S2S - TV Drama Review

Call The Midwife - Episode 1, Series 1.

Episode Review 
I really enjoyed the first episode of call the midwife and have continued to watch more episodes. The first episode sees character Jenny Lee start her new job in London, although she thinks she is going to work in a private hospital, she is soon shocked to find it is actually a nurse convent. The episode introduces Jenny Lee and how she adapts to the poverty within that part of London. The first episode follows her delivering her first baby in extreme conditions.

I really enjoy the concept of the character Jenny having to overcome the poor conditions of London, it seems as though Jenny's character has come from a privileged background. The episode starts with Jenny Lee walking down the smoggy London streets filled with fog and people. Jenny Lee is in a nice dress and high heels, I think this perfectly incorporates the 'show not tell' aspect we have continuously been taught. What the character was wearing shows the character to have been out of place and summed up that she may not have been to this area before and was therefore out of place. I feel like this shows the importance of costume and how that can help you tell your story. This has inspired me to ensure my costumes for my main characters Grace and John tell their story and their characteristics. For Grace I want to ensure she is in inexpensive running gear, Grace comes from a broken family and doesn't have much attention given to her which is why she wouldn't have expensive running gear. Basically, the opposite effect to how Jenny Lee arrives in the East End.

The main story aspect is Jenny Lee delivering her first baby in the East End, the mother being a lady who does not speak English, has an English husband and already 14 other children. Another part I really enjoyed is the scenery and props used, the moment Jenny Lee walks into the mothers house for the first time you can see the disgust on her face which is really made up by the props and lighting. The lighting is dimly lit and you can almost feel like you could imagine the smell and damp inside the room because the lighting is so dingy, it really sets the scene and tone of what Jenny would experience. The props of the dirty washing hanging from the ceiling and the wallpaper hanging of the walls really shows you the type of wealth the family have and the conditions the baby is being born in. The whole episode just shows the importance of the set up, props and scenery. This has inspired me to ensure I do a prop list, to make sure my costume, scenery is prepared and effective. My Character John is meant to be an older man, I want to provide a walking stick to show he is struggling and of an older age. It is also important for me to get across that maybe he is from a lonely background, using shots of him alone in the park sitting on the bench. I also think scenery of my open field can be used to show his loneliness.

The ending and changing point is when Jenny Lee delivers the baby, there is little moments throughout the episode in which you feel some discomfort about the family and the sense that something is going to go wrong for them; however, once the baby is born it is not crying and they announce the baby dead. As the trauma hits the family you suddenly hear the baby crying in the background and the baby is actually alive. I really didn't expect this while I was watching the episode and it completely took me by surprise. I feel the writing of the episode really follows the 'moments' principal. All the moments leading up to the baby being dead, led you to believe it was true because of the weird animosity between the family members led you to believe something was going to go wrong; however the baby being alive really shocked me. I want to make sure I include moments like this within my second drafted script. This really made the episode for me and got me intrigued with the whole series. That's why by including moments that are unexpected it tends to really intrigue the audience. My character John is an old man that sits on the same bench in a nearly empty field each day who approaches young Grace to see if she is okay. I'm hoping I can make John seem like a creepy old man because that is far from what he is; however, I would like to be able to create the presumption for the viewers that John is bad news. Much like how in this episode they make you think the baby is dead.

Overall, I really enjoyed the episode, I feel like the storytelling was perfect and very enjoyable. As I mentioned above it has really inspired me to focus on the props, scenery, costumes and my moments. I really feel this completely made the episode. It showed and not told you everything, from one image you could already feel the setting of the episode and I think that's really important.