Finally, Episode 5 of this series found both sides of the government in action, as all parties tried to deal best with the fall-out of the viper's kiss that had felled Nicola Murray (Rebecca Front).

The Coalition came unsteak as a leaked email caused pandemonium in both parties

Under the confident direction of Chris Addison, it was a breath-catching romp as first Peter Mannion (Roger Allam) saw his perfect chance to skip his government duties and resign. “You're Aslan, no one shaves your mane,” wailed a horrified Phil (Will Smith). “You've passed the dignified exit,” reflected a more pragmatic Emma (Olivia Poulet).

It looked as though he wouldn't need to resign if Fergus's troops had their way, getting Glenn (James Smith) to ‘leak' Mannion's Mr Tickle jokes to the press. Except Glenn ‘forgot' to redact the stick – too busy bribing Terri (Joanna Scanlon) with talk of severance and a tea-shop near Ludlow – and Fergus (Geoffrey Streatfield) found himself besmirched too, much to his horror – “this was meant to be one shit in one direction, not madras f***ing everywhere.”

But if Mannion was “going Mel Gibson”, it seemed the Opposition weren't having much luck either. Initially, it all seemed to be going Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi)'s way, with Nicola Murray's departure – “the blind man's crumpet is on her way up, no smiling, not even a wee Ann Robinson,” he instructed his troops – but soon their ill-concealed hostility was there for all to see, and Peter Capaldi and Rebecca Front let fly.

Nicola Murray finally realised that she'd lost the love of her own camp

“You're not a grandee, you're a fucking blandee,” he began. “You'll find out what it's like to have me pissing in your tent,” she replied. Please tell me this is what it's really like in Parliament, on a bad day. It was almost erotic.

Once again, Terri nearly had the best line of the week, as she saw the chances of her Ludlow tea-shop receding… “It's the culture of blame that's to blame for this.”

But once again it was a quiet moment between Malcolm and his acolyte Ollie that really stole the show, as Mr Tucker explained what a government inquiry into leaking really meant for the country's corridors of power…

“It's the end of the world as we know it… to paraphrase a popular f***ing Bangles song.” (“It's REM,” mentions Ollie.) Don't start contradicting me on that kind of shit.

“If a government can't leak, you know what happens - dark shit builds up.

“You'd better keep your head down, and I don't mean just when you're frequenting your favourite glory holes.”

Only two episodes left. What WILL we do?

Click here for more TV Reviews

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have been stars in the improv and sketch communities for a while now, but America finally caught up when they were given their own Comedy Central show, "Key & Peele." No small part of that success was due to their parody of Barack Obama: Having an "anger translator" named Luther behind a very calm Obama to say what the President's not able to say out loud. The sketch set Internet viewing records for Comedy Central before the show even debuted.

The dup stopped by our offices recently, and HuffPost Comedy editor Katla McGlynn had a chance to sit down and talk to them about why Luther has become the definitive Obama parody, and what Obama himself had to say about it when they met him.

"Key & Peele" airs Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. on Comedy Central, after "South Park."

Video produced by Ross Luippold.

WATCH: Luther, Obama's anger translator, reacts to the first debate.

Miley Cyrus deserves to flaunt her body after attending countless numbers of Pilates classes to get in incredible shape. But the 19-year-old risked having a huge wardrobe malfunction on "The Tonight Show" last night (Oct. 12) when she showed up for her interview in a cleavage-baring crop top and high-waisted skirt.

Cyrus' eye-catching ensemble showed off her best assets, but almost gave away a bit too much as she chatted about her fiancé Liam Hemsworth and her new role on "Two and a Half Men."

"I've turned [Liam's trailer] into my office," Cyrus said of visiting "The Hunger Games" set in Atlanta, Ga. "I work on my music ... and sometimes I just sit in there and color and watch TV. I have secret crayons for when I get bored, night shoots, you know?"

But although she may still be a kid at heart, Cyrus is a woman when it comes to romance. The newly blonde beauty told Jay Leno that she had a hard time kissing Angus T. Jones, also 19, on the set of "Two and a Half Men" because she felt like she was betraying Hemsworth.

"It was kind of weird because when I'm doing it the prop guys and all these people, they're like, 'Do you have your ring on?' And I'm like, 'Ugh. This feels weird,' like taking off my ring to make out with Angus," Cyrus explained. "It's creepy, it kind of felt a little weird at first."

Well, it probably wouldn't be as "weird" as Leno catching a glimpse of her breasts ... right?

See photos below and watch Cyrus' interview above.

Robin Sparkles fans rejoice! Everyone's favorite Canadian teen pop star is due to make another appearance on "How I Met Your Mother."

