Call The Midwife's special festive delivery... a macabre horror movie: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV
Tis the season to be jolly, unless you were watching Call The Midwife (BBC 1) — in which case, deck the halls with incest, wife-beating and stillbirth. Merry Christmas, and blow that party tooter!
This much-loved series has fearlessly tackled historic social issues, including the horrors of Thalidomide and polio in London’s slums, and always balanced them with messages of hope plus a good lacing of nostalgia.
But this festive episode misjudged the mood badly.
Its Christmas miracle was truly nightmarish, and must have deeply upset many viewers: a young mother, giving birth in a freezing caravan four weeks before her due date, delivered a baby boy who would not breathe.
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This much-loved series has fearlessly tackled historic social issues and balanced them with messages of hope
Nothing that new midwife Nurse Valerie (Jennifer Kirby) tried could bring him to life. After a long, anguished scene, she wrapped the body in a towel and put it in her medical bag.
The fact that the seemingly dead infant later revived unaided did not soften the impact.
Even today, the tragedy of a stillbirth cannot always be prevented, and this storyline had no place in a Christmas special, of all things.
But as though the 80-minute drama was not already dark enough, a sub-plot about an elderly man freezing to death in the blizzards in late 1962 took a very macabre twist.
But this festive episode misjudged the mood badly. Its Christmas miracle was truly nightmarish, and must have deeply upset many viewers
Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) discovered the man’s disabled wife was a prisoner in her own home, the victim of frequent beatings and constant abuse. Worse still, their teenage daughter had been driven out when she became pregnant — by her own paedophile father.
One-time EastEnders queen Anita Dobson played the widow, greeting the news of her evil husband’s death with relish.
‘Sounds like he had no say at all in how he met his end,’ she whispered, ‘and I’m glad.’
It was as though Call The Midwife was turning into a demented horror movie.
All this bitterness made the comic moments, always a staple of the Christmas edition, seem simply bizarre. Caretaker Fred relaxed in a bra and camisole, backstage at the local panto, as he applied his lipstick to play Widow Twankey — just an ordinary Sixties bloke who was completely at ease with gender fluid cross-dressing.
Earlier, he had been battling with a burst sewer main that was bubbling over the pavement.
Another Christmas image we could have done without.
The heavy snows, which marked the beginning of the Great Freeze of 1963, meant Poplar was covered in a picturesque white blanket.
The cub scouts built an igloo, and Bing Crosby crooned as everyone opened their presents.
But these sentimental touches are not a licence for the rest of the show to imitate a video nasty.
A young mother, giving birth in a freezing caravan four weeks before her due date, delivered a baby boy who would not breathe. Another Christmas image we could have done without
The inventor and creator-in-chief of Christmas sentiment was Prince Albert, and Victoria (ITV) didn’t stint as it catalogued just how much the lad from Saxe-Coburg imposed his vision on our solstice celebrations.
The episode hinged on his obsession with fir trees: he believed every member of the family should have their own, with a giant Christmas tree hanging from the ceiling.
That’s one way to make sure the blasted thing isn’t leaning over to the side like mine always does.
With snowmen in the palace park, a drama at the skating pond and endless romantic entanglements, Victoria was full of good cheer.
But at two hours, it was also far too long.
Who can stay awake till 11pm at Christmas? The second half of the show was lost in a national haze of sherry and pudding.
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