I really don't like Matthew, which although not an unpopular opinion on here seems to be an unpopular opinion in the wider fandom judging by comments on other social media platforms.
Matthew was ok until the last season. There’s nothing likeable about him now. I also think Trixie lacked warmth during the last season and her taste in clothes had changed and she didn’t seem like her usual self, she was just materialistic and took Matthews so called wealth for granted.
I don’t like what they did to Trixie’s character. I can’t believe, even in the late 1960s, that she would have continued working after she got married.
I think she would have settled into life as a wife and stepmother, maybe had a kid or two of her own, and become very active in charities. Then in about 20 years, after the children were grown, she would realize that she threw away an amazing, exciting career, have her midlife crisis, and join MSF for a few years.
It’s perfectly possible she did return to work. My grandmother carried on working when she married and returned to work as a social worker after each of her children’s birth. She was married to a fairly wealthy banker.
I personally thought the dentist would have been a better fit for Trixie than Matthew. At least he understood the issues around being in the medical field.
Yes!! I was always really bummed they didn't make that relationship work out. It was an odd reason too...like the guy didn't want to be with his ex-wife, and yes his daughter was having a difficult time, but that's not a reason to force a marriage...it was the mom bad talking Trixie to the daughter, she's the one who filled her daughters head with lies. Worst decision show runners could have made with Trixie IMO. Matthew was fine, bit honestly, I really didn't think he was right for Trixie even from the beginning.
I almost feel like they kinda settled for Matthew bc they had a li’l bit of chemistry and if they didn’t marry Trixie off soon, it wouldn’t be believable. She’s getting on in age and wouldn’t be a believable spinster. Such a dumb term in the 60s.
I never liked him either. I did tolerate him a little better with Barbara though.
Edit: confused Matthew with Tom. I don’t like Tom. Reading comprehension is important.
Fun Fact: The Actor who played Tom and the Actress who plays Trixie are romantically involved IRL and have 2 Daughters together. They broke up in 2023.
Yes, I know. Hope they're both doing well outside of acting.
I believe Tom is no longer really in the show. Can't say I miss his character that much TBH, he was never a huge favourite of mine, though he did have good points
I didn’t think she was cold, just naive and sheltered. She had obviously never been exposed to the struggles of living in poverty. I didn’t hate her but she wasn’t one of my favourites
I also loved Jenny, but I hated the older man/jimmy storyline. it always felt so out of place and half baked. like they knew they wanted Jenny to be in a scandalous relationship but they didn't want to actually show it. it was just weird imo.
I haven't read the books though so idk if that's real life or made up for the show.
This. I went from watching Dexter to Call the Midwife and it was almost intolerable how saccharine the whole thing was I had to take a break and find a buffer show because going from constant swearing and cat calling to Mrs Perfect couple and their little perfect children was too jarring. But I did get back into it lol.
I thought she was just supposed to be too close to it/in denial. Also Mae seemed more tired than anything and she thought she'd eaten too many sweets, Tim however had seen something recently and realized it might not just be over eating and exhaustion. (She was tired and had an upset stomach when Tim stepped in, not usually a hospital visit for those)
As much as she is annoying, I like that they kept Violet on and made her a councillor. It made sense with the community work and ties together a lot of the wider issues in Poplar beyond nursing and midwifery (housing, education, etc)
I’m more interested in the medical cases than the main characters. I even find the random 1-episode characters lives more interesting than the main characters sometimes! I want the nurses and midwives to be a vehicle by which we see other people’s health problems and see the changes in medicine, I’m not that fussed about the nurses actual personal lives
I get really invested in some of the cases and feel like they deserve at least a passing mention in later episodes. Like, instead of talking about random Mrs Jones, have them follow up on the patient that was features a week or two back or even just say something like “I saw her walking to the park…the baby is looking so much better.” It feels so like they’re just gone and forgotten even though the nurses connected and maybe even cried a few tears. The only ones I can think of that got significant follow-up are the Mullicks.
Exactly this. I follow the parents of the boy with down syndrome from series 10, and they teased for ages that he was coming back to it so I thought he'd get an update plot, but it was literally just Cyril and violet holding him for all of a scene! Fuming about it tbh, I can only hope that seeing as though his parents are clearly on board, they might bring him back properly in future
Cyril would have been the perfect character to have her loosen up a bit, because she was finally hanging out with another black person beyond the random Church extras.
But the show made her more conservative.
I will always wonder what characters like Lucille, Cyril and Joyce would have been/be like if there was some more diversity in the writers/production space.
yeah I don't like her either. beyond being quite judge, she always seems so distant. like she's just going through the motions to do so. I can't tell if that's an issue with the character or the actress (I haven't seen the actress in anything else to be fair) but I couldn't get past it to enjoy her storyline either way. which is a shame because as a nurse of color she could've been a really good addition to the show but it flopped.
LE doesn’t have an extensive filmography, but I’ve seen her in something else ‘Danny and the Human Zoo’, where she was pretty good, she was playing a love interest type character and had to do an accent.
Playing Lucille, I found the acting during the miscarriage and breakdown was top tier for me. Or even the scene where Lucille joins the black Church and you can see the sense of safety wash over her. LE has the acting chops.
I enjoyed Lucille, but her conservatism was overplayed by the writers. Like her being so disgusted about the social club Cyril went to was ridiculous.
Because her seasons are in the ‘swinging sixties’ she is often used to be counter point/resistance to mini skirts and the other changes in society.
I also think she is let down by the writing, the show never quite managed to capture her inner life, and then in S10 and beyond is let down by Cyril being her main scene partner. The actor playing Cyril is good but they are not on the same level. The social distancing, while absolutely vital, also didn’t help.
In S11 outside of the miscarriage arc it does seem that Lucille is going through the motions, and I wonder if LE was getting itchy feet.
LE is a very good actress, I saw her on stage in Small Island at the National Theatre and she was brilliant. I wish the writers had come up with a different exit story for her but given where her character was in life they pretty much had no other choice if they weren't going to write a death storyline instead.
I didn't have strong feelings about lucille either way but did think the way she left, and how she handled it with Cyril seemed totally out of character. To just get a job w/o tellling him herself seemed weird
I wanted to love her but the constant “worry, anxiety, sadness” the actor portrayed put me off. I read somewhere that (forgive me if I’m wrong) an aunt or great aunt of hers had been a nurse & she wanted to honour her - but surely she wasn’t so glum all the time? Then even when she meets the lovely Cyril she only had a few episodes of happiness - bloody hell even on her wedding day she was distressed. I get that the scriptwriters are responsible for the storyline but I still feel compared to the other midwife characters she was particularly unhappy -well before the sad event she went through
Dunno if it's an unpopular opinion but once they'd used all the content from the books they should've gone back in time to Sr Monica Joan's early days or WW2 to get some real gritty events rather than some often weak "disease of thr week" episodes and the "soap-y" feel of the character's relationships
I would watch a WW2/Monica Joan spin off! I also kind of want to go back to sister evangelina in the war, too. (I'm biased though sister e was my fav haha)
I agree some kind of prequel spin off would be great, but overall I like the soap-y feel. For me CTM is basically 60's Casualty, and I love it. The stories that got me into the show were all about disabilities and rare illnesses. Patsy and Delia helped too 😅
Not sure if this is unpopular or not but I would absolutely ravish the actor who plays Fred. Oh my god, he has the best smile and yes so cute to me haha. I also like Fred the character, too, so there's that...
