The cosy glow and aroma of Horlicks are deceptive, of course, our jolly nunnery being but an emergency bellow away from the docks and alleyways and the wretched cold slums with their peeling wallpaper and malnourished urchins in the street. In any case, humour springs mostly from character – Pam Ferris as the fabulously flint-hearted Sister Evangelina, or Judy Parfitt's demented Sister Monica Joan, whose gnomic pronouncements about cake are such conversation-stoppers at teatime. As Chummy Browne, Miranda Hart has proved she can do empathy as well as pratfalls (though they couldn't resist putting her on a runaway bicycle in the last series). And then there's the series' bankable star. People don't get the outcome we want for them. The poor and needy run the gamut from chirpy to venal. Heidi Thomas, who won Bafta and Emmy nominations for the outstanding Cranford, brings to this community of nurses and nuns some of the subtleties of that series (which succeeded in being both funny and serious-minded – and, I might add, is worth six of Downton, by which all dramas with large hats must be judged these days).Ĭall the Midwife is small-scale but well crafted. But the writing is good, with nimble dialogue and efficient interlocking of stories and themes. Perhaps it's the newborn babies that do it – slippery, red and alarmed, as if braced for this world of hardship in 1950s east London, the camera discreetly peering round a meaty leg to catch their yowling maws. But Call the Midwife – despite the title, which needs only a cheerful exclamation mark to send the wary viewer scurrying to a documentary about metallurgy on BBC4 – cuts the mustard more than most. It's a rule of thumb among people who clench their teeth at the words "popular drama" that no good can come of switching on a TV at 8pm on a Sunday. Howard Goodall's Story of Music (BBC2) | iPlayer
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