One Born Every Minute - TV review

There was screaming, shouting and crying as the Bafta award-winning series opened the doors of the maternity ward for the first in a new series last night.

And while it can sometimes be jolly-hockey-sticks for Miranda Hart and Co on BBC period drama Call the Midwife, the Channel Four show hits you between the eyes with every minute detail.

The show focuses on midwives in the maternity units at Leeds General Infirmary and St James's Hospital.

It is fly-on-the-wall filmmaking at its most natural and engaging. There are no film crews piling into the delivery room or annoying celebrity narrator telling us what we already know.

Instead the story is told simply through the relationships of the three couples featured – and the midwives tasked with making it the experience of a lifetime.

But One Born Every Minute brings all the trappings of busy, modern life in front of the 40-something cameras lining the wards.

There are childhood sweethearts Marvin and Ramona who have known each other since they were four-years-old and describe themselves as soulmates.

But Marvin's main preoccupation is making sure he doesn't miss the birth as he juggles his construction job with his fatherly duties. After one false dawn, Ramona is brought in by her mother Yvette with Marvin stuck working in Reading.

And despite a two hour dash back up to Yorkshire, he only arrives at the maternity unit in time to greet his newborn daughter Maliyah, weighing in at 5lb 14oz, lying in her cot.

The two other couples in this week's show told a tale of two contrasting fathers-to-be.

Brash reformed jailbird Lee seems more intent on cracking gags, guzzling crisps and inducing labour for his partner Stacey than basking in the joys of fatherhood.

He even supplied the line of the night stating: "I want my son to be a ginger because I have got so many nieces and nephews and none of them are ginger."

However the jokes gave way to a smile and misty eyes as Stacey gave birth to their son Zachary weighing 7lb 2oz.

Meanwhile a window cleaner, come gardener, called Billy let his partner Sara do most of the talking before the birth.

Looking like a rabbit caught in headlights, Billy struggled to muster many words of encouragement for Sara as she lay across a bean bag to try an active birth.

When he did utter some words it was bizarrely only to reveal he fancied eating eggs benedict just as Sara's contractions took hold.

Billy's only job came as Sara ordered him to call the midwife using the emergency button but proceeded only to find the light switch instead.

But with the help of jolly midwife Lucy, they were soon joined in the world by their daughter Hazel weighing in at 8lb 1oz.

Just to help the show ebb and flow, birthing scenes were interspersed with lighter moments from the midwives as they shared banter and took a wry look at life from the staffroom.

For those who think One Born Every Minute will just deliver the same show each week, you're right.

And that means the chance to see couples – and the midwives – going through the most uplifting, extraordinary, moving moment they will ever experience in their lives.

Not bad for a Wednesday night.

Andrew Turton