‘Call the Midwife’ season 5: Is a battle with ‘Downton Abbey’ brewing over content?

Who knew that we’d be getting a feud-of-sorts between two popular British dramas … or at least a one-sided war of words? You can file the following under “most surprising controversies of the year.”

We’re speaking specifically of some comments that “Call the Midwife” actress Judy Parfitt (who plays Sister Monica Joan) made per the Daily Star about “Downton Abbey,” and why she feels that its content is one of the reasons why the ITV series has become more popular while her own program is a little more under-the-radar in countries other than the UK:

“Downton was very enjoyable but when he (Matthew Crawley) got up to walk after being paralysed all that time, I thought ‘What?’ I think a lot of it is because there are no hunks and no cleavage and no sex on our show … I think people who do publicity just think ‘Oh, it’s nuns and midwives but on that show she’s got big [tracks of land, to use a Monty Python phrase] and he’s taking his shirt off’ and focus on them instead.”

If there was an immediate reaction we had to this story, it was this: “What?!”. The thing here is that “Downton” does have a little bit racier content for sure than “Call the Midwife,” but let’s not compare it to anything on HBO or premium cable. The amount of sex on the show is still pretty minimal, and it never feels like the sort of show people are watching with that in mind.

We do think there is something to be said about American / international viewers being wary of “Call the Midwife” because of preconceived notions, but we think the appeal of “Downton” has more to do with the overall aesthetic and overall feel, which is relatively close to a primetime soap.

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