The Agency's Posts

Apocalypse pretty soon, romantic yearnings now in 'Seeking a Friend for the End of the World': So much of the drama we respond to, from the heart, depicts ordinary flawed women and men....
Read More>

Check-out this great AGENCY Talent shoot, by AARON WARKOV: Several of our talent were shot last week for a project by AARON WARKOV ( www.aaronwarkov.com )......
Read More>

HBO's 'The Newsroom' delivers lots of opinion: West Wing's' Aaron Sorkin pens the new series about a TV newsman (Jeff Daniels) trying to tell it....
Read More>

For 'Magic Mike' crew, being sexy is a lot of work: Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey and Joe Manganiello admit to a few nerves on the set of....
Read More>

'Portlandia' boosters wryly seek Emmy nomination: The IFC sketch comedy show's try for recognition has a David-versus-Goliath feel amid other....
Read More>

Maya Rudolph breaks down her 'SNL' host highlights: "Saturday Night Live"had its share of great episodes this season, but few delivered....
Read More>

Mike Tyson and Spike Lee are headed to Broadway. Together.: Edward Albee. Terrence McNally.Horton Foote.Mike Tyson? The ear-gnawing former heavyweight....
Read More>

Box Office: Cruise, Sandler lose out to 'Madagascar 3': Two A-list stars failed to attract moviegoers to the box office this weekend, as a musical....
Read More>

ABE LINCOLN, VAMPIRE HUNTER: The sun was just about to set over Lake Pontchartrain on a humid Louisiana day last May when....
Read More>

Saturday Night Movie Pick: ROCK OF AGES: Review: 'Rock of Ages' loves rock 'n' roll Put another dime in the jukebox, baby, because this....
Read More>

Usher finds a fresh groove in 'Looking 4 Myself': Seductive R&B artist Usher explores electronic music in his latest album "Evolve....
Read More>

'Dallas' premieres big on TNT: TNT's reboot of the"Dallas"struck oil. Its Wednesday premiere drew nearly 7 million....
Read More>

'Rock of Ages': Tom Cruise gets Bret Michaels' seal of approval: WhenTom Cruisepopped up in 2008’s “Tropic Thunder,” barely recognizable in....
Read More>

'Prometheus': Should Ridley Scott return to sci-fi full time?: Since making us cover our eyes and drop our jaws with 1979's "Alien," Ridley Scott....
Read More>
Review: BBC's 'Call the Midwife' is sweet, stirring medicine
Posted on: 10/05/12
Share/Save/Bookmark
 

Focusing on midwives in London's East End in the '50s, the BBC's 'Call the Midwife' is an unapologetically sentimental look at the plight of the poor and female.



For the growing fan base of period drama, the BBC's "Call the Midwife," which debuts Sunday on PBS, fits in chronologically and somewhat thematically between"Downton Abbey" and "Mad Men."

Set in London's very pre-revitalized East End during the late 1950s and based on the memoir of Jennifer Worth, it chronicles the adventures of a group of midwives working at the Nonnatus House, a nursing convent named for the early cesarean-surviving patron saint of childbirth. Although first and foremost the tale of the plucky middle-class "gels" (hard g) learning about life, "Call the Midwife" is also a quite timely valentine to socialized medicine.

The midwives, as well as the clinics, doctors and ambulance drivers who tend to the East End's poor, are all employees ofBritain's then-newly established National Health Service and nary an episode goes by without the reminder, often via voice-over by the glorious Vanessa Redgrave, that this baby or that mother would have most certainly died without the services provided by the NHS.

The stories revolve around the young and comely Jenny Lee(Jessica Raine) who becomes a midwife out of a desire to do good but also to escape the perils of a thwarted romance. She joins two other young women, as well as a terrific quartet of nuns including Sister Monica-Joan (Judy Parfitt), an original midwife whose slide into old age is marked by poetic yet shrewd observations and a love of sweets, and Sister Evangelina (the always wonderful Pam Ferris), a tart-tongued child of poverty with no time for emotional shilly-shallying. Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) runs the place, and not since "The Sound of Music's" Mother Superior have we seen such regal kindliness.

In the second episode, comedian Miranda Hart joins the show as Camilla "Chummy" Fortescue-Cholmondeley-Browne, a young aristocrat as physically graceless as she is earnest; that she doesn't yank the show out from under everyone's feet is a testament to Heidi Thomas' writing and the power of the ensemble.

You can't beat the Brits for character acting and the nature of the story provides a cornucopia of marvelous small performances by the women and men playing the recipients of the midwives' services. (Also more adorable babies than perhaps a woman in those perilous last-chance child-bearing years ought to see.)

Unapologetically sentimental, "Call the Midwife" does not shy away from the ghastly conditions in which many East Enders lived at this time but the people one and all are portrayed within the narrow range of stoic and heroic. This allows the show to explore the grim issues of poverty, class and the plight of women without access to either education or birth control while maintaining a determinedly uplifting tone — chin up, girls, it's going to get better! Some day enema nozzles won't be made of glass!

Lovely and engaging, Raine makes Jenny sympathetic and sweet while still preserving the upper-middle class shock that is as much willful ignorance as innocence. You will laugh, you will cry and if it seems a bit treacly, it is. But as another very famous British caregiver once observed, a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.

mary.mcnamara@latimes.com


COMMENTS
Be the first to post a comment!


Post A Comment:




  • It's 2020! Start booking roles in commercials, fashion, films, theater and more with The Agency Online!

  • NEW WORKSHOP with Barbara Barna & Sean De Simone!

    Hi Everyone and Happy Summer! Sean at Sean De Simone casting and Barbara Barna are teaming up for a super informative and fun Hosting for Home Shopping workshop. A great opportunity for established or experienced TV Hosts and Experts interested in learning how to get noticed and how to get in....
  • MASTERCLASS W. Robin Carus & David John Madore

    A Special Offer for the Agency Community, from one of our favorite NYC Casting Directors! EMAIL FacetheMusicWithUs@gmail.com Or Eventbrite To Sign Up! Class Size is Limited.
  • Don't Fall Into The Comparison Trap

    Hi Everyone! As the second installment in an ongoing series of features by the Agency's amazing community, here's some sage advice from our own Regina Rockensies; a humble (& awesome)veteran we've had the pleasure of working with for a long time. Have an excellent week! : ) - The Agency....
  • One Model's Agreement

    Hi Everyone! As the first piece in an ongoing series of original articles by the Agency community, here's a short reflection on some of the values of professional acting & modeling that we can all keep in mind for our next casting. Good luck on your castings &shoots this week! : ) -....




 
home       castings&news       privacy policy       terms and conditions      contact us      browser tips
Official PayPal Seal