Watched the 'Call the Midwife' Christmas special last night - first time I've seen it for ages. As usual, I could do without the sentimental bits, especially la Redgrave's homespun-wisdom voice-overs at the beginning and end, but on the whole it was great fun. A circus came to Poplar, with a grizzled owner and ringmaster whom I eventually recognised as Peter Davison, whom I hadn't seen for many years. Back in the 70s and 80s, he was all over the TV, as the fifth (?) Doctor and Tristan Farnon, but largely disappeared from view for the last 30-odd years.
Also interested to note that they had the midwives masking up while delivering sprogs. That is historically accurate - we're up to 1965, and apparently that was the norm then, though they don't wear masks now (well, they probably have this year, but not before that). The thing is, in previous series, they haven't worn masks, despite it being anachronistic, because the director wanted them to be recognisable, so they've changed their mind about that. (I know this because of an article in Radio Times a few years ago, about anachronisms in the series, most of them accidental, like having them sit down to a meal including broccoli, which was almost unknown in the UK in the early 60s. They realised just in time, and digitally turned it into cauliflower, by turning the green to white.)
