With the arrival of cooler weather, perhaps you are spending more time indoors, When you get tired of reading or knitting, I have three top-notch television series to recommend.
Call the Midwife (PBS)
It’s hard to believe that this is the 10th season of Call the Midwife. Early seasons drew extensively from the memoirs of midwife Jennifer Worth. Successive seasons have built on the premise of an order of nun midwives working alongside secular midwives to serve a poor East London community. While some viewers may feel that the series is too sentimental, more recent episodes highlight medical and social issues such as Thalidomide babies and domestic abuse.
The current season, which the Chief Penguin and I binge watched, is both sober and thought provoking. It is 1966 in Poplar, the Beatles are popular, and England is in the World Cup. Abortion, Down syndrome, race, and wretched housing condition all figure here. And yet, your favorite midwives, from the often wise Sister Monica Joan, compassionate yet firm Sister Julienne, and outspoken but oh, so caring Trixie, aka Nurse Franklin, persevere. As the voiceover before every episode states, it’s definitely for mature audiences.
Grantchester (PBS)
Grantchester too is a keeper, and the seasons keep coming. Most of us have adjusted to Sydney’s replacement by Will as the curate since detective Geordie, assistant curate Leonard, and housekeeper Mrs. C. remain in place! This season, season 6, is a much darker one than the previous ones.
It is 1958 and while there is a murder in every episode, Leonard’s homosexuality and the U.K. laws in effect are a running story throughout the season. It is a season with added depth and poignancy and one that made me appreciate society’s greater acceptance of differing sexual identities. This is first rate television. Highly recommended!
Maid (Netflix)
Maid is a new offering on Netflix and one also dealing with a serious subject. Based on a memoir by former maid, Stephanie Land, it’s a graphic and heart-rending picture of poverty and living hand-to-mouth while working. Alex, the maid, abruptly leaves an abusive relationship with her toddler daughter Mattie. Without a plan or any support, she is hard pressed to find a job or a place to live. Some of the social services offices she encounters seem unhelpful or at best indifferent. Reluctantly, she is offered a job as a maid cleaning houses. Some clients are wealthy with gorgeous homes; others are realtors having seriously filthy properties scrubbed for sale.
You can read about what it’s like to be poor in America, but this series clearly depicts how one small incident (a sick child, for example) has a domino effect on everything else from her job to her apartment. It’s raw viewing, but Alex’s daydreams and her interactions with her kooky artist mother provide some relief. Margaret Qualley with piercing dark eyes is amazing as Alex, while her real-life mother, Andie MacDowell, plays her mother here.
Note: Header sunset photo ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
