Call the Midwife

If you watched the recent series of ‘Call the Midwife’ on Sunday evenings on BBC1, you may have noticed an episode that featured a character with psoriasis. We are very proud to say that we worked with the BBC to help them tell Gerard’s psoriasis story. Incidentally, the episode was also set in 1968, which is the year the Psoriasis Association was founded.

The episode, that aired on Sunday 5th February, featured a character called Gerard who has been suffering with psoriasis - untreated and undiagnosed for almost two years after his wife walked out on the family home.

Gerard’s eldest son Joey has been caring for his father ever since and is fearful the family will be split up. However, Joey is in fact suffering with undiagnosed Leukaemia, which eventually gets diagnosed and the nonnatus team discover the full extent of Joey's homelife. Joey is admitted to hospital for treatment and Gerard finally has his skin condition diagnosed and his treatment starts.

Gerard’s story in the episode showed him using treatments such as coal tar. While Psoriasis treatments have come a long way since 1968, coal tar is still a popular choice for treatment.

Feedback from the episode has been hugely positive with people praising its realism and highlighting some of the issues faced by those with psoriasis. It was such a privilege to work with the team on the episode as well as to rediscover our archives from the year we were founded!

If you haven’t managed to watch the episode yet, it is available on BBC iPlayer – Season 12, episode 6. Let us know your feedback afterwards!