Ok Birdy - you said you want a REAL storyline for the Turners. What would constitute a real storyline in your book? (Not being sassy, just curious)
A valid question. I should state first that by “real storyline” I was making no slight on stay-at-home-moms.
Full disclosure, I happily left a career in education (one I loved!) to stay at home for 19 years with my kids. Clearly, I recognize that choice as a real story, and one that can be filled with the intense, daily-life sort of drama that Call the Midwife excels at producing. However, I don’t want that to be Shelagh’s arc in series 7. Motherhood is just one facet of some women’s lives, and indeed full-time child raising is only for a fraction of our adulthood.
If series 4 had featured a SAHM Shelagh, I would have embraced that arc. It seemed to follow, considering the mental and emotional energy at Shelagh put into having a child. And oh! It would have been a great chance to see those sweet little domestic Turnadette moments! However, when they took the story in another direction (“making things better”), I embraced it. A woman’s desire to have a child is not affected by her desire to have a career. Yes, she struggled and wanted that baby so much (her little face when she said “What’s she like?” is overwhelming). But why does that imply that she will be happy staying at home? Motherhood is one of many facets of a woman.
Shelagh’s desire to work doesn’t seem like simply a feminist choice, it feels like her natural, very personal choice. She wants to “make a difference,” and she has the career and husband that enable her to make that choice. She chose the life as a Sister, a division of nuns dedicated to service rather than seclusion. Sisters are truly working women, and that element of the order must have appealed to Shelagh from the start. She doesn’t simply want to go to work, she must. It is her vocation.
I did think, however, that the idea that Shelagh could run a clinic with a 6-12-month-old along for the ride was unrealistic and impractical. You can only leave Angela in the pram, or in a playpen, or get someone else to hold her while she cries for so long. And a dirty nappy? “I’m sorry Mrs. McPreggo, can you wait until I’ve wiped my daughter’s wee little bum before I finish your chart?” It’s not just about proximity (sorry, Fred)– being with a baby is a full-time gig, so Mrs. Penney’s role worked for me. Clinic-parenting was not going to cut it. And a 3yo plus a baby? Shelagh would be lucky to pee without company, nevermind running a clinic or the Maternity Hospital.
Which takes me to the question @thymefortea asked.
Real stories? Post-partum could be interesting. The Pocket Soprano has shown us she’s got the chops for it. And of course, there will be some domestic fluff and angst created by three children. But for me, the fluff ship has sailed. My heart would enjoy those stories, but my head would be disappointed if we don’t see something that continues Shelagh’s growth as a modern woman.
Heidi Thomas said, way back in series 3, that Shelagh was sort of an everywoman for many of the changes women experienced in the Sixties. Let’s continue that line of thought. Why doesn’t she get any pushback from other women for working and leaving her children at home? That still happens today!!! Shelagh’s sharp as a tack–”the best midwife in Poplar”–let’s see some evidence. A story where Shelagh solves a medical dilemma, perhaps diagnoses a condition no one else sees? Real conflict with Patrick, the ordinary, do-the-work-of-married-life kind of problems would be great to see, too. I do think we have a tendency to canonize Shelagh (myself included). Let’s see a flaw other than “Bossy Shelagh” or “Hyper-Organized Shelagh.”
So while I would love to see more moments of Turners bathing Teddy, or a tearful, exhausted Shelagh, worn from the demands of child-rearing, I’m happy to leave that to us as fans to write, draw and discuss.
Of course, this is my opinion. Your mileage may vary, and all that.
So what is your mileage?