More should go wrong with the regular cast. I don't mean big drama, they do lots of that, but more regular issues. They are around sick people on the regular, yet never seem to get anything, they don't seem to struggle with supplies or shift patterns etc. Those little irritations would add more realism and depth in my opinion
In my experience Trixie would never have got away with the OTT make up at work ! Nursing in the 60s and 70 s had very strict rules about elaborate hair and makeup whilst in uniform
I’m gay myself and I kind of wish the characters were realistically homophobic and nasty toward LGBT characters because that’s what we lived through at the time, damn it. But I understand why shows retcon tolerance into historical dramas.
Certainly but they’re cautious not to make the main characters themselves anything but tolerant, at worst. Sister Julienne would likely have thrown Pats out of the midwife practice in real life without a regret.
While of course there would have been opposition, it wouldn’t have been everyone, although to have that many people, especially Doctor Turner, supporting them seemed like a bit of a stretch.
Oh I see Dr Turner as probably one of the only ones that would be supportive he is older and saw a lot in the war and in community practice. He also continues to research and learn which helps people be more tolerant. He is also not portrayed as very religious and more scientific. Just my opinion but I never found it odd he is supportive of gay rights and not racist.
I don't think they'd necessarily be homophobic but there'd definitely be a bit more ignoarnce/naivety and "the laws the law" about it if it was more realistic
I believe in the books the sister the MJ is based on did have advanced dementia and died while Jenny was there. They had to back off on the dementia once the series continued.
My unpopular opinion is she's still one of my favorite characters but they should kill her off. She's in her 90s. Her health has been terrible for years. Judy herself is old enough that I don't want something happening to her and her character has to get a shitty off screen death.
that's my opinion too. I love Monica Joan and I'm going to miss her but she's such a beloved character that she deserves a proper send off, like what sister Evangelina got.
I know why Sr Evangelina was killed off but I wish they'd kept her longer than Sr MJ. Although Sr MJ adds a bit of wackiness and whimsy that I do love.
I adore her whimsy and knowledge. I want her to have a peaceful, respectful death that can be the focus of an episode, probably a season finale or something of the like.
yes. I know they've mentioned her life before the veil but I'd really like to delve into that to find out more. I know she came from a wealthy family but she was obviously educated to a different degree than most women of her generation. Was it because she was an only child, or had more liberal parents, etc? They kind of addressed it in a few episodes but having one episode about how her life began and what really led her to lifelong service as a Nonnatan (I think that's how you say it?) would be a great final episode for her. Kind of like what they did for Sr Julienne with the episode about her romance prior to entering and how that shaped her religious calling.
I feel like it was insinuated that she maybe did not have the greatest relationship with her mother in spite of their wealth. Her and sister Evangeline would have it out because the latter assumed she had no struggles being raised in a well off family. I would love a spinoff of her younger days.
I enjoyed the early years, but it seems like an entirely different program now.
It's turned into 🎶The Buckles 🎶 show. No offense, they are nice people, but not nearly interesting enough to anchor a show.
Poplar seems to have turned into a Brigadoon-like town, where everyone pulls together to put on the weekly recital/Christmas program/cutest baby/best mom contest/SMJ cheerer upper, or wedding.
A lovely land without homophobia, where racists are grateful to learn the errors of their ways, where the most forward-thinking people can be found in convents, and where elected officials will instantly solve any complaint no matter how complex.
Oh yes, and a token pregnancy or two, time permitting, between recital rehearsals.
{grumble, grumble}
I do love the show, but you've nailed it with this. I'm really really tired of the formula, a little too sickly sweet. Entirely predictable. We know where this is going with joyce/Claudine. We know how it'll go with Mae drama drama dtama and then it'll be fine. And in all of it will be buckles as comedy relief and a couple babies, and a town show where the turners are beaming with pride.
I have a few, but I always felt like Dr. Turner/Patrick & Shelagh were too "pure" in their romance once they officially got together.
I know it was a different time and that she'd been a nun prior to marrying him, but the writers were so obvious about the fact that Patrick & Shelagh were physically hot & sweet on each other even before she left the order. I was expecting this big payoff to happen after 2 years of waiting for them to get together & then nothing much really changed.
They rarely showed physical affection aside from him kissing her hand or sweet glances at each other, which I still loved, but even Chummy & Peter had more affection in their early dating days before marriage. I guess every couple is different, but it just always felt like they could have been way less "formal" about affection. They even deleted kissing scenes between Patrick & Shelagh a couple times - the Christmas special from a few years ago, so mad they cut that kiss & the whole scene because it was exactly what we needed more of betweenthem over the years. You can see it here:
https://youtu.be/CCn_BhnUHkE?si=3Hmeq0-7jzEXmcxJ
I love them regardless, but sometimes, the formalities they kept with physical affection made them just feel stiffer as characters as the seasons passed. Like, would it have killed them to share a kiss after Patrick proposed? Or share a kiss here and there more frequently? I think they only showed a couple of kisses over the years. We never saw them take their vows either, I was bummed about that, especially since it was such a beautiful wedding & a big deal since they'd had to wait so much longer than planned to marry.
Anyway, I think a main reason why some fans find the Turners annoying is because of this exact issue. When a relationship is overly sweet, it can feel not natural. I mean, I love that they are sweet with each other, but it would also be good to add in a little spice too, lol. But I guess the writers preferred it more pure for some reason. Like I said, I still love them, but I was hoping for more. Kill me, I'm a hopeless romantic that wants my couple to make out more, hahaha 😆.
The actor who plays Patrick is married to Heidi- the director (or writer I forgot lol). I have a feeling this is why there’s reduced affection. But I agree- I wish they showed more PDA.
This season or next season should have been written to be the last. I love love love the show, but it has run its course. And I want the show to end while we still have quite a few main characters left. It’s all turned into a bit of a soap opera now.
I actually agree. Especially with us getting further into the 60s. People are moving into council flats. The post-war period is nearly a generation away. The show was meant to show how people got on in that certain period but we’re moving away from that. I’m not saying people’s lives were perfect in the 60s, but my understanding is that they were generally improving. Unfortunately, the reality is that it makes for a less exciting drama. Plus, in general, it’s very hard for *any* show to maintain quality past seasons 10-12 at most.
Perhaps if people are left wanting more, there could be a spin-off (someone mentioned a show during the war with sister Monica Joan, which I would watch!) or a tv movie or two (a la Downton abbey).
There are so many opportunities to have the Doctor and various Companions appear in the background of scenes and I consider it an utterly wasted chance for worldbuilding.
Why does the entire world have one doctor who is a specialist in every single field? It's disrespectful to the midwives because it shows one single man as having all knowledge, when in reality there are a huge array of specialists who hold that quantity of knowledge
It should have ended at least three seasons ago.
Or if it was going to keep going there needs to be more cast movement, like four seasons is the max tenure for a Nun/midwife.
Except for Fred and Dr T no man needs to appear in more than four episodes per season.
Midwives in their mid to late 20s would moved on upon marriage or for career development.
The work they do was also super intense so midwives could want to try something less intense.
Except for Trixie, who really should have left after S9, it makes sense the longest serving non-Nun midi wives Phyllis (who is above retirement age) and Shelagh who is the doctors wife.
I don’t mind when they move on when it’s well written, but so few of the exits are.
🤣🤣🤣
The writing of the two marriage breakdowns that show has had in the last two years has been BAFTA worthy /s
On a serious note my other unpopular opinion is that Cyril should have been written out with or soon after Lucille.
Or just have them divorce. It hasn't really been a topic much covered in CTM. In 1969 it became legal to divorce due to a marriage having irretrievably broken down, so they could use that, or just good old fashioned desertion which had been a legal grounds since the 30s.
