Peter Rhodes on a TV classic, the truth about owls and a bill from the 'free' NHS

ANACHRONISMS in Docklands? A reader notes that a character in Call the Midwife (BBC1) referred to "the upcoming elections." In the 1960s? He says "forthcoming" is far more likely.

AND off to the dentist who hoiked out my broken filling which I suspect was older than her and replaced it with a shiny new NHS one. I am a dental-wimp. It took three injections to take away the pain and still I flinched like the cowards in The Red Flag. I recall many years ago an old Anglican bishop explaining that he always refused anaesthesia at the dentist's so that he could comprehend better the suffering of his Lord on the Cross. Interesting ethical dilemma. If you feel richer, better and altogether Godlier by enduring pain, does it count as a good deed?

FRIENDS, the American comedy series, examined that very same theme in one episode: does sparing a wasp that's just stung you count as philanthropy if it makes you feel good? Friends examined just about every modern ethical and relationship issue with some brilliant writing, excellent casting and glorious acting. I wasn't surprised to hear this week that despite its great age (it first appeared in 1994), Friends is the most popular TV comedy among young people, even the ones who were not born when the curtain came down after 236 episodes in 2004.

INCIDENTALLY, if the NHS is "free at the point of delivery," as every politician of whatever hue always claims, why does a filling cost £59.10p?

THANKS for your views on the 75th anniversary of D-Day this summer and my fear that some veterans, now in their 90s, may suffer delayed trauma as parts of the Normandy Campaign are re-enacted and remembered. One reader suggested the D-Day warriors were "made of sterner stuff." It doesn't work like that. I remember a veteran, then in his 80s, who was blown up by a German shell in Flanders in 1917 and woke to find himself under a grey blanket among the bodies in a vast mortuary tent. In 1983 I helped arrange his greatest ambition, to recite "They shall grow not old . . ." at the nightly Menin Gate ceremony in Ypres. As he finished the words, he broke down and wept like a child. "The older you get, the softer you get," he explained.

WELCOME back, Winterwatch (BBC1) where a hi-tech night camera caught an owl sitting in a tree in the pitch-black wee small hours. On the same day, by chance, I'd been watching an owl in the window of a barn near our house. It stayed there for five hours, eyes closed, chest puffed out and seemingly enjoying the thin winter sunshine. I consulted Google. Apparently most owls enjoy sunbathing. One for you, Mr Packham.

• Peter Rhodes will be speaking at Wolverhampton Literature Festival this Sunday February 3 at 11am. Admission free. See: www.wolvesliteraturefestival.co.uk/peter-rhodes/4594474409