Drawing from the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, the BBC's Call the Midwife stars Jessica Raine as Jenny Lee, a middle-class 22-year-old nurse who takes a job as a midwife at an Anglican convent in 1957, working alongside experienced nuns, including calm Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter), stern Sister Evangelina (Pam Ferris), and spacey, cake-addicted Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt). Jenny is hardly judgmental, but she finds the poverty permeating London's East End to be challenging (suffice to say that gynecological care has come a long way since the 1950s). To be effective, however, she must learn to put her preconceptions aside regarding unwed mothers, squalid living conditions, and seemingly inappropriate relationships. Jenny's upper-class colleague, Chummy (Miranda Hart), would appear likely to be even more out of her depth, but looks can be deceiving—even if Chummy finds it harder to handle the bikes the nurses use to cycle between appointments. Written by Heidi Thomas and narrated by Vanessa Redgrave as the older Jenny, the series has proven to be as much of a favorite among PBS viewers as Downton Abbey. The post-war setting also brings the films of Terence Davies and Mike Leigh to mind, particularly Leigh's Vera Drake, in which Imelda Staunton provided off-the-books care to desperate mothers. Although Worth was involved with the series, she sadly died two weeks before filming began. Compiling all six episodes from the 2012 first season, extras include a cast featurette. Highly recommended. (K. Fennessy)
Call the Midwife: Season One
BBC, 2 discs, 360 min., not rated, DVD: $34.98, Blu-ray: $39.98 Volume 28, Issue 1
Call the Midwife: Season One
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