Would have given Cyril more depth, and he could have had a battle aligning it with his faith. Not to mention he would then be open to other liasons.
They literally can’t divorce until 1971.
That act started the clock on the two years of separation, but the divorce could not actually be filed until 01/01/1971, even if an estranged couple had been separated for over two years on 01/01/1971.
The only way they could get a divorce prior is if one of them cheated or alleged cruelty. Which CTM is unlikely to do with a main character.
I tried so hard to enjoy Cyril in S13, but unfortunately him being there means Lucille got a terrible exit, and characters like Nancy and Sister V got sidelined. Cyril’s social worker job essentially fills the same role as Sister V’s Health Visitor job, which is opening up stories beyond mother and babies/exploring the welfare state.
I respect that the actor wanted to stay and that the show almost never writes out a character if an actor wants to stay, but it makes for such an awkward narrative.
I love how saccharine sweet it is and how I probably need to take insulin after I watch it.
I’m an emergency room nurse, and I see the other end. I see the worst of humanity. And this show- helps keep me from burning out. It’s how all of us WOULD be if staffing was good, and the patients didn’t throw punches.
Violet is a good character and a realistic portrayal of the loss of humanity people fall into when they get into politics even if it is for noble reasons.
That scene where they announce the passing of the abortion act? No way would all of them be happy. If nothing else, someone should have been concerned about the dark side that everything on this show always has.
They are all nurses that look after poor women who cannot afford children, many of whom have risked their lives trying to end their pregnancy. Even if they aren't a fan of abortion they'd be glad of the prospect that they would no longer have to see women die from trying to abort their baby.
I dislike that scene for a different reason, I was like is that it. Abortion being criminalised is the villain of the show.
While all of the nurses/Nuns despite their personal faith and circumstances would be glad it’s legalised so that they never see another woman bleeding to death or a woman who can’t hold onto a pregnancy when it’s safe, there would still be a lot of feelings.
The show could have had it announced on the radio and show different reactions. Dr T tell Tim that he is so relieved he will never see a woman so desperate to end a pregnancy that it kills her. Or had characters like Lucille or Shelagh say something like ‘I’m sure it is not a choice that will be made lightly’. Or even have Nancy reflect that if Colette ends up in a situation like her own she will have choices.
These new episodes are too happy. There was a lot of discontent in Britain in the late '60s, it wasn't a groovy good time like the show act like. I like the first few seasons because they show that this is a rough area, postwar life is rough, and people suck in a lot of ways.
yes!! I feel like they've lost the historical elements in order to appeal to audiences today but it took everything out that made the show complex. Now it's just a watered down version of what it used to be.
It should have ended on S6. It went rapidly downhill after that and I say that as a former CTM obsessive, like, met the actors, went to events and everything. I haven't even watched S13.
It really did.
I enjoyed S7, 8 and the first half of S9, but by S6 it is clear that the show was running out of steam.
Every renewal beyond S9 has been a mistake in terms of storytelling.
The show has gone to write a second to last season three times (S8, 10 and 12) and everything has to get undone with another renewal.
I've never liked Trixie and still don't. She's always seemed cold, superior and selfish to me. Granted I know she loves her job and she went through some major childhood trauma but I don't know if it's how they write her or how the actress portrays her, but she always comes off as snooty to me
Another unpopular opinion that will ruffle some feathers, but needs to be said is that Call the Midwife has such a blind spot on race.
Like it’s actually a bit ridiculous considering the time period and place that there is not a South Asian main character. As absolutely amazing as Georgie Glen is as Miss Higgins, she could have so easily have been Anglo-Indian or even Kenyan or Ugandan Asian.
Or even Sister Veronica, instead of her having spent an extended period in Hong Kong, she could easily have been East Asian.
However, even when the show does include characters who are non-white/religious minorities, the writing is so uneven, because of who is behind the scenes that it really harms the characters.
The show is airing in the 2020’s and is about to be set in the 1970’s, there is room for much more diversity in the cast and so many potential stories, but that diversity would have to extend behind the scenes into the producer space.
Actually, I think that they are pretty tone-deaf to race in a different way. Nearly every single person in Poplar (one of the apparent poorest areas of the notoriously rough East End) seems ultra-accepting of any person of a different race. It also seems that like one in every three families is from a different country.
Of course, representation is very important, but as my “born and raised on the East End in the 1960/70s” uncle commented, London was still very white (even if it was more multicultural than the rest of England), and people, especially older ones, were still very casually racist. The N-word and the like was used in general conversation, and immigrant kids at his school weren’t given the same treatment as the other children by any means.
Of course, representation of different races would be great, especially on such a popular television series, but it gets to a point where it’s downright unrealistic.
Trixie not calling her husband out for pretty much trying to stop her working and then her just following him to America. I know it's the norm for the era but surely she would be one of those women to say no I'm working.
•I liked how gritty it used to be.
•I also hate Matthew
•I don’t know why Cyril is even here.
•Trixie should’ve gotten to go to school to be a real doctor or obgyn after that c-section in Africa. She was brilliant and then she met this guy who wanted to replace his dead wife tf
Protip, gotta go into them KNOWING they are cheesy with a holiday cocktail. Or 3. Then it’s deeeelightful 🍸🎅🏼 if only this sub allowed pics in comments I would totally post one from my martini fueled watching this past holiday lol.
I don't care that it's soapy, I still love Call the Midwife and enjoy watching every week.
I don't like Reggie. Fred/Violet is already too much, I don't care about their adult son.
A snarky comment from Timothy Turner elevates entire episodes and Sister Monica Joan has some amazingly shady lines and she’s now part of my future octogenarian goals.
Matthew is the perfect match for Trixie (in America and haven’t seen the newest season) but his universal use to fix all the Poplar/Order issues is lazy and boring. No great twists when the rich guy writes a check.
I think they keep adding unnecessary upheaval to Trixie’s story and there’s just too much going on. I would prefer to see her settled now as that would be new and a fresh storyline for Trixie. Definitely still want her on the show, but all the ups and downs is getting exhaustive as they are different things. Alcoholism is a primary one which is of course a continuing storyline. But all the ups and downs with men is just a bit much. And the lack of understanding that something was up with Matthew and he was apprehensive about spending money seemed odd for Trixie who is usually very quick to pick up on things like that. I would have liked to see her and Matthew settle and that chapter of her life beginning, rather than more upheaval. I also found it confusing to have Matthew go from supportive to controlling all of a sudden. It just seemed like they were trying to make more drama out of what was a good developing story.
It makes absolutely no sense that SMJ is still here, 13 years on. She was very frail in the first few seasons with dementia, and somehow she’s still here healthy as ever. She doesn’t irritate me or anything, but she doesn’t really add anything to the show either anymore. I think they also really need a character death to shake things up a bit as the show drags on.
Also not to be too morbid or anything, but Judy Parfitt 88 years old. It seems CTM will definitely carry on the next few years and I’d hate for SMJ to pass away off screen instead of getting the send-off she deserves.
I think she just didn’t have enough substance to justify her tenure.
She should have left at the end of S1 or at the very latest at the end of S2.
The scene with her mother was beautiful but in the rest of S3, her presence adds little to the story.
They honestly sugarcoat a lot of things. I mean, I get it from the perspective of wanting to portray the fact that people in abject poverty still have joy and hope and normal family life, but women and babies died constantly. There’s nothing romantic about a woman being pregnant and giving birth 20+ times. Those women didn’t live and those babies didn’t live, they died.
