24/01/2012 The One Show

Hello and welcome to The One Show with Matt Baker. And Alex Jones.

Many of our viewers will remember tonight's guest for a series of

revealing roles in films like Walkabout and Logan's Run. After a

hugely successful 40 year career, she is more likely to be wearing a

wimple than her birthday suit. It is Jenny Agutter. Lovely to meet

you. You have taken quite a shine to the wimple. What is that? In you

have taken a shine to the wimple. On a was told I -- I was told that

she would try it on. It is good to see a man in a wimple. Oh, right!

It is quite liberating, going in knowing that every day your

character wears the same thing. Liberating, you say? It is quite

liberating. Do you find it liberating? Yes! Quite nice. You

don't have to worry about your hair. You look a bit weird. I think you

should take it off. You are frightened children. OK! It is

really nice to be made up and look glamorous and all the rest of it,

but went you are filming all the time and you have to get up very

early, it is nice to know that you do not need an extra two hours to

look good. What shall I wear? The habit. I will put the wimple on and

no make-up and that is it. That must be really nice. Call The

Midwife has been a huge hit. It has only been on a couple of weeks and

it is already the most popular new BBC drama for a decade. Let's go

live to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and see what it is like in a 21st

century maternity unit. Have you met any newborn babies yet, Lucy?

have and I might meet some more before the end of the show. They

don't come to order. I am relaxing by the pool, the birthing pool.

Bean bags, fluffy couches for the fathers to relax while the women do

the hard work. This is the Royal Infirmary state-of-the-art birthing

suite. There is everything here. It is a far cry on the surface from

the 1950s era of Call The Midwife but the ethos is still the same. To

deliver a happy, healthy babies. On that note, Shona, you are in charge

tonight as head midwife. It is pretty busy here. How many babies

do you deliver every year? Last year in the Royal Infirmary there

were just under 7000 babies. That is 17 per day. You really are busy

so I will leave you to it. Our team has been following things all day.

Look at this. It is the beginning of the morning

shift and this midwife is checking up on Tracey. She has been in

labour for eight hours. She has just received additional pain

medication and Linda is on the lookout for complications. We have

to keep a close eye on the baby's heartbeat and the contractions. We

have to make sure she is not contracting too much. The midwives

and doctors took care of me very well. It is just that things happen

and complications arise. I am waiting for two more powers to try

to have a natural birth. If it does not happen then I have to have a

Caesarean section. Later on we will find out whether it was a boy or a

girl. Very exciting. I have my scrubs here. I watched Call The

Midwife on Sunday so I think I can help to deliver a baby. Don't think

so. Are you sure you are up to that? That is a tall order. Almost

certainly not. They would never let him loose. OK! We will come back

later on. They earlier this month we asked you to get in touch if you

had noticed that your street light was getting turned off during the

night. Hundreds of you have be e- mailed in from Cornwall up to

Scotland. Mike is unhappy. His father-in-law is 77 and he had to

give him the torch to get him home, it was like the blackouts during

the war. And Richard says that he is in favour of saving night-time

light pollution. Of the Council but we know about, these are the ones

that told us that they switched off their lighting between midnight and

5 o'clock in the morning. Nobody in Northern Ireland, that's

interesting. We report from Bingham. Like many places in Great Britain,

Bingham has had its night-time street lighting reduced, plunging

them up when into darkness for most of their round. -- the milk men.

How has this affected your work? makes things more dangerous. You

can't see obstacles in the way. There have been a few accidents at

work. How dark is it? In certain areas it is like walking into a

forest. Pitch black. You cannot see two feet in front of you. It makes

the job harder. The street lights going of makes the job harder.

can see how dark it is. It is completely black. This is what we

have to contend with. We cannot even see the house in front of us.

I can understand why people would feel anxious and scared walking

home. I would not want to do it. The council says that they do not

switch off the lights in high-crime areas or accident blackspots. Lots

of consultation takes place before a decision is made to switch off

the street lights. According to the council, everything is done to

minimise the impact on local residents. Bingham resident Fiona

feels so strongly about the impact of the likes going of that she has

started a petition to get them switched back on. -- the lights

going off. It is completely black and you cannot see to the end of

your drive. People feel vulnerable in their homes. There was a spate

of break-ins. One neighbour was broken into while they were

sleeping in bed. They came in through the side door of the house.

It is a long way down the back of their house and it is quite dark.

