Great Expectations [Documentary]

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Three programmes following midwives at work in very different parts of the United Kingdom.

Series

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

Midwives And Monitors

19980504

19990118

Having learnt to say `push' in 20 different languages, a midwife at Homerton Hospital in East London may have to cope with anything from knife fights on the ward to the possibility that 30 of their annual 4,500 babies might all arrive on Christmas Day.

Birthrights And Bleepers

19980511

19990125

If your idea of a midwife is a tall, blonde Australian on a motorbike, then Alice Coyle fits the bill.

Her clients are women who want to give birth at home.

In the Western Isles, home visiting can mean braving rough seas and, on one occasion, delivering a baby in a horsebox.

03 LAST

Everyday Miracles

19980518

19990201

An emergency in the Hebrides can mean the transfer by helicopter of a woman in labour, or a 90-mile ambulance ride.

Even in hospital, things can go wrong, and midwives may have to cope with the trauma of a stillborn baby, helping the mother through her grief.

Episodes

Series	Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
01	01	Midwives And Monitors	19980504	19990118	Having learnt to say `push' in 20 different languages, a midwife at Homerton Hospital in East London may have to cope with anything from knife fights on the ward to the possibility that 30 of their annual 4,500 babies might all arrive on Christmas Day.
01	02	Birthrights And Bleepers	19980511	19990125	If your idea of a midwife is a tall, blonde Australian on a motorbike, then Alice Coyle fits the bill. Her clients are women who want to give birth at home. In the Western Isles, home visiting can mean braving rough seas and, on one occasion, delivering a baby in a horsebox.
01	03 LAST	Everyday Miracles	19980518	19990201	An emergency in the Hebrides can mean the transfer by helicopter of a woman in labour, or a 90-mile ambulance ride. Even in hospital, things can go wrong, and midwives may have to cope with the trauma of a stillborn baby, helping the mother through her grief.