Call the Midwife-Series 4 (2014)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Featurette-4
Rating
Year Of Production	2014
Running Time	480:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Philippa Lowthorpe
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jessica Raine Miranda Hart Jenny Agutter Pam Ferris Judy Parfitt Linda Bassett Charlotte Ritchie
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	$39.95	Music	Peter Salem

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     This wonderful drama series from the BBC continues into its fourth season. It is an excellent production, emotional, heartfelt and touching. The show is set in the East End of London now in this season at the dawn of the 1960s, a time of great poverty amongst the working classes. The show centres on an institution called Nonnatus House, a local medical service with a focus on midwifery. The House is run by a group of nuns who are assisted by a number of young secular nurses. The show was originally based on a series of memoirs by a nurse, Jennifer Worth who worked in the East End during the 1950s, however most of the storylines here have been written directly for the series. Her books were bestsellers and the series has a realistic quality to it which reflects the reality of the situation faced by nurses at the time.

     The main character was Jenny Lee (Jessica Raine) based on the author, Jennifer Worth, however this character has now left the series after the death of her fiancé. Her colleagues, Camilla 'Chummy' Noakes (Miranda Hart), Cynthia Miller (Bryony Hannah) and Trixie Franklin (Helen George) continue to work in the team at Nonnatus, despite all of them having significant changes in their lives. Added to these in Season 3 was Patsy Mount (Emerald Fennell) who also has a developing storyline in this season. These four are all young midwives who work with the nuns who include Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter), the leader of the group, Sister Evangelina (Pam Ferris), a curmudgeonly older nun with lots of experience in midwifery, and Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt) an older nun who is growing slowly less and less able. There is also a Doctor who supports their work, Dr Turner (Stephen McGann). In Season 2, one of the younger nuns, Sister Bernadette (Laura Main) fell in love with Dr Turner who was a widower and they are now married. Also added in the previous season was another younger nun, Sister Winnifred (Victoria Yates).

     This fourth series kicks off with a Christmas special. The special is included in this three disc set along with the 8 normal episodes of Season 4. Despite not being directly taken from the memoirs, the stories in this fourth season keep up the very high quality of the show to date, with the emotion, humour, drama and romance we have come to expect from this excellent show. This season continues to ratchet up the emotions with a few tragedies and poignant story lines, however this is done so well that there is never any feeling of it being forced or cloying. New characters are also introduced, both nurses, one very experienced and a bit grumpy, Nurse Phyllis Crane (Linda Bassett) and a young midwife, Barbara Gilbert (Charlotte Ritchie). Both characters are worthwhile and different additions to the cast of characters. The stories involve a number of topics such as the way homosexuality was treated at the time, the challenges for unmarried mothers, the influx of Irish to London, prostitution and more.

     An excellent fourth season of a high quality English drama series set in early 1960s London.

Video

     The video quality is very good.

     The series is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio for this show. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     The picture was reasonably sharp and clear. Shadow detail was quite good.

     The colour was generally very good however there is some obvious light colour bleeding.

     There was also some mild motion blur and shimmering/aliasing.

     There are subtitles available in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read.

     There are noticeable layer changes during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is good.

The discs contain a English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 2.0.

     Dialogue was generally clear and easy to hear and understand. The soundtrack had a nice full presence in the room (for a two channel track) and drew you into the show.

     The music used was from the period and suited the show well.

     The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     A few featurettes make up the extras, all on Disc 2.

Menu

     The menu included music and motion.

60's Mufti in Poplar (5:42)

     This featurette focuses on the costumes and how they are changing as the show moves into the 1960s. The costume designer and cast discuss the costumes.

Lacquer, Lashes & Flick (3:22)

     This featurette focuses on the makeup and hair design choices for the different characters.

Babes, Bumps & Cords (4:02)

     A behind-the-scenes look at the props and prosthetics used for pregnant mothers, new born babies and umbilical cords. Probably the most interesting of the four.

60's New Era of Music (3:52)

     Discusses the new music used in this series due to the move into the early 1960s.

    This series is basically in the same format globally.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall