I think that’s what makes the most recent series so frustrating - they used to tackle proper storylines with arcs that ran across multiple episodes. Backstreet abortions, thalidomide, TB, mental health, alcoholism. All really well handled. Now everything feels like a sickly sweet twee drama with the odd minor crisis shoehorned in.
They spent as much time on Sister MJ’s ridiculous hunger strike for the astronauts as they did on the revelation that Miss Higgins has a secret son, their reunion and his death!