nothing is off the table, and that’s before you take into account some of the past and present trials endured by the midwives themselves.  It’s not always sad, but it’s always touching (moments of pure happiness and resilience in the face of immense struggles can be just as affecting as the tragic parts,) and its ability to “get you right in the feels” just might be unparalleled on television.  Certain episodes of other shows might wreck me more, but this one probably wrecks me the most consistently.

All the main characters are terrific.  Though the series starts with Jenny at its center, it quickly morphs into an ensemble show, and I love basically all of them.  Even midwives that I was unsure about at first – I was initially a little meh on Trixie (blasphemy, I know,) and I wasn’t sure what to make of Nurse Crane – have rapidly grown in my estimation (Trixie rocks, and this past season, Nurse Crane might have become one of my favorites.)  Each of these women is richly multifaceted, with her own strength and fragility, and this is one of the few shows out there that can handle major cast departures (permanent, temporary, or switching from regular to recurring) without taking a hit.  Whenever a new midwife is brought in, she’s soon established as someone who genuinely brings something different to the show, with no sense that she’s the “new” whoever left; she’s always her own person.

Lastly, much love for how the series deals with religion, particularly in light of all the scandalous stuff the midwives see in their work on the East End.  The nuns are never judgmental toward their patients, no matter what they’ve done, and they regularly turn to prayer to help them through difficult times.  Very respectfully done.

Warnings

Medical stuff (including zillions of labors, blood, bodily fluids, festering injuries, and references to enemas,) sexual reference, drinking/smoking, some violence, and strong thematic elements.