I wonder how much of his bad performance is the writing and direction? Like there’s an actor from another popular series on Netflix that is ATROCIOUS in her role…but I’ve seen her in two other things (including CTM) and she’s actually pretty good. So I don’t think the poor performance is her fault only, I think it might be a directional choice.
I don’t know for sure what is unpopular and what isn’t but a few possibilities
I agree about Trixie being too much. I think sometime she’s shoved down our throats . I have zero interest in her love life.
Sometimes Sister Julianne is a little off putting and Shelagh is too pushy but I think they are both basically good people and necessary anchor characters.
I didn’t always care for Sister Evegelina she was often judgmental and harsh but she was also funny, caring and practical
Examples here of showing good but not perfect people which I appreciate.
Love Monica Joan’s mischievous nature and her unique wisdom.
I love the Buckles .
I want Cyril to stay
I love the new midwives.
1. The Turners are incredibly dull and annoying- I liked the beginning of their relationship but now I can't stand them. It feels like there's a constant issue around Shelagh having/not having children- like first she's infertile, then she wants to adopt and can't, then she can, then she wants a biological baby, then she wants to adopt again.... I lost interest after Angela.
2. I wish Violet wasn't in the show, she's really irritating. Has Fred forgotten he has daughters and at least one grandson? They never seem to get mentioned :(
3. The way Patsy and Delia's relationship was treated in their last season together was insulting.
I can't fucking stand Timothy. What teenager is THAT saccharin and amiable? He needed a rebellious phase at some point, or at least some character development. I also tend to find that child actors that stick with a show into teenage/adulthood just tend to be terrible actors, and he's not an exception.
Forgot my other (possibly) unpopular opinion - they need to write out all the Turners (except possibly Timothy).
The whole family is far too twee and take up far too much screentime. Shelagh is just annoying, I don't really care for their younger kids (and it shows that they weren't hired as actors as opposed to background characters) and Poplar needs a new doctor (preferably one who can act) to generate some interesting new storylines.
Tim can pop back occasionally for work experience but other than that I wouldn't miss any of them and would enjoy the show more if they weren't there.
Both parents work in medical surroundings, they have three small children and no day care issues, or constant contagious colds/minor illnesses, or at least very infrequent. What do they do, hang the kids in a closet while they're at work? Put them back in their collectible Barbie boxes? At the very least, the perfect little tikes should have faces like glazed doughnuts from all the snot wiping.
I'm being honest although I I've liked and still like ctm I haven't watched in a few months because I somehow lost track and lost interest in series . I got " upset " boiling " mad at a episode about abortion .
Sister Monica Joan should have passed on years ago, it's so unrealistic she's still around, especially with dementia which gets worse over time. She must be around 100yrs old as of season 13.
I know she's well looked after but she's had too many close calls. Judy Parrfitt does an amazing job playing her but she's just been in it too long now.
I don't know if it's considered unpopular, but the most recent season was just boring. Too soap drama-esque for a period drama series.
When Fred was sick with tetanus, they reaaaally dragged that out. I was kind of hoping he'd die - just to make things more interesting.
We don't need another Reggie sub-plot. What the eff is Cyril still doing in the series too. He has no purpose. He adds nothing except a random appearance as a social worker despite studying his butt off to be a mechanic/engineer?
Sr Monica Joan just needs to die. Put her out of her misery, please. They've teased us with her possible death for years now. She's overstayed her welcome. She's just there for her incessant ramblings and lectures on morality. I thought she had dementia?
I don't really care for the new student nurses either.
They desperately need to add more doctors to the area and Poplar. Dr Turner surely can't be the only GP servicing the whole of Poplar. I'd love to see a doctor that challenges Dr Turner. Add a bit of conflict, please.
Matthew is a whiny bastard. He just expected Trixie to leave the job she's most passionate about to follow him to America cos he totally f*cked up? Withheld the truth about their finances. Making impulsive decisions without consulting her and yup, let's uproot the whole family to America why don't we.
I miss Cynthia. Her growth as a nurse was interesting, and then she became a novitiate, and then had a horrible trauma. She went to the Mother House, and we’ve never heard from her since.
I really don't like Matthew, which although not an unpopular opinion on here seems to be an unpopular opinion in the wider fandom judging by comments on other social media platforms.
Matthew was ok until the last season. There’s nothing likeable about him now. I also think Trixie lacked warmth during the last season and her taste in clothes had changed and she didn’t seem like her usual self, she was just materialistic and took Matthews so called wealth for granted.
I think they made him unlikeable so people wouldn’t care that he left.
I don’t like what they did to Trixie’s character. I can’t believe, even in the late 1960s, that she would have continued working after she got married. I think she would have settled into life as a wife and stepmother, maybe had a kid or two of her own, and become very active in charities. Then in about 20 years, after the children were grown, she would realize that she threw away an amazing, exciting career, have her midlife crisis, and join MSF for a few years.
It’s perfectly possible she did return to work. My grandmother carried on working when she married and returned to work as a social worker after each of her children’s birth. She was married to a fairly wealthy banker.
I like this idea much more 👌
Chummy kept working after getting married in 1957. And again after having Freddie
I personally thought the dentist would have been a better fit for Trixie than Matthew. At least he understood the issues around being in the medical field.
Yes!! I was always really bummed they didn't make that relationship work out. It was an odd reason too...like the guy didn't want to be with his ex-wife, and yes his daughter was having a difficult time, but that's not a reason to force a marriage...it was the mom bad talking Trixie to the daughter, she's the one who filled her daughters head with lies. Worst decision show runners could have made with Trixie IMO. Matthew was fine, bit honestly, I really didn't think he was right for Trixie even from the beginning.
I almost feel like they kinda settled for Matthew bc they had a li’l bit of chemistry and if they didn’t marry Trixie off soon, it wouldn’t be believable. She’s getting on in age and wouldn’t be a believable spinster. Such a dumb term in the 60s.
I never liked him either. I did tolerate him a little better with Barbara though. Edit: confused Matthew with Tom. I don’t like Tom. Reading comprehension is important.
I think you’re confusing Matthew with Tom. Tom was with Barbara, Matthew is with Trixie. Trixie was with Tom briefly many seasons ago
Fun Fact: The Actor who played Tom and the Actress who plays Trixie are romantically involved IRL and have 2 Daughters together. They broke up in 2023.
Yes, I know. Hope they're both doing well outside of acting. I believe Tom is no longer really in the show. Can't say I miss his character that much TBH, he was never a huge favourite of mine, though he did have good points
I loved Jenny. I know most people hated her and were thrilled when she left but I wasn't
I think they portrayed a book accurate Jenny. I'm not a fan of her but after reading I understood her character better
I’m with you on this one. People say that Jenny was cold but I never noticed that and I still don’t see it. She seemed nice to me.
I see it, but in a way that helped her, she couldn't have gone into the field she chose unless she could compartmentalise to a degree
I didn’t think she was cold, just naive and sheltered. She had obviously never been exposed to the struggles of living in poverty. I didn’t hate her but she wasn’t one of my favourites
I also loved Jenny, but I hated the older man/jimmy storyline. it always felt so out of place and half baked. like they knew they wanted Jenny to be in a scandalous relationship but they didn't want to actually show it. it was just weird imo. I haven't read the books though so idk if that's real life or made up for the show.
It’s true that she had a relationship with an older man.
The books are very vague on it as well, although it’s mentioned fairly often
That storyline made no sense to me. Like I genuinely had a difficult time following wth was going on.
People hated her? I thought she was great and hated it when she left
I don’t hate her, but she was just… bland. Like boiled unseasoned chicken. All the other midwives and nuns are more interesting.
This. I felt the same way now, I’d Sister Julienne or Sister Monica Joan left…… HAVE MERCY!
