Line #18 Trivia/CallTheMidwife


1	* ActingForTwo: Monica Dolan as Maeve and Meg Carter in series 2, episode 3.
2	* ActorSharedBackground: Leonie Elliot's (Lucille) family emigrated to England from Jamaica and her aunt specifically came to England to study nursing.
3	* AllThereInTheManual: Sister Bernadette's first name is revealed in 2x08, but her pre-convent surname of "Mannion" was only revealed in the credits list.
4	* ApprovalOfGod: Long before the memoirs were filmed, Jennifer Worth spotted Miranda Hart and knew she'd be perfect for the role of Chummy Browne. Hart agreed to play Chummy if the books were ever filmed. The rest is history.
5	* ArtifactTitle: In this case, Artifact PortmanteauCoupleName. The Turners hadn't yet had their first names (or in then-Sister Bernadette's case, her pre-Order name) revealed onscreen while the two were falling in love in series 2, so the fandom christened them Turnadette ('''Turn'''er and Bern'''adette'''). The final episode of that series revealed 'Shelagh' and 'Patrick', but the portmanteau has remained 'Turnadette', even though the former has now spent longer onscreen as Shelagh Turner than she did as Sister Bernadette.
6	* TheCastShowoff: Sister Bernadette leads the hymns for prayer, and that's Laura Main, a trained soprano, actually singing. All the vocal solos are hers.
7	* DisabledCharacterDisabledActor:
8	** June Dillen of 4x08, a deaf mother, was played by Genevieve Barr, who is profoundly deaf in real life.
9	** Recurring character Reggie Jackson has Down's syndrome, as does his actor Daniel Laurie.
10	** Marion Irmsby, a blind mother-to-be in 9x07, was played by Ellie Wallwork, who is blind in real life.
11	* EditedForSyndication: PBS, as is its wont, cut scenes for the American release. Fans, as is ''their'' wont, were enraged.
12	** This issue has become more controversial as of season 4, with some PBS stations showing the unedited version while others showed the edited version, and the PBS website only has the edited version.
13	** Netflix briefly released extended versions of episodes, in particular season 2, although they have now reverted to the edited versions.
14	* IronyAsSheIsCast: Jenny Agutter, who plays devout nun-in-charge Sister Julienne, identifies as an atheist.
15	* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine:
16	** Creator/SharonSmall (Nora Harding, episode 2x05) previously played DS Barbara Havers on ''Series/TheInspectorLynleyMysteries''. Jenny Agutter (Sister Julienne) made a guest appearance in episode 3x03 of that programme, ''A Cry for Justice'', playing Jemma Sanderson.
17	** The series also reunites Linda Bassett (Phyllis Crane) and Georgie Glen (Miss Higgins) after they had worked together in ''Film/CalendarGirls'' in 2003.
18	* PresentDayPast: Largely averted, but there's a particularly glaring example with the EstablishingShot of The London Hospital, which shows the name "The Royal London Hospital"--an appellation it didn't get until the Queen's visit in 1980.
19	* RealLifeRelative:
20	** Screenwriter/show creator Heidi Thomas is married to Stephen [=McGann=], who plays Dr Turner. ([=McGann=] good-naturedly grumped that just because he's married to the head honcho doesn't mean he gets a preview of what's coming; he had to wait to find out whether Sister Bernadette and his character were going to end up together until he got his script. For the record, [[spoiler:they did]].)
21	** Renowned Irish actress Sinead Cusack played Dr Myra Fitzsimmonds in the 2016 Christmas special. Several years later, her niece Megan Cusack joined the show as new nurse Nancy Corrigan.
22	* RealitySubtext:
23	** Jenny Agutter's aunt was a midwife so she already had an idea of her role from her stories.
24	** Episode 3x01 dealt with cystic fibrosis because Jenny Agutter lost two infant siblings to the disease, and her niece has it as well; she has since focused most of her charity work on finding a cure.
25	** Sister Monica Joan's struggles with dementia are [[RealitySubtext very much coloured]] by the fact that Judy Parfitt's real-life husband died of Alzheimer's, which obviously shapes her performance.
26	** In series 4, Doctor Turner touts an anti-nausea medication for pregnant mothers.
27	---> '''Dr Turner''': "The tablets are known as Distaval. The magic ingredient is called [[spoiler: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide#Birth_defects_crisis thalidomide]]]].'
28	* RecycledSet: The set used for the original Turner residence (before their move in series 6) is often reused for a variety of different locations, ranging from offices to receptions.
29	* RomanceOnTheSet: Several years after their characters had broken off their engagement, Creator/HelenGeorge (Trixie Franklin) and Jack Ashton (Tom Hereward) fell in love while filming on location in South Africa. They now have two daughters, Wren and Lark.
30	* ShipperOnDeck: Stephen [=McGann=] and Laura Main ship their characters almost as desperately as the fans do. Possibly more. Doubles as ApprovalOfGod as Laura Main said that she's proud of the Turnadette shippers and glad the pairing is so popular.
31	* StarMakingRole: For Creator/JessicaRaine, Creator/HelenGeorge, Laura Main, and to a lesser extent Bryony Hannah.
32	* ThrowItIn: "The Road Scene" was originally planned to be shot in bright sunshine, but on the day of filming, the crew encountered a classically English misty fog. Cast and crew alike raved about the effect, with Stephen [=McGann=] citing the symbolism of "Laura [Main] coming out of the fog" in particular as lending the scene a mystical, dreamlike quality that fit the romance perfectly.
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Context Trivia / CallTheMidwife