Yes!

I love that show.

The mention of the "wonder drug" *was* chilling.

Those poor women, & their poor children.

I love this show and yes, they have tackled some big issues this season. I was so disappointed to learn that last Sunday's show was the last until next spring!. Can't get use to these short seasons of the BBC. I got chills when I heard the name of the drug for morning sickness...thalidomide. How will the Midwifes handle those deliveries? They covered a lot in a short time...STDs, abortion, alcoholism, homosexuality and now, Thalidomide. This is such a great show. Now we are waiting for Last Tango in Halifax to start. It's another good one from the BBC.

When is Last Tango going to start? And yes, when they said the name of the wonder drug I know my jaw dropped. If it weren't for the BBC shows I wouldn't need a TV. Why won't Americans make some good shows? We'd watch.

I think that season 3 of Last Tango in Halifax starts on June 28, PBS. After Downton Abby, Tango is my favorite. Love the BBC and most of their shows.

Mcsooey, you are right about all the sensitive topics that have been part of the show. (I don't remember the abortion one, though.) And don't forget mixed up babies (given to wrong mother/father).

I have enjoyed CTMW. It is a reminder to me of how devastating WWII was to England, even though they won the war and even though this takes place about 15-20 years after the war. I grew up in middle America in the 1950s, and life was much easier for people living there. They had rationing so much longer than we did, and unemployment seems more a problem for them.

I too love this show and felt the shock as thalidomide was named.

socks...the abortion episode was with the young, unmarried girl with diabetes.

Fun trailer, bob_. Fun to see them out of context.

I just discovered a new show. Not a BBC this time but a Netflix...Grace and Frankie. We just watched 4 of them and it seems to be good. Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston, Jane Fonda an Lilly Tomlin. I laughed o loud. So far, so good.

Wow, thalidomide?? Really?? I remember seeing the pictures in Life magazine of those poor kids. Gosh, even I know that you don't get it anywhere near a pregnant woman.

I guessed it was going to be thalidomide, too, and guessed about the bike/car accident.

Malna, this season of the show takes place in the early 1960's, before anyone knew the awful side effects of Thalidomide on fetuses. I knew a guy who was damaged by that drug, he coped amazingly well. I often wonder how their parents coped, mentally and physically.

I spent the whole abortion episode trying to figure out where I'd seen that young actress before. She also plays Laoghaire on Outlander.

I actually gasped when they said thalidamide. Love the show. I also enjoy Mr. Selfridge that follows Midwives.

When the doctor and his wife were chatting about trying that new medication, I just thought oh please no no no....

Ah, that explains it! I couldn't fathom anyone using it! Sorry - I don't have television, so I am totally ignorant about time frames, characters, etc. Keep that in mind the next time I make a stupid comment :-)

We haven't yet viewed the segment you're writing about. We just watched the one with the unwed diabetic girl's "therapeutic" abortion. Anyone know when diabetic pregnancies became safer and why? I had known that such babies are often larger than normal.

I am very likely a "DES Baby". This was another dangerous drug given to pregnant women in the late 1930's - early 1940's. It was supposed to prevent miscarriages -- but it was later proven totally ineffetive. What it did do well was to render many of the resulting female babies infertile. Should the DES female manage to have children, her girls still risked infertility. (The gift that keeps on giving...)

chisue...I had forgotten all about 'Des Babies'. As I recall, that was a fairly recent discovery, right? And by recent, I mean within our adult lifetimes. I think I remember hearing about it for the first time in my 20s...I'm now 65. I'm sorry that you may fall into that reality.

maina...I think I could almost envy you for not having television. It has taken over my evenings to the point that sitting down in front of the TV after dinner is automatic. Not good.

I think Thalidomide is still used today as a cancer drug. I may be wrong, but I think it's still out there. Never to be used again in pregnant women but it does have some uses. Strange to think of that drug still in the world.

Chisue, maybe we spoiled it for you, but it isn't a happy surprise when that part of the show takes place. Interesting, about the DES. Seems it's always better to use the "tried and true" meds.

I agree, mcsooey, I think the drug is still used. And some of the people disabled by thalidomide are still living as well.

I enjoy the show, and I'm looking forward to the new season. I hope the thalimide isn't too damaging. I freaked when the doctor mentioned it.

I worked with a young woman who had been a DES baby; she had to get pap smears every quarter.

Every time she had an appointment, she was on edge & angry for days before & days after, until she got the results.

socks -- No problem regarding the 'spoiler'! One of the nice things about "Midwife" is that there are always half a dozen stories in each segment.

I've never been able to know for certain that my mother was given DES, or that it is why I was infertile. By the time I heard of it, my mother was dead and the hospital had 'lost her records', including the name of her OB. I know she took some kind of 'shots' before and during her pregnancy.

You might say I learned to mistrust modern medicine 'in the womb'.