The Good Old Days were always 50 years ago

There is no mystery to the success of Call the Midwife (BBC1), writes Peter Rhodes.

It was set about 50 years ago. From the dawn of civilisation, 50 years ago has always been a better time than the time you are living in, mainly because we were all 50 years younger.

If we really wanted to live in the 1950s we could switch off the central heating, exist on a diet of boiled mince and decline the anaesthetic at the dentist's.

Nothing can ever dim the rose-tinted specs of nostalgia but if you could be magically transported back to the days of Call the Midwife, I guarantee after about 10 minutes you'd head straight back to 2012.