Cobie Smulders, who plays Robin Scherbatsky (and her teen alter-ego Robin Sparkles) on the show, tweeted a photo of herself dressed as the "Let's Go To The Mall" singer earlier this week.

[Click the link to see Smulders' photo.]

The character of Robin Sparkles first emerged in Season 2 of the show when Scherbatsky was hesitant to go to malls and wouldn't tell her boyfriend at the time, Ted Mosby (played by Josh Radnor), why. After some digging done by Neil Patrick Harris' character Barney Stinson, it was discovered that throughout her teen years, Scherbatsky had toured malls in Canada performing her one pop hit, "Let's Go To The Mall." (Listen to that ear worm above.)

There is talk that this will be the last season of HIMYM, so a return appearance by Robin Sparkles is much needed. Fans can only hope that it includes a follow-up ballad to "Sandcastles In The Sand."

Legendary TV actor and host, Gary Collins, passed away early this morning in Biloxi, Miss., at the age of 74.

Harrison County Deputy Coroner Brian Switzer tells TMZ that Collins died of natural causes just before 1:00 a.m. at Biloxi Regional Medical Center.

Appearing on hit shows, such as "JAG," "Charlie's Angels," "Fantasy Island" and "The Love Boat," Collins was best known for hosting the talk show "Hour Magazine" from 1980 to 1988. He also hosted the Miss America Pageant from 1985 to 1989.

Collins, who separated from his wife of 44 years, Mary Ann Mobley, last year, has three children -- daughter Mary with Mobley and Guy and Mimi with his previous wife, Susan Peterson.

The original winner of "The Apprentice" is making his way back to boardroom.

Bill Rancic has announced that although he's not a contestant on "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice," he will be a huge part of the upcoming season. The 41-year-old new dad, who just welcomed son Edward Duke with his wife, E! News correspondent Giuliana Rancic, will be assisting Donald Trump as a mentor to the cast, which includes stars like Trace Adkins, Stephen Baldwin, Gary Busey, Lisa Rinna, Omarosa, LaToya Jackson and Bret Michaels.

"It's hard to believe it was almost nine years ago that I won the first season of "The Apprentice,"" Rancic told E! News of his new gig. "Had it not been for "The Apprentice" and Donald Trump, I wouldn't have met my wife through an interview with E! News."

"It's always an honor when Mr. Trump asks me to come back to the show," he continued. "Over the years, I have been a boardroom advisor several times, but am most excited to be a part of this All-Star season. I have a strong feeling it's going to be the most entertaining celebrity season yet, and I look forward to being a part of it."

"All-Star Celebrity Apprentice" begins filming on Monday in New York City.

Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson is coming back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Despite meeting a tragic end in "Marvel's The Avengers," the beloved and by-the-book agent will apparently make an appearance in "Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D.," the new television series produced by Joss Whedon.

"We all love Clark Gregg, there's no doubt about that," Whedon said via taped message to attendees at New York Comic-Con on Saturday. "From before we made 'The Avengers,' we discussed whether there was a way for him to be a part of the Marvel Universe, perhaps a part of a TV show even after his death."

Confirmed Marvel chief Kevin Feige, "There was never going to be a 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' show without Agent Phil Coulson!"

The news of Gregg's involvement in "Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D." was first reported by Comic Book Resources and later confirmed by TVLine.

While fans have been clamoring for Coulson's return -- perhaps as Vision, a synthetic android in the Marvel universe that can be implanted with real memories -- Gregg himself is likely even more pleased with the news. In an interview with Movies.com in September, the actor expressed dismay over the fact that his character wouldn't appear on the television series when it launched.

"You know what -- that was the moment where I went, great, now they're doing the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show now that I'm on a slab," he joked. Added Gregg about the possibility of Coulson-as-Vision, "I love the idea of Coulson as the Vision, but I don't know if that's in the cards."

For more on the New York Comic-Con event, head over to Comic Book Resources.

[via Comic Book Resources]

We know Kim Kardashian loves fast cars and luxury automobiles, but we never thought she was the scooter-type. Turns out, she is.

Kardashian was seen paling around with her BFF, Jonathan Cheban, at a Vespa store in Miami, Fla., yesterday (Oct. 13), trying on helmets and getting comfortable on some scooters before attempting to take them for a ride. As it turns out, Kardashians sky-high red heels weren't Vespa-friendly, so she watched on as Cheban went for a test drive.

Kardashian has been down in Florida for the last few weeks, shooting scenes for her reality show, "Kourtney and Kim Take Miami," with sisters Kourtney and Khloe and Scott Disick.

Check out photos of Kim K's Vespa adventure below:

Rawwwr!!! (As Kim Kardashian would say).

The reality