It is extremely dark down the street right now so it gave the

burglars ample time to get in through the side door. Nobody

noticed that they were there because the lights were off and we

could not see anything. She is so worried about another break-in that

she has taken action. We have fitted the security lights after

the burglary. We wanted extra security so that we could see down

the side of the house and our neighbours can, too. Although they

believe that the lack of street lighting is responsible for an

increase in crime, the police so that is not the case. Looking at

the figures, across Bingham there has been a 68% decrease in

burglaries. Do you think the likes being switched off, people just

believed bad things can happen, it is perception of reality? They

think it is a possible perception that it is very dark and so there

is more chance of things happening and people being out and up to no

good. But looking at the figures for anti-social behaviour and crime,

that does not tally up. I think it is just perception. Another reason

councils before switching off the lights is to reduce carbon

emissions. -- another reason councils give. But as more people

drive instead of walking, carbon emissions could actually increase.

At this news they did, the staff begin work at 4:30am. -- at this

newsagent. One of our members of staff used to walk in and the other

would drive. But now that one is having to go out of their way to

pick up the other one because they cannot walk that far. We won't let

them because it is too dangerous. Bingham council estate that tough

economic times mean they have no choice but to turn off the lights

to save money. It is a commonsense approach. You don't need the lights

on downstairs when you go to bed at night. There are very few people

about so do we want to spend �1.5 million a year lighting the empty

streets? Last night I actually went out in darkness to see what it

would feel like. Lots of people mentioned it being eerie, and I

admit that it was, at the sounds, not being able to see in front of

me. Can you understand how people are feeling? We are working hard to

reassure people. It is about being aware that there has not been an

increase in crime and anti-social behaviour. They are as safe as they

were when the street lights were on. The council say that this decision

is not definitive. If crime and NT social behaviour increases, they

will switch them back on. -- anti- social behaviour. We had lots of

emails during that film saying that lots of people are in favour. What

do you think, Jenny? I would not want to turn them off in London but

there is something lovely being in the country and having a starlit

night. Maybe we do need torches. So long as you cannot fall down a hole,

or you are not been an urban area. Where I am from, we swap torches

because there are no lights. I bet you have got loads of torches.

you can get wind-up torches. You squeeze them and they keep going.

We will move on to Call The Midwife, incredibly successful. It is based

on Jennifer Worth's memoirs. 8 million people are watching. What

do you think the key to its success is? Well, you never know. When you

are making it, you have no idea. I was taken with the story. I knew

that it was a best-selling novel and everybody was enjoying Jennifer

Worth's work. But if you think of the subject matter, it is not an

obvious choice. Partly there are some really interesting stories in

the 50s. There is a very good writer on the script. It is an

interesting and fun cast and also the guests have been very good. It

is completely different. People are intrigued by the idea of not having

a doctor's story, detective story, a thriller. It is actually about

people at a certain time. People you do not know about but they

touch on your life in some way. Let's have a look at this Sunday's

episode. This is the convent and the midwives are complaining about

the state of the houses that they have to visit. I can't go back

there, not with those things crawling about. Calm down. They do

not invest human beings. As for never going back there, it is out

of the question. The comfort is not important. You have a job to do and

you will do it. The wimple suited you more! I was

not going to say that! It is based on MAM was, of course. The nuns and

midwives are based on real people. You met your character's cousin.

was extraordinary. I met somebody who knew the character that I

played's cousin. I spoke to her and she told me what the real one and

was like. It is a little bit removed. The book Take That Away

and the scripts take it a bit further. -- take it away. It is

Jennifer Worth's story and it is based on three things that happened.

The difference between the nuns and the characters that are in it, this

is awful, she says she cannot go back there, and the nuns have no

judgment about the way people are living and what they are doing. It

is just a matter of dealing with that. Going back to the earlier

question, for those that have been through childbirth, it is such a

vivid experience. As soon as you see somebody going through it, you

instantly snapped back. Yes. You have had two children and each one

makes you think how amazing the event is. That same with Miranda

Hart, the breech armour on Sunday. Everybody was sucked into it. --

the breech birth. When we were for -- filming, more of the men were

talking about childbirth and the women. They were shoved out of the

way in the 50s, so that has changed. When my brother had his first child

32 years ago, he was so excited. My husband was there as well. To be

part of that is fantastic. Unfortunately we have not got time

for another club. The midwives at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh

have got a question for you. Yes, a collection of midwives. Is that a

chorus? Elaine, would you like to ask Jenny your suggestion for

another series? Will we see multiple births? We don't want

twins, we want three! Or I can say is that Sister Julienne did not

actually have to handle any births in this one but it was alluded to

the fact that when there was a difficulty she would be there.

