shelagh + holding her babies for the first time ♡

Shelagh's new glasses (13.1 & 2.1)

The differences between men and women or maybe just the inattentiveness of the Turner men!

Also Shelagh had the same glasses for 11 years

(the upswept frame 1958 - 1969)

Finally they told Angela she is adopted!

—Brides need mothers.

Call the Midwife is truly a show that gets depicting consent as sexy. Because consent is just the most basic thing you should have when engaging in romantic activities, what makes it sexy is if a person is very extra about it. Like there is a reason everyone thinks Patrick Turner is sexy. That scene where Shelagh turns away from Patrick and says that she can't let him kiss her hand even though she wants to because she is devoted to God, what is Patrick's answer? "If I didn't accept that, I wouldn't deserve to live". Wow. That sure is a thing you can say. Go off Doctor Sexy.

👓

Most unlucky family ever

I know this is normally @miss-ute’s forte, but I rewatched the s2 Christmas special on a different streaming service today, and there were extended turandette scenes???? And different wedding music???

Also, sir, please…

“He’s counting the days till you move in…and so am I.”

You might not have my eyes or smile, but from that very first movement, you had my heart.

Something stuck in my head at hearing Shelagh say "I need you to stay with me".

In the first pics from 2nd Christmas special they aren't married so she doesn't count as Tim's parent/guardian. So they each have to deal with it alone.

In the recent episode they are both 'just' the foster parents and are able to be a team and support each other.

I wonder if Shelagh was thinking about that and needed Patrick's comfort before they went to May together. 😢💔

headcanon with evidence: shelagh turner is autistic/neurodivergent!

intense interests: shelagh's special interest is obviously the science of midwifery. she's only 30 years old at the beginning of the series, but already her expertise is virtually on par with the older nuns. her deep knowledge is very well respected by her patients and colleagues. she also LOVES to talk about it, you can see her face light up every time she has a chance.

hyperfocus: when shelagh is completely absorbed in a task, she struggles to notice anything else around her. for example, in the very first episode, she doesn't even notice jenny is in the room when she comes to inform sister julienne about her latest delivery. when sister julienne introduces her to jenny, she only very briefly acknowledges her, and then goes back to talking about work, which ties into -

struggling with social cues: in scenes with lots of shelagh dialogue, notice how she struggles to make prolonged eye contact. a notable exception is sister julienne and, later, patrick, but this makes sense. a lot of autistic people struggle to make eye contact generally, but have a few "safe people" with whom it's a lot easier. shelagh also struggles with boundaries, indicated by her lack of ability to ask for help when she needs it or say no when she's asked to do something. she can also be very blunt and forthright about her opinions, such as when she tells jenny to "please stop wittering on about vegetables, i could not care less." she wasn't trying to be rude, she was just indicating her disinterest in the subject in a very to-the-point way. also, when she was infodumping about the bri-nylon nightie, and CLEARLY misunderstanding cues that patrick thought she was extremely sexy in that little get-up 😳😏

stimming: shelagh is CONSTANTLY stimming. most notable are her hand movements, she fidgets with her hands a lot, and when she sits at a table, she often keeps her hands below the surface. i believe this is so she can subtly stim without attracting attention. oh, and you know the autistic stereotype of velociraptor arms? well, i give you...

masking: she's a social chameleon. her speech mannerisms were much more formal and clipped while she was still in the religious life, because she was holding herself to a certain standard, even though it's not necessarily required (look at sister evangelina). i think she was trying to model her behaviour and mannerisms on sister julienne, which is SO COMMON for autistic women to copy the behaviour of someone they admire in order to blend. she also "mirrors" body language, seen here. (both have their hands in their pockets, their legs are the same width apart. also peep my babygirl not making eye contact AGAIN while he's directly looking at her face!)

exaggerated facial expressions and emotive tone of voice: it's a common misconception that autistic people always have monotonous voices and flat facial affect. some do, but just as many are the complete opposite and actually have really varied expressions and tones. ctm fans who don't like shelagh tend to point this fact out about her, but to me it just makes her relatable, because i'm a really emotive autistic person too!

also, this is just anecdotal, but all of my autistic friends who watch ctm agree with me that shelagh is most likely autistic. and we're really good at identifying autistic traits in others.

these are just my observations from watching the show, as an autistic person. if you don't share these views, that's fine! but please be mindful of what you say if you aren't neurodivergent ♡

Love is indeed the greatest prize

1958 (2.8)

1969 (13.8)

praise for Shelagh

them ♥️

Imagine being able to time travel and going back to series 1 and telling Sister Bernadette that this will be her life! Telling her she’ll be honest with herself, with Patrick. She’ll leave the order but not her sisters. Sister Bernadette will become Shelagh, she will marry Patrick with everyone she loves most around her. Timothy will call her mum and love her so much more than she could ever imagine. Tell her she will be a mum to four children that worship and test her and Patrick at the same time. They will affectionately be known as ‘The Turners’. They will have their ups and down, but always have each other. She will continue to work in the community as a nurse and midwife, and that community will continue to love her dearly.

Imagine being able to time travel back to series 1 to tell Sister Bernadette that she will find her path in life and she will be loved, complete and fulfilled.