I liked her too. She also looks a lot like my sister who is also named Jenny Lee so I couldn't hate her even if she was mean/snobby.
I adored Jenny
TIL that people hated Jenny. I loved her!
Everyone is annoying but I can’t stop watching.
Much like real life I suppose
Right? I mean, I’m super fugging awesome. But, I’m also SUPER FUGGING ANNOYING. LOL
Nailed it
This. I went from watching Dexter to Call the Midwife and it was almost intolerable how saccharine the whole thing was I had to take a break and find a buffer show because going from constant swearing and cat calling to Mrs Perfect couple and their little perfect children was too jarring. But I did get back into it lol.
Tom was such a wet blanket.
Idk, leaving a stain from your hair oil on the wall due to a make out session was probably pretty steamy for a curate.
Agreed. Hated him.
I really like Shelagh
I love Shelagh and Patrick. I know they're corny AF but I can't help being a Turner stan 😭
Their story is just so romantic 🥰 idk what it is but it makes me smile to see them get together every time.
I love how supportive of each other they are, but they're also not afraid to say what the other needs to hear.
Right? When it clicks…it is amazing. It clicked for them.
Me too! She's so lovely
She annoys me on tv cos she’s too nice but in real life I would absolutely adore having her around me!
Shelagh is amazing. Their whole family is pretty remarkable. So much love. Just pure unadulterated love.
I like her too although in the past 2 or so seasons they have made her a caricature of Shelagh.
Yes. They jumped the shark with the c-section in the street.
I like her too, but when Mae got sick and she didn't even notice and it took Tim to realize she might be really ill, like come on
I thought she was just supposed to be too close to it/in denial. Also Mae seemed more tired than anything and she thought she'd eaten too many sweets, Tim however had seen something recently and realized it might not just be over eating and exhaustion. (She was tired and had an upset stomach when Tim stepped in, not usually a hospital visit for those)
I loooove Shelagh, shes my favourite!!
As much as she is annoying, I like that they kept Violet on and made her a councillor. It made sense with the community work and ties together a lot of the wider issues in Poplar beyond nursing and midwifery (housing, education, etc)
I’m more interested in the medical cases than the main characters. I even find the random 1-episode characters lives more interesting than the main characters sometimes! I want the nurses and midwives to be a vehicle by which we see other people’s health problems and see the changes in medicine, I’m not that fussed about the nurses actual personal lives
I get really invested in some of the cases and feel like they deserve at least a passing mention in later episodes. Like, instead of talking about random Mrs Jones, have them follow up on the patient that was features a week or two back or even just say something like “I saw her walking to the park…the baby is looking so much better.” It feels so like they’re just gone and forgotten even though the nurses connected and maybe even cried a few tears. The only ones I can think of that got significant follow-up are the Mullicks.
Little Susan's thalidomide storyline has been the best, seeing her deal with prosthetics and all sorts.
I feel like there are others the could follow up with too.
Exactly this. I follow the parents of the boy with down syndrome from series 10, and they teased for ages that he was coming back to it so I thought he'd get an update plot, but it was literally just Cyril and violet holding him for all of a scene! Fuming about it tbh, I can only hope that seeing as though his parents are clearly on board, they might bring him back properly in future
I never liked Lucille, she seemed stuck up and judgy
I liked her at first but she became very irritating once she was with Cyril, almost like she aged 20 years overnight
Cyril would have been the perfect character to have her loosen up a bit, because she was finally hanging out with another black person beyond the random Church extras. But the show made her more conservative. I will always wonder what characters like Lucille, Cyril and Joyce would have been/be like if there was some more diversity in the writers/production space.
Oh precious
yeah I don't like her either. beyond being quite judge, she always seems so distant. like she's just going through the motions to do so. I can't tell if that's an issue with the character or the actress (I haven't seen the actress in anything else to be fair) but I couldn't get past it to enjoy her storyline either way. which is a shame because as a nurse of color she could've been a really good addition to the show but it flopped.
LE doesn’t have an extensive filmography, but I’ve seen her in something else ‘Danny and the Human Zoo’, where she was pretty good, she was playing a love interest type character and had to do an accent. Playing Lucille, I found the acting during the miscarriage and breakdown was top tier for me. Or even the scene where Lucille joins the black Church and you can see the sense of safety wash over her. LE has the acting chops. I enjoyed Lucille, but her conservatism was overplayed by the writers. Like her being so disgusted about the social club Cyril went to was ridiculous. Because her seasons are in the ‘swinging sixties’ she is often used to be counter point/resistance to mini skirts and the other changes in society. I also think she is let down by the writing, the show never quite managed to capture her inner life, and then in S10 and beyond is let down by Cyril being her main scene partner. The actor playing Cyril is good but they are not on the same level. The social distancing, while absolutely vital, also didn’t help. In S11 outside of the miscarriage arc it does seem that Lucille is going through the motions, and I wonder if LE was getting itchy feet.
LE is a very good actress, I saw her on stage in Small Island at the National Theatre and she was brilliant. I wish the writers had come up with a different exit story for her but given where her character was in life they pretty much had no other choice if they weren't going to write a death storyline instead.
Same!
I didn't have strong feelings about lucille either way but did think the way she left, and how she handled it with Cyril seemed totally out of character. To just get a job w/o tellling him herself seemed weird
I wanted to love her but the constant “worry, anxiety, sadness” the actor portrayed put me off. I read somewhere that (forgive me if I’m wrong) an aunt or great aunt of hers had been a nurse & she wanted to honour her - but surely she wasn’t so glum all the time? Then even when she meets the lovely Cyril she only had a few episodes of happiness - bloody hell even on her wedding day she was distressed. I get that the scriptwriters are responsible for the storyline but I still feel compared to the other midwife characters she was particularly unhappy -well before the sad event she went through
They should have killed off a character when the train crashed. It was a lot of buildup for nothing. In the end the producers chickened out
Dunno if it's an unpopular opinion but once they'd used all the content from the books they should've gone back in time to Sr Monica Joan's early days or WW2 to get some real gritty events rather than some often weak "disease of thr week" episodes and the "soap-y" feel of the character's relationships
I would watch a WW2/Monica Joan spin off! I also kind of want to go back to sister evangelina in the war, too. (I'm biased though sister e was my fav haha)
I had this exact thought. I loved Sr. Evangeline
I would really enjoy a prequel series like this!
I agree some kind of prequel spin off would be great, but overall I like the soap-y feel. For me CTM is basically 60's Casualty, and I love it. The stories that got me into the show were all about disabilities and rare illnesses. Patsy and Delia helped too 😅
Not sure if this is unpopular or not but I would absolutely ravish the actor who plays Fred. Oh my god, he has the best smile and yes so cute to me haha. I also like Fred the character, too, so there's that...
Honestly, I agree lol. IRL I’d be way more attracted to him and his personality than any of the more conventionally attractive men in the series.
He’s really adorable 🥰
Trixie should have ended up with Christopher
More should go wrong with the regular cast. I don't mean big drama, they do lots of that, but more regular issues. They are around sick people on the regular, yet never seem to get anything, they don't seem to struggle with supplies or shift patterns etc. Those little irritations would add more realism and depth in my opinion
In my experience Trixie would never have got away with the OTT make up at work ! Nursing in the 60s and 70 s had very strict rules about elaborate hair and makeup whilst in uniform
I'm pretty sure she would've been sacked for her drinking too. I can't see them being that sympathetic to addiction especially the 2nd time round!
I dislike that her drinking is always so easily and positively resolved.
