7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In the fourth season, the nurses and midwives of Nonnatus House continue to serve the East End London district of Poplar as England enters 1960.
Starring: Jessica Raine, Pam Ferris, Helen George, Laura Main, Judy ParfittPeriod | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Spoiler alert: This review assumes that the reader is familiar with the first three seasons of Call the Midwife. Readers new to the series should consult the review of Season One for a spoiler-free introduction. The unstoppable success of the BBC's adaptation of former midwife Jennifer Worth's memoirs not only outlasted the conclusion of Worth's stories; it was also undimmed by the departure of her character from the series. After playing the young Jenny for three eventful seasons, actress Jessica Raine wanted to pursue new opportunities (including the recently aired Wolf Hall and the new adaptation of Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime). Following in the footsteps of the real Jennifer Worth, her fictional equivalent embarked on a new career caring for the terminally ill, departing Nonnatus House amidst tears and fond farewells at the conclusion of Season Three. In the show, Jenny's decision concluded a dramatic arc that saw her deal with the sudden death of her boyfriend, Alec Jesmond (the result of an accident), after which she took on nursing duties in the final days of Lady Browne, the formidable mother of Jenny's colleague, Chummy Noakes (Miranda Hart). Executive producers Heidi Thomas (who created Midwife) and Pippa Harris were unfazed by Raine's decision. They had plenty of stories to tell, a group of well-established and popular characters, a talented cast and a public eager for more. It was simply a matter of finding a new organizing principal for the episodes. Throughout the fourth season of Call the Midwife, you can feel Thomas and her co-writers searching for a center to replace Jenny, who remains a presence now only in the retrospective narration of Vanessa Redgrave that opens and closes each episode. To the extent that the creative team manages to overcome the absence of their lead character, it is a tribute to the ability of different cast members to shift into the foreground and occupy the center temporarily. Still, the episodes in Season Four lack the cohesion of their predecessors, and there's a hint in the season's overall design that the showrunners are aware of the problem. By the season's end, it appears that Thomas and Harris have settled on a central character for the fifth season that the BBC has already ordered.
Like Seasons Two and Three, Season Four of Call the Midwife has been encoded at 1080p on two BD-50s, using the AVC codec. Disc 1 contains episodes 1-4, plus the Christmas Special, while disc 2 contains episodes 5-8. Both the visual style and the video quality are consistent with those of previous seasons, except that the production design and costumes have now fully abandoned the Fifties period look that characterized the show at the outset. Women's fashions reflect the arrival of a new decade; hairstyles are more elaborate; and the environs of Poplar, while still impoverished, no longer suffer from the constant presence of post-war wreckage and debris. Everything is bolder and more colorful, and the hint of sepia that was almost a constant accompaniment of the image in Season One is now gone. As is the usual practice with Call the Midwife, a rotating bench of cinematographers shot the episodes (with the Arri Alexa), but the visual style remains consistent. Detail continues to be impressive, blacks are solid, and noise or artifacts are almost wholly absent. If BBC Home Video would spread these episodes across three Blu-ray discs instead of two, my guess is that the image would be perfect.
Returning to lossless audio for the first time since Season One, BBC Home Video has encoded Season Four's stereo track as DTS-HD MA 2.0. The result is the best-sounding audio presentation since the first season, with clear dialogue, a detailed sense of the surrounding environments and a rich reproduction of both the original score by Peter Salem and Maurizio Malagnini and the specific soundtrack selections such as the poignant inclusion of Roy Orbison's "Only the Lonely" and of Fred Astaire singing "Cheek to Cheek" that add vital emotional layering to Episode 7.
Unlike the previous three seasons, Season Four includes no extras, even though interviews with cast and crew were shot and included by PBS with their U.S. broadcasts. At startup, each disc plays trailers that can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not available once the disc loads. Disc 1 plays trailers for Enchanted Kingdom and Earth Journeys. Disc 2 plays trailers for Queen and Country, Miss Marple and The Musketeers: Season 2.
PBS trimmed less from the Season Four episodes than in some of the prior seasons of Call the Midwife, but these Blu-ray versions are still a few minutes longer than what appeared on American TV screens. Fans will want to get the full and uncut experience in the best possible presentation, and each episode packs so many separate stories into its hour-plus running time that it can easily stand up to multiple viewings. Despite a shaky start, the creative team has successfully weathered the challenge of continuing without their original lead character. Who knows what lies before them as the Swinging Sixties sweep through London? Highly recommended.
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