SERIES 8, EPISODE 3

Please feel free to comment on my review.

There was a delay to me seeing this ‘Call the Midwife’ episode on BBC iPlayer as well as a delay to me first reviewing it. I just attended the ‘Science of the Time Lords 2019’ event the weekend before.

It took a while to settle back in, but my parents and I did see the third Series 8 episode of ‘Call the Midwife’ episode on BBC iPlayer as well as the third Series 4 episode of ‘Grantchester’ on ITV Hub. 🙂

Series 8, Episode 3 of ‘Call the Midwife’ is very good. In the episode, Jennifer Kirby as Valerie helps a struggling mother, Lisa Ellis as Betty Marwick, who gives birth to her latest baby in her large family. 🙂

Unfortunately, the baby boy has a certain birth defect to his mouth and it appears somewhat worrying. It’s a cleft palate. I didn’t think that birth defects happened like that rarely to little babies.

I found it quite interesting and emotionally-compelling how the mother Betty struggled and accepted her baby son’s defect over time. This included how to feed milk to him through his mouth.

There’s also her coping with other family troubles when back at home. Her other children at home are hyper active and her son Frankie Fox as Keith does get into trouble with the police at some point.

Betty also becomes fearful of an operation that her baby needs when his mouth needs to be restored. Thankfully, it turns out okay in the end and baby boy Keith’s mouth becomes fully formed.

There’s another interesting and emotional subplot going on involving a mother, Matti Houghton as Hazel Becker, who wanted to have her little baby girl Dawn treated for measles. She gets denied this.

This is because the baby is too young to have a measles vaccination. Hazel becomes possessive and overly-protective of her child. It does strain her relationship with her husband Tom McCall as Martin.

It was a revelation when it turned out that Hazel and Martin had a baby boy once, but he died during an operation by doctors in Cyprus. Hazel is clearly afraid that the same thing might happen to Dawn.

Matti Houghton is very good as Hazel Becker in the episode. I found it compelling how she makes decisions based on her emotions to protect her daughter and how other characters are assisting her.

I found it amazing when Georgie Glen as busybody Miss Higgins displayed compassion and interest for the Becker family. It is a contrast to the usual snooty persona she has behind her reception desk.

I didn’t really think much of Miss Higgins in the previous ‘Call the Midwife’ episodes, but this is where I found her an intriguing character. It opened doors to new ways of developing her character.

This episode also sees the ‘Call the Midwife’ team preparing for the Whitsun bank holiday in the Poplar area. I did like the sunny atmosphere that was featured towards the end of the episode here.

This is especially when everyone in Poplar was having a beach-like setting in front of Nonnatus House. There was a paddling pool and ice cream cones provided for people to enjoy at the event. 😀

I found it amusing when Linda Bassett as Nurse Crane had a pile of sand dumped in the area where she usually parks her car. She needs to get to her car to go on her rounds. Not have sand in the way!

I still wasn’t sure what to make of what was going on between Nurse Crane’s character and Trevor Cooper’s character of Sergeant Woolf. This is especially when he wanted to help out in the boy scouts. 🙂

Annabelle Apison as Violet Buckle also seems to be settling in nicely into her new role of local councillor of Poplar. Cliff Parisi as Fred Buckles supports her, despite the challenges she does have. 🙂

I liked it when Daniel Laurie as Reggie phoned Violet up to congratulate her on her success in being a local councillor. Reggie is there with Fred and Violet when they go for the Whitsun bank holiday event. 🙂

Series 8, Episode 3 of ‘Call the Midwife’ is an emotionally-charged episode featuring a mother who has a baby with a mouth defect and a possessive mother who’s overly protective about her baby girl.

I like how the episode concluded with a sunny attitude. It does make me want to go outside and enjoy myself at a sunny resort e.g. Weston-super-Mare. Hopefully I will get do that again quite soon.

‘Series 8, Episode 3’ rating – 8/10

---

Go back to Series 8, Episode 2 (TV)	Go next to Series 8, Episode 4 (TV)
Return to Call the Midwife
Return to Drama