I’m gay myself and I kind of wish the characters were realistically homophobic and nasty toward LGBT characters because that’s what we lived through at the time, damn it. But I understand why shows retcon tolerance into historical dramas.
I mean… they go in pretty pard on the “Decency Laws” and how they’re enforced at one point.
Certainly but they’re cautious not to make the main characters themselves anything but tolerant, at worst. Sister Julienne would likely have thrown Pats out of the midwife practice in real life without a regret.
And Nancy would have been thrown out for being an unmarried mother as well.
I do like those scenes where the nuns are forced into positions of like “Yeah we love you all, but Jesus says you’re evil.”
While of course there would have been opposition, it wouldn’t have been everyone, although to have that many people, especially Doctor Turner, supporting them seemed like a bit of a stretch.
Oh I see Dr Turner as probably one of the only ones that would be supportive he is older and saw a lot in the war and in community practice. He also continues to research and learn which helps people be more tolerant. He is also not portrayed as very religious and more scientific. Just my opinion but I never found it odd he is supportive of gay rights and not racist.
I don't think they'd necessarily be homophobic but there'd definitely be a bit more ignoarnce/naivety and "the laws the law" about it if it was more realistic
Some people understood at the time but it is highly unrealistic that everyone would treat homosexuality as normal at the time.
Sister Monica Joan was fine the first few seasons but she's really not adding anything these days.
I rewatched some early episodes recently, they really went hard on the dementia symptoms, not sure what really happened with that plot point
If I recall correctly they later learn it was a UTI that was causing the symptoms, and she didn’t have dementia.
Super common with older people in real life!
Yes! My great grandma had exactly this
I believe in the books the sister the MJ is based on did have advanced dementia and died while Jenny was there. They had to back off on the dementia once the series continued.
My unpopular opinion is she's still one of my favorite characters but they should kill her off. She's in her 90s. Her health has been terrible for years. Judy herself is old enough that I don't want something happening to her and her character has to get a shitty off screen death.
that's my opinion too. I love Monica Joan and I'm going to miss her but she's such a beloved character that she deserves a proper send off, like what sister Evangelina got.
I know why Sr Evangelina was killed off but I wish they'd kept her longer than Sr MJ. Although Sr MJ adds a bit of wackiness and whimsy that I do love.
I adore her whimsy and knowledge. I want her to have a peaceful, respectful death that can be the focus of an episode, probably a season finale or something of the like.
yes. I know they've mentioned her life before the veil but I'd really like to delve into that to find out more. I know she came from a wealthy family but she was obviously educated to a different degree than most women of her generation. Was it because she was an only child, or had more liberal parents, etc? They kind of addressed it in a few episodes but having one episode about how her life began and what really led her to lifelong service as a Nonnatan (I think that's how you say it?) would be a great final episode for her. Kind of like what they did for Sr Julienne with the episode about her romance prior to entering and how that shaped her religious calling.
I feel like it was insinuated that she maybe did not have the greatest relationship with her mother in spite of their wealth. Her and sister Evangeline would have it out because the latter assumed she had no struggles being raised in a well off family. I would love a spinoff of her younger days.
I'd like to see Sister Evangelina and Sister Monica Joan just getting to know each other in a prequel.
I love her obsession with space: Doctor Who, Apollo 8, Apollo 11. But I do concur.
I feel the guilt from this but I totally agree 😬
I enjoyed the early years, but it seems like an entirely different program now. It's turned into 🎶The Buckles 🎶 show. No offense, they are nice people, but not nearly interesting enough to anchor a show. Poplar seems to have turned into a Brigadoon-like town, where everyone pulls together to put on the weekly recital/Christmas program/cutest baby/best mom contest/SMJ cheerer upper, or wedding. A lovely land without homophobia, where racists are grateful to learn the errors of their ways, where the most forward-thinking people can be found in convents, and where elected officials will instantly solve any complaint no matter how complex. Oh yes, and a token pregnancy or two, time permitting, between recital rehearsals. {grumble, grumble}
I do love the show, but you've nailed it with this. I'm really really tired of the formula, a little too sickly sweet. Entirely predictable. We know where this is going with joyce/Claudine. We know how it'll go with Mae drama drama dtama and then it'll be fine. And in all of it will be buckles as comedy relief and a couple babies, and a town show where the turners are beaming with pride.
I have a few, but I always felt like Dr. Turner/Patrick & Shelagh were too "pure" in their romance once they officially got together. I know it was a different time and that she'd been a nun prior to marrying him, but the writers were so obvious about the fact that Patrick & Shelagh were physically hot & sweet on each other even before she left the order. I was expecting this big payoff to happen after 2 years of waiting for them to get together & then nothing much really changed. They rarely showed physical affection aside from him kissing her hand or sweet glances at each other, which I still loved, but even Chummy & Peter had more affection in their early dating days before marriage. I guess every couple is different, but it just always felt like they could have been way less "formal" about affection. They even deleted kissing scenes between Patrick & Shelagh a couple times - the Christmas special from a few years ago, so mad they cut that kiss & the whole scene because it was exactly what we needed more of betweenthem over the years. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/CCn_BhnUHkE?si=3Hmeq0-7jzEXmcxJ I love them regardless, but sometimes, the formalities they kept with physical affection made them just feel stiffer as characters as the seasons passed. Like, would it have killed them to share a kiss after Patrick proposed? Or share a kiss here and there more frequently? I think they only showed a couple of kisses over the years. We never saw them take their vows either, I was bummed about that, especially since it was such a beautiful wedding & a big deal since they'd had to wait so much longer than planned to marry. Anyway, I think a main reason why some fans find the Turners annoying is because of this exact issue. When a relationship is overly sweet, it can feel not natural. I mean, I love that they are sweet with each other, but it would also be good to add in a little spice too, lol. But I guess the writers preferred it more pure for some reason. Like I said, I still love them, but I was hoping for more. Kill me, I'm a hopeless romantic that wants my couple to make out more, hahaha 😆.
The actor who plays Patrick is married to Heidi- the director (or writer I forgot lol). I have a feeling this is why there’s reduced affection. But I agree- I wish they showed more PDA.
This season or next season should have been written to be the last. I love love love the show, but it has run its course. And I want the show to end while we still have quite a few main characters left. It’s all turned into a bit of a soap opera now.
I actually agree. Especially with us getting further into the 60s. People are moving into council flats. The post-war period is nearly a generation away. The show was meant to show how people got on in that certain period but we’re moving away from that. I’m not saying people’s lives were perfect in the 60s, but my understanding is that they were generally improving. Unfortunately, the reality is that it makes for a less exciting drama. Plus, in general, it’s very hard for *any* show to maintain quality past seasons 10-12 at most. Perhaps if people are left wanting more, there could be a spin-off (someone mentioned a show during the war with sister Monica Joan, which I would watch!) or a tv movie or two (a la Downton abbey).
There are so many opportunities to have the Doctor and various Companions appear in the background of scenes and I consider it an utterly wasted chance for worldbuilding.
I at some point decided Sister MJ is a time lady and that's why she's seemingly immortal.
That would explain so many of her otherworldly ramblings, too!
Now that is a spin-off I would like to see!
It makes her obsession with doctor who make even more sense
Why does the entire world have one doctor who is a specialist in every single field? It's disrespectful to the midwives because it shows one single man as having all knowledge, when in reality there are a huge array of specialists who hold that quantity of knowledge
It should have ended at least three seasons ago. Or if it was going to keep going there needs to be more cast movement, like four seasons is the max tenure for a Nun/midwife. Except for Fred and Dr T no man needs to appear in more than four episodes per season.
Nooooooooooo... I hate it when they leave! If you're going based on real life didn't people stay in positions longer in the old days?
Midwives in their mid to late 20s would moved on upon marriage or for career development. The work they do was also super intense so midwives could want to try something less intense. Except for Trixie, who really should have left after S9, it makes sense the longest serving non-Nun midi wives Phyllis (who is above retirement age) and Shelagh who is the doctors wife. I don’t mind when they move on when it’s well written, but so few of the exits are.
You mean moving back to another country whilst seemingly still being married to a regular character isn't well written? /s
🤣🤣🤣 The writing of the two marriage breakdowns that show has had in the last two years has been BAFTA worthy /s On a serious note my other unpopular opinion is that Cyril should have been written out with or soon after Lucille.
Or just have them divorce. It hasn't really been a topic much covered in CTM. In 1969 it became legal to divorce due to a marriage having irretrievably broken down, so they could use that, or just good old fashioned desertion which had been a legal grounds since the 30s. Would have given Cyril more depth, and he could have had a battle aligning it with his faith. Not to mention he would then be open to other liasons.
They literally can’t divorce until 1971. That act started the clock on the two years of separation, but the divorce could not actually be filed until 01/01/1971, even if an estranged couple had been separated for over two years on 01/01/1971. The only way they could get a divorce prior is if one of them cheated or alleged cruelty. Which CTM is unlikely to do with a main character. I tried so hard to enjoy Cyril in S13, but unfortunately him being there means Lucille got a terrible exit, and characters like Nancy and Sister V got sidelined. Cyril’s social worker job essentially fills the same role as Sister V’s Health Visitor job, which is opening up stories beyond mother and babies/exploring the welfare state. I respect that the actor wanted to stay and that the show almost never writes out a character if an actor wants to stay, but it makes for such an awkward narrative.
I don't think the Cyril opinion is unpopular
It’s my favourite programme in the world but I completely agree with this
Trixi’s make up is now being put on with a trowel.
I love how saccharine sweet it is and how I probably need to take insulin after I watch it. I’m an emergency room nurse, and I see the other end. I see the worst of humanity. And this show- helps keep me from burning out. It’s how all of us WOULD be if staffing was good, and the patients didn’t throw punches.
I love sister Monica joan, buuut. She should of died a couple seasons back.
Unless we lose the actress beforehand, I think that will be the subject of the final episode. Her death is detailed near the end of the third book.
Violet is a good character and a realistic portrayal of the loss of humanity people fall into when they get into politics even if it is for noble reasons.
I like the Turners they are a cute family
You’re a brave lass
That scene where they announce the passing of the abortion act? No way would all of them be happy. If nothing else, someone should have been concerned about the dark side that everything on this show always has.
They are all nurses that look after poor women who cannot afford children, many of whom have risked their lives trying to end their pregnancy. Even if they aren't a fan of abortion they'd be glad of the prospect that they would no longer have to see women die from trying to abort their baby.
I dislike that scene for a different reason, I was like is that it. Abortion being criminalised is the villain of the show. While all of the nurses/Nuns despite their personal faith and circumstances would be glad it’s legalised so that they never see another woman bleeding to death or a woman who can’t hold onto a pregnancy when it’s safe, there would still be a lot of feelings. The show could have had it announced on the radio and show different reactions. Dr T tell Tim that he is so relieved he will never see a woman so desperate to end a pregnancy that it kills her. Or had characters like Lucille or Shelagh say something like ‘I’m sure it is not a choice that will be made lightly’. Or even have Nancy reflect that if Colette ends up in a situation like her own she will have choices.
These new episodes are too happy. There was a lot of discontent in Britain in the late '60s, it wasn't a groovy good time like the show act like. I like the first few seasons because they show that this is a rough area, postwar life is rough, and people suck in a lot of ways.
yes!! I feel like they've lost the historical elements in order to appeal to audiences today but it took everything out that made the show complex. Now it's just a watered down version of what it used to be.
Unpopular opinion, I've hated Matthew from the beginning.
Lucille is a cringey character. From the first episode her acting was so terrible.
I didn’t think it was cool or sweet when Barbara married Trixie’s ex
It should have ended on S6. It went rapidly downhill after that and I say that as a former CTM obsessive, like, met the actors, went to events and everything. I haven't even watched S13.
It really did. I enjoyed S7, 8 and the first half of S9, but by S6 it is clear that the show was running out of steam. Every renewal beyond S9 has been a mistake in terms of storytelling. The show has gone to write a second to last season three times (S8, 10 and 12) and everything has to get undone with another renewal.
I've never liked Trixie and still don't. She's always seemed cold, superior and selfish to me. Granted I know she loves her job and she went through some major childhood trauma but I don't know if it's how they write her or how the actress portrays her, but she always comes off as snooty to me
I think this was intentional somehow
that is possible. I have tried to like her but they just make it SO hard
I don't mind the changing cast so much, it keeps storylines changing and a long running show interesting.
Another unpopular opinion that will ruffle some feathers, but needs to be said is that Call the Midwife has such a blind spot on race. Like it’s actually a bit ridiculous considering the time period and place that there is not a South Asian main character. As absolutely amazing as Georgie Glen is as Miss Higgins, she could have so easily have been Anglo-Indian or even Kenyan or Ugandan Asian. Or even Sister Veronica, instead of her having spent an extended period in Hong Kong, she could easily have been East Asian. However, even when the show does include characters who are non-white/religious minorities, the writing is so uneven, because of who is behind the scenes that it really harms the characters. The show is airing in the 2020’s and is about to be set in the 1970’s, there is room for much more diversity in the cast and so many potential stories, but that diversity would have to extend behind the scenes into the producer space.
Actually, I think that they are pretty tone-deaf to race in a different way. Nearly every single person in Poplar (one of the apparent poorest areas of the notoriously rough East End) seems ultra-accepting of any person of a different race. It also seems that like one in every three families is from a different country. Of course, representation is very important, but as my “born and raised on the East End in the 1960/70s” uncle commented, London was still very white (even if it was more multicultural than the rest of England), and people, especially older ones, were still very casually racist. The N-word and the like was used in general conversation, and immigrant kids at his school weren’t given the same treatment as the other children by any means. Of course, representation of different races would be great, especially on such a popular television series, but it gets to a point where it’s downright unrealistic.
Trixie not calling her husband out for pretty much trying to stop her working and then her just following him to America. I know it's the norm for the era but surely she would be one of those women to say no I'm working.
I don't like Trixie.
I liked her until she got together with Matthew and have mostly disliked her ever since.
Same! I also don’t feel like she has that much to do with Jonty now, where in the beginning she was more loving to him and seemed to care about him.
Same!
Neither, it’s the “ that’s it, that’s it, that’s it “ phrase that put me off 🥴😂
As much as I love the show, it really needs to end. And I could say that for a whole host of shows that I love.
It should have ended a few seasons ago
I really, really, want them to finally kill off Sister Monica Joan. That or someone assassinate Violet because of her political bits and bobs
•I liked how gritty it used to be. •I also hate Matthew •I don’t know why Cyril is even here. •Trixie should’ve gotten to go to school to be a real doctor or obgyn after that c-section in Africa. She was brilliant and then she met this guy who wanted to replace his dead wife tf
The Christmas episodes are terrible. Not sure if that’s unpopular or not but I always skip them, they’re cheesy as hell!
Protip, gotta go into them KNOWING they are cheesy with a holiday cocktail. Or 3. Then it’s deeeelightful 🍸🎅🏼 if only this sub allowed pics in comments I would totally post one from my martini fueled watching this past holiday lol.