Perhaps in the next series there will be a multiple birth and I will

have to deal with it. Who knows? We will see. Thanks to the midwives.

We will be back. Back to Edinburgh later on. Call The Midwife shows

how expectant mothers coped in the 50s, but Ruth Goodman has been

looking further back to the Today's technology makes pregnancy

and birth relatively safe for the mother and child. In Victorian

times, it was very different. On average, a Victorian wife spent 12

years either pregnant or breast- feeding, with that on average five

births each. Of course, many of those would not make it to their

first birthday is a live. Judith Flanders is an author and social

historian who has studied Victorian life in detail. How was pregnancy

seen in Victorian times? It was a lovely event as long as you were

married and did not mention it. It was hidden as much as possible.

Clothing helped you hide it. At the end of the century, a woman was

wearing approximately 37lbs of clothing. So it could hide an awful

lot. For in the early Victorian period, pregnancy and birth was a

woman's business. But in the mid- 19th century, one book brought

enormous change. Advice to a wife was a self-help manual. But it was

written by a man, a surgeon called Henry. It was the first doctor's

book ever, not just of his day. He was the first to write childbirth

books to give his professional expertise. People like him were

part of that movement to switch it from pregnancy being a woman's

thing to being a medical condition. I like the way everything is put

down. If something happens, see a doctor. If it doesn't, see a doctor.

If you are not sure, see a doctor. I have come to unauthentic

Victorian kitchen to try a few Victorian remedies out. Toothache

is a frequent sign of pregnancy, pregnancy often being destructive

to the teeth, destroying one with every child. He gives a whole range

of things to help with the toothache. This one is the simplest.

Take a piece of brown paper. And some brandy, and scatter a load of

pepper. And this is laid to the cheek. It is supposed to stay there

for several hours. How much it helps the toothache, I am not sure.

This is a good one about stomach problems. We need powdered rhubarb.

Half a dram. Carbonate magnesium, essence of ginger, compound

tincture of cardamoms and peppermint water. This is not quite

medicine. Many of these ingredients are genuinely helpful and would be

recommended today. But my favourite recipes considerably less good for

you. A glass of champagne for the morning sickness. Perhaps the

scariest part in Victorian times was the birth itself. This

expertise from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She

wants to show me a collection of Victorian birthing instruments that

sent shivers down my spine, as does the prospect of being a poor

Victorian mother, as pain relief was reserved for the rich.

Chloroform was one of the major advances in the practice of

obstetrics. Only doctors could give it. That meant that only the women

who could afford the services of the doctor could afford the

benefits of chloroform. Hygiene standards were poor, and the higher

death rates associated with birth were often the fault of the doctors

themselves. Doctors attended people with infections, of course, and

then brought the infection into the birthing chamber. This would have

been the obstetrician's tool box in 1850. And it is exactly these

things that moved infection from one woman to another? Yes. And the

danger was that the mum would develop an infection and die.

of them are gruesome. People often ask, would I really like to live in

the past? Well, this is one of the reasons why the answer to that is

emphatically No. Well, you have obviously researched the '50s for

your role in Call The Midwife. Would you like to go further back

to the Victorian era? That was extraordinary. When you look at how

far we have come, when I read the script for Call The Midwife, it

seemed much further back than the '50s. It felt very historical, with

all the equipment. It seemed so removed from today. Makes you

wonder where it is going in the next decades. It was amazing to see

those women in Edinburgh. Good news. It is day two of Mike Dilger's week

hopping out at Tiggywinkles animal rescue centre.

Last night, we rescued a fallow deer that had been caught up in a

barbed-wire fence. The first 24 hours are critical when Nadir comes

in. Due to their ordeal, they are prone to stress, and resulting

symptoms can kill them. It is the morning after the night before, and

we are here with bated breath. How is our dear doing? Let's have a

look. Looks like it is doing OK. He made it through the night. He is

looking good. That is a great sign. Our dear has got fight. Will he

make a good recovery? I am confident. He is happy and tried to

jump out of the door. Delighted. But there is still concern about

the injury to his leg, and I will check on him later. The vets and

nurses at this Wildlife Centre will go to extraordinary lengths to get

an animal on the road to recovery. Tiggywinkles receive around three

tawny owls a week, many of which are the result of car accidents and

need special treatment to nurse them back to health. Fortunately,

the staff here really do give a hoot. Since since this one was hit

by a car, it has had problems with his vision. So we have travel 30

miles for a special appointment with veterinary of pathologist

David. You can see a cataract. There is a detached retina behind

the lens. There is no way we can laser that back in position. Tall

and the owls have superb night vision and can see in near pitch

black, but as they used their hearing to hunt as well, it might

not all be bad news. Does that mean for the owl is effectively blind?

