History Series / CallTheMidwife

** Series Eight and Nine: Nurses: Trixie, Phyllis, Valerie, Lucille, Shelagh. Nuns: Julienne, Monica Joan, Hilda, Veronica, Frances.

** A Series 1 episode followed [[Creator/SharonSmall Nora Harding]]'s increasingly desperate attempts to induce abortion. Her story was played utterly for sympathy -- she already had eight children and could hardly afford to feed and shelter them as it was -- and everyone who finds out are only worried that Nora will inadvertently hurt herself in her attempts to abort. The episode dealt with the issue of the invention of birth control, and how that would have saved her all of the heartbreak and stress she went through. Ultimately, Nora resorts to a back-alley abortion and nearly dies from septicemia. Sister Julienne tells Jenny that this is far from the first time she's dealt with the situation, and knows exactly what to tell the doctor so that the woman can get the necessary care without being arrested for an illegal abortion. The end of the episode discusses how birth control was brought about soon enough that the woman's daughters and granddaughters were spared the same ordeals.

** A later episode followed [[Creator/SharonSmall Nora Harding]]'s increasingly desperate attempts to induce abortion. Her story was played utterly for sympathy -- she already had eight children and could hardly afford to feed and shelter them as it was -- and everyone who finds out are only worried that Nora will inadvertently hurt herself in her attempts to abort. The episode dealt with the issue of the invention of birth control, and how that would have saved her all of the heartbreak and stress she went through. Ultimately, Nora resorts to a back-alley abortion and nearly dies from septicemia. Sister Julienne tells Jenny that this is far from the first time she's dealt with the situation, and knows exactly what to tell the doctor so that the woman can get the necessary care without being arrested for an illegal abortion. The end of the episode discusses how birth control was brought about soon enough that the woman's daughters and granddaughters were spared the same ordeals.

* AbuseMistake: In Season 4 Episode 5, Dr. Turner reports a couple to the RSPCC after their newborn son suffers two bone fractures. The baby is taken away while the parents are investigated. [[spoiler:After the woman fostering the baby brings him in with yet another fracture, Dr. Turner realises the injuries were caused by brittle bone disease, not abuse. He's seriously rattled by his mistake and ends up going into a HeroicBSOD over it.]]

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Sister Evangelina, despite sparring with her throughout the series, becomes distraught at the thought of [[spoiler: potentially losing Sister Monica Joan to pneumonia in the Series 1 finale, and nurses her back to health]].

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Happens often. The most notable, though, is probably in Series 2, Episode 6, when [[spoiler:Julia Masterson gives birth across the corridor from her father on his deathbed; he dies with his newborn grandson in his arms.]]

** Another very prominent instance is Series 5 Episode 8, which has a double whammer: first when Barbara and Sister Evangelina come home from a delivery [[spoiler:and Sister Evangelina is found dead the next morning, having passed away during the night]], and second when Noelle gives birth to her firstborn (at her wedding reception, no less), immediately followed by [[spoiler: Sister Evangelina's funeral procession.]]

* ComfortFood: Well, Comfort Drink. Anything and everything can be solved or celebrated with a mug of Horlicks[[note]]a malted milk beverage similar to Ovaltine - both brands existed as rival products in the UK then and still do today[[/note]].

* FamilyOfChoice: The nuns and midwives appear to have little family between them, and certainly not nearby. They act as each other's family, the nurses often like sisters to one another.

* FireForgedFriends: Jack was inveterately mean to Chummy until she helped his mother give birth in the second episode, relying on him for important duties. After that, he became her chief helper, particularly in the Cub Scout pack.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion:
** Mary the teenage prostitute leaves the life she was stuck in ''because'' she knew she'd be forced by her pimp to have an abortion. [[spoiler:Sadly, it doesn't turn out well even after she escapes and has her baby.]]
* GrandRomanticGesture: [[spoiler: The carousel at Barbara and Tom's wedding in the series 6 finale.]]

** More a case of obstructive ''bureaucracy'' than any single bureaucrat, but the ten members of the Harding family live crammed into a two-room flat in a dilapidated building. Every other family that had lived in the building had been relocated to newer (and larger) council housing. When Nurse Lew asks why they haven't been moved with everyone else, Nora comments that the council insists it would be illegal to house them in anything less than four rooms - except, apparently there are no four-room council flats, so they're stuck in their dilapidated ''two-room'' flat. Fortunately, Bill persists with the council, and by the end of the episode, more suitable housing is found for them.

** More a case of obstructive ''bureaucracy'' than any single bureaucrat, but the ten members of the Harding family live crammed into a two-room flat. When Trixie asks why they haven't yet been moved into one of the new (larger) council flats, Nora comments that the council insists it would be illegal to house them in anything less than four rooms - except, apparently there are no four-room council flats, so they end up keeping on in their ''two-room'' flat.

* OrphanageOfFear: In 1950's and 1960's London, orphanages of any kind are quickly falling out of fashion in favor of private foster homes, so the ones that are left are viewed as outdated, old-fashioned in their views on childrearing, and often understaffed:

** The nearest is the above-ground Bromley by Bow, about a mile and a half away.

* WhamLine: "This... has ''my'' name on it." That's Sister Bernadette, looking at [[spoiler:an x-ray that's positive for tuberculosis]].
** And in Series 4:
--> '''Dr Turner''': "The tablets are known as Distaval. The magic ingredient is called [[spoiler:thalidomide]].'

** The Golly dolls that Sister Monica Joan knits are now almost universally recognised in Britain as [[{{Blackface}} an extremely regressive and stereotypical image of black people]]. Trixie refers to them as "Gollies" rather than "Golliwogs" since this was probably at the point when "wog" on its own started being used as a slur against Black people.