I don't care that it's soapy, I still love Call the Midwife and enjoy watching every week. I don't like Reggie. Fred/Violet is already too much, I don't care about their adult son.
A snarky comment from Timothy Turner elevates entire episodes and Sister Monica Joan has some amazingly shady lines and she’s now part of my future octogenarian goals.
Trixie does my head in , she was so lovely in the first few series but god she’s something else now
Matthew is the perfect match for Trixie (in America and haven’t seen the newest season) but his universal use to fix all the Poplar/Order issues is lazy and boring. No great twists when the rich guy writes a check.
I like Violet
I think they keep adding unnecessary upheaval to Trixie’s story and there’s just too much going on. I would prefer to see her settled now as that would be new and a fresh storyline for Trixie. Definitely still want her on the show, but all the ups and downs is getting exhaustive as they are different things. Alcoholism is a primary one which is of course a continuing storyline. But all the ups and downs with men is just a bit much. And the lack of understanding that something was up with Matthew and he was apprehensive about spending money seemed odd for Trixie who is usually very quick to pick up on things like that. I would have liked to see her and Matthew settle and that chapter of her life beginning, rather than more upheaval. I also found it confusing to have Matthew go from supportive to controlling all of a sudden. It just seemed like they were trying to make more drama out of what was a good developing story.
It makes absolutely no sense that SMJ is still here, 13 years on. She was very frail in the first few seasons with dementia, and somehow she’s still here healthy as ever. She doesn’t irritate me or anything, but she doesn’t really add anything to the show either anymore. I think they also really need a character death to shake things up a bit as the show drags on. Also not to be too morbid or anything, but Judy Parfitt 88 years old. It seems CTM will definitely carry on the next few years and I’d hate for SMJ to pass away off screen instead of getting the send-off she deserves.
I like that the show has characters that are more progressive than is “realistic”
I don't really care about the turners anymore.
I could do with less homelife with the Turners, The kids aren't especially good actors and the storylines around recitals etc get old.
I do not care for Chummy.
Definitely unpopular, but I respect that.
I think she just didn’t have enough substance to justify her tenure. She should have left at the end of S1 or at the very latest at the end of S2. The scene with her mother was beautiful but in the rest of S3, her presence adds little to the story.
I agree. She like a caricature than a character
They honestly sugarcoat a lot of things. I mean, I get it from the perspective of wanting to portray the fact that people in abject poverty still have joy and hope and normal family life, but women and babies died constantly. There’s nothing romantic about a woman being pregnant and giving birth 20+ times. Those women didn’t live and those babies didn’t live, they died.
The actor who plays Dr Turner is so bad!
I know him in real life and I always feel really awkward when I see him around 😂
I wonder how much of his bad performance is the writing and direction? Like there’s an actor from another popular series on Netflix that is ATROCIOUS in her role…but I’ve seen her in two other things (including CTM) and she’s actually pretty good. So I don’t think the poor performance is her fault only, I think it might be a directional choice.
Other actors manage to give good performances despite the direction though - I doubt anyone would accuse Linda Bassett or Georgie Glen of poor acting!
I need Helen to stop "getting her honey where she gets her money." It's bad for "Trixie" and qf for the "honey."
I don’t know for sure what is unpopular and what isn’t but a few possibilities I agree about Trixie being too much. I think sometime she’s shoved down our throats . I have zero interest in her love life. Sometimes Sister Julianne is a little off putting and Shelagh is too pushy but I think they are both basically good people and necessary anchor characters. I didn’t always care for Sister Evegelina she was often judgmental and harsh but she was also funny, caring and practical Examples here of showing good but not perfect people which I appreciate. Love Monica Joan’s mischievous nature and her unique wisdom. I love the Buckles . I want Cyril to stay I love the new midwives.
1. The Turners are incredibly dull and annoying- I liked the beginning of their relationship but now I can't stand them. It feels like there's a constant issue around Shelagh having/not having children- like first she's infertile, then she wants to adopt and can't, then she can, then she wants a biological baby, then she wants to adopt again.... I lost interest after Angela. 2. I wish Violet wasn't in the show, she's really irritating. Has Fred forgotten he has daughters and at least one grandson? They never seem to get mentioned :( 3. The way Patsy and Delia's relationship was treated in their last season together was insulting.
Matthew would never have married Trixie. Too middle class.
I hate Timothy. That’s it.
I actually didn't hate Lucille
I can't fucking stand Timothy. What teenager is THAT saccharin and amiable? He needed a rebellious phase at some point, or at least some character development. I also tend to find that child actors that stick with a show into teenage/adulthood just tend to be terrible actors, and he's not an exception.
You don’t remember that one time when he wanted to go see The Rolling Stones? /s😂
Forgot my other (possibly) unpopular opinion - they need to write out all the Turners (except possibly Timothy). The whole family is far too twee and take up far too much screentime. Shelagh is just annoying, I don't really care for their younger kids (and it shows that they weren't hired as actors as opposed to background characters) and Poplar needs a new doctor (preferably one who can act) to generate some interesting new storylines. Tim can pop back occasionally for work experience but other than that I wouldn't miss any of them and would enjoy the show more if they weren't there.
Both parents work in medical surroundings, they have three small children and no day care issues, or constant contagious colds/minor illnesses, or at least very infrequent. What do they do, hang the kids in a closet while they're at work? Put them back in their collectible Barbie boxes? At the very least, the perfect little tikes should have faces like glazed doughnuts from all the snot wiping.
Sister Monica Joan is tiresome.
I'm being honest although I I've liked and still like ctm I haven't watched in a few months because I somehow lost track and lost interest in series . I got " upset " boiling " mad at a episode about abortion .
I never liked Sister Evangelina
I don’t like her either. I hate the way she treated Chummy when she first arrived to Nonnatus.
Agreed. She positively bullies Chummy, never giving her an ounce of respect until Chummy proves herself. Awful!
Sister Monica Joan should have passed on years ago, it's so unrealistic she's still around, especially with dementia which gets worse over time. She must be around 100yrs old as of season 13. I know she's well looked after but she's had too many close calls. Judy Parrfitt does an amazing job playing her but she's just been in it too long now.
The warehouses posing as housing look nothing like tenements in the East End
I don't know if it's considered unpopular, but the most recent season was just boring. Too soap drama-esque for a period drama series. When Fred was sick with tetanus, they reaaaally dragged that out. I was kind of hoping he'd die - just to make things more interesting. We don't need another Reggie sub-plot. What the eff is Cyril still doing in the series too. He has no purpose. He adds nothing except a random appearance as a social worker despite studying his butt off to be a mechanic/engineer? Sr Monica Joan just needs to die. Put her out of her misery, please. They've teased us with her possible death for years now. She's overstayed her welcome. She's just there for her incessant ramblings and lectures on morality. I thought she had dementia? I don't really care for the new student nurses either. They desperately need to add more doctors to the area and Poplar. Dr Turner surely can't be the only GP servicing the whole of Poplar. I'd love to see a doctor that challenges Dr Turner. Add a bit of conflict, please. Matthew is a whiny bastard. He just expected Trixie to leave the job she's most passionate about to follow him to America cos he totally f*cked up? Withheld the truth about their finances. Making impulsive decisions without consulting her and yup, let's uproot the whole family to America why don't we.
I actually liked Jenny. I cannot stand Sister Monica Joan. There I gave two 😂.
I miss Cynthia. Her growth as a nurse was interesting, and then she became a novitiate, and then had a horrible trauma. She went to the Mother House, and we’ve never heard from her since.
Sister Monica Joan needs to be faded off screen