#i am terrified of what tbe consequences will be

[sparklestheunicorn]

Guess who's baaaacccckkkkkk. It's twelve year old emily. Alive and can't stop thinking about the hunger games

[salsflore]

[ponderingsandprettythings]

I think the thing that has struck me most from reading the posts about the end of Patsy and Delia's, and Sister Mary Cynthia's storylines in Call the Midwife, is that yes everyone is upset because their favourite characters/actresses are leaving but ultimately it's because it's the characters that they most related to are leaving. There has been a lot of praise for Sister Mary Cynthia's storyline and it's representation of mental health and the way it manifested in a character that did not initially have mental health problems. The way her feelings and treatment were being explored and how it impacted those around her, who cared for her most, and what theu tried to do for her. Patsy and Delia are an amazing couple for so many reasons. They are a lesbian couple at a time when homosexuality was illegal and believes immoral by many people including people they lived and worked with which was an incredibly powerful and complicated story arc. Fundamentally though they are very real characters with very real and relatable problems and feelings. They love each other so much and were finally on track for a happy ending after such a long period of heartache. The underlying reason so many people seem to be so upset (entirely understandably) is characters they could relate to, that they understood, that represented them in mainstream media that they could watch with their families, have been taken away from them. Characters that people (myself included) looked up to, and connected with. These three women, Patsy, Delia and Sister Mary Cynthia, were amazing representations of people in groups, with struggles, etc. that are so rarely represented at all, and even more rarely represented well, and now they have been removed. They have been removed suddenly. They have been removed in a way we don't know the details of yet and are all terrified about. We are worried that their disappearance will be brushed away as nothing of consequence, as so much representation of people who do not fit the media "norm"* is brushed away. Representation is so incredibly important. It is so important for people of all ages (not just young people) to feel validated in whi they are as a person and the media is an amazing way of doing this, and yet repeatedly the representation isn't there or is taken away just as it gets really good. I am incredibly thankful to Emerald Fennell, Kate Lamb and Bryony Hannah for their amazing work and dedication to the show over the years. Their portrayal of their characters has been fantastic. This has absolutely nothing to do with them wanting to pursue other projects, I would never want to discourage them or anyone else for doing the things they want to, no matter what! This is to the BBC and television and the media as a whole to beg them to end these storylines well, and to write more things with good characters that represent the amazing and diverse people in tbe world wanting to watch tv. It is up to the big corporations and companies to ensure there is more representation and more relatable characters on our screens, this responsibility isn't on Emerald or Kate or Bryony's shoulders. They will embody the characters we love, but the corporations need to encourage and allow writers to develop these characters properly. We are heartbroken over the loss of these characters, because we have lost a part of us from the screen.