Plunkett, John (21 January 2013). "Call the Midwife draws its biggest audience". The Guardian. London . Retrieved 21 March 2013.

I regret that I have not been able to get to know the men of the East End. But it is quite impossible. I belong to the women's world, to the taboo subject of childbirth. The men are polite and respectful to us midwives, but completely withdrawn from any familiarity, let alone friendship. There is a total divide between what is called men's work and women's work. So, like Jane Austen, who in her writing never recorded a conversation between two men alone, because as a woman she could not know what exclusively male conversation would be like, I cannot record much about the men of Poplar, beyond superficial observation."Worth wrote the book in response to an article by Terri Coates in the Royal College of Midwives Journal, which argued that midwives had been under-represented in literature and called on "a midwife somewhere to do for midwifery what James Herriot did for vets". Worth wrote the first volume of her memoirs by hand and sent them to Coates to read, and Coates later served as advisor on the books and the TV adaptation. [ citation needed] Setting [ edit ] For the first three series of the programme, the score and the title theme used were composed by Peter Salem, and since series four the music has been composed by Maurizio Malagnini. The orchestral score, mainly comprising strings and piano accompanies the emotional moments of the series, with Malagnini calling it a diary of the emotions of the series, while more upbeat moments are often accompanied by music appropriate to the setting year. The score was performed by the London Chamber Orchestra. [19] [20] If you liked the series be prepared for something different. If you don't like fluffy memoirs and so avoided the Midwife books, this one is worth reading as a well-written sociological memoir of the brutal lives of those who have so little they live on the fringes of society and no one much cares. Jennifer Worth did though, and thought their lives worth documenting. Gone are the happy baby stories, gone are the bitesize glimpses into a past full of amazing titbits that are so fun to read. The first two books focus on the joy of babies being born with some tears but mostly laughs and fun of Nonatus house While St. Raymond Nonnatus, for whom the show's house is named, is indeed the saint of midwives and pregnant women, the building the midwives of Poplar call home doesn't actually exist.

Edit: This is where I got angry. Really angry. In a passage describing how married women were "free" to cheat on their husbands because a pregnancy wouldn't be as difficult as for a single woman, Worth writes: BBC Controller of Drama, Ben Stephenson, sets out his vision for drama on the BBC and announces new commissions". 11 February 2013. Archived from the original on 15 February 2013 . Retrieved 24 February 2013. The fifth series is set in 1961 and shows a patient with typhoid, the effects of thalidomide, the introduction of the contraceptive pill and impact of stroke. Record number of delegates head to biggest ever BBC Worldwide Showcase in Liverpool to celebrate a significant anniversary: Notes to Editor". BBC. 12 February 2013. Archived from the original on 25 February 2013 . Retrieved 22 March 2013.There was a particularly fascinating (and disturbing) section on prostitution in the area, which Worth had to deal with when she befriended a young girl who had been lured into a brothel. Worth also mentions the horrible workhouses in London, which she learned about while caring for a traumatized patient who had lived there for decades. When Worth asked an older nun about the workhouses, she was told: "Humph. You young girls know nothing of recent history. You've had it too easy, that's your trouble." I think Worth's later memoirs talk more about this, so I expect to hear many more horror stories.