Totally blind in this I. But with time to adjust in captivity to site

in only one night, it is possible he could hunt in the wild again.

During the spring and summer, rescuing abandoned juvenile badgers

is one of the most regular call- outs, as they are too young to

survive on their own. But after months of care, they are strong

enough to fend for themselves. One of this year's intake really stands

out from the crowd. That is astonishing! It is a beautiful

animal. So he is colouring is due to a genetic variation. He is not a

beano, because he does not have those pink eyes, but to have an

all-white badger is incredibly rare. It's unfortunately, they stand out

like a sore thumb. That worries me. People like to shoot white animals

and stuff them and have them as a trophy. As a consequence, he will

not be released back into the wild. Instead, he will remain here in a

specially built badger enclosure. The other four, you are going to

build an artificial badger sett, and they can come and go as they

please. I will get my shovel. have a much bigger shovel for you.

This is building a badger sett, industrial style. It will be like a

halfway house. Although built on the centre's Land, the badgers will

be free to go into the wild. I have no idea what I am doing. A simple

badger sett is made up of two tunnels, with one big sleeping

chamber. This is how you do it properly. That is looking white.

Presumably the badgers will come out at dusk, feed in the paddock

and then when it comes to dawn, they will shoot like rats down a

drainpipe. Straight back into the badger sett. Let's hope the badgers

will remain as a family group. But if they leave, the badger sett will

be used again next year. Four badgers, one new home. Lovely.

Tomorrow, a polecat gets a new home and we will have one in the studio.

My favourite moment last year was you put your hand in the box and

touchy the Little ferret. Which I thought was a cat.

Any way, I'd back to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary maternity ward now

and our wannabe midwife. Lucy, we have had suggestions for a group of

midwives. How about an expectation. For a delivery. Why didn't I think

of those? Obviously, this is an ultra-modern hospital, but cast

your mind back to the 1950s. Then, the average number of babies born

was 806,000. Now it is 807,000. But in the '50s, half of those were

born at home. Now it is fewer than 5%. A mother in the '50s would have

spent about ten days in hospital recuperating. Now, she is out in 24

hours, some apparently within six hours. I am joined now by Lindsay

Reid, midwifery royalty and an expert on the history of midwifery.

This is a 1950s midwifery kit. What is the most obvious difference?

What stands out completely, literally, is this stethoscope.

looks primitive, made from wood. You could get them in plastic. They

were used for listening to the foetal heart via the mother's

abdomen. I know that, because I saw Miranda Hart's character do it. I

am just going to go across to so Celia. You are a student of

midwifery. And this is what you would use instead of that object.

Yes, it is battery operated and utilises ultrasound waves to listen

to the baby's habit. Would you rather use this? Yes, because

everyone else can listen in. It is more inclusive. Earlier, we caught

up with Tracy, who had eight hours in labour. This is what happened.

A Tracy Edwards is still waiting for her first child to be born. She

has been in labour overnight, and she is being examined by the doctor.

Your baby is facing the ceiling. So your baby is in an oar -- a more

awkward position. We need a Caesarean section. It will be safer.

With childbirth, you can't predict. You can have a plan, but the plan

can just crumble and the next thing you know, you have to follow what

the doctors say and the midwives say. Whatever is good for the baby

and yourself. These midwives, different types of childbirth are

everyday eventualities, and within the hour, Tracey's baby is safely

in his mother's arms. I am feeling very happy that he is finally here

with us. Safe and sound. I know what we need to see. Would you like

gorgeous. And being quite a vocal. How are you feeling? A bit tired,

but fine. You look fantastic. And it all went well? Absolutely. It

was perfect. The midwives were amazing. How cuties she?! She is

really cute. I am obsessed, so I have to ask. Did you watch Call The

Midwife on Sunday? We did, and my waters broke ten minutes after the

programme. She is so amazing. On behalf of everyone at The One Show,

Of so cute! Good luck to all expectant mums and dads, especially

the mums. Now, the Avengers is coming up. What is it like to be

back on a Hollywood blockbuster? is a tiny role. But the whole

rigmarole of being in Hollywood with Samuel L Jackson...

Thank you to all of you who have been e-mailing and about street

lights. People in the countryside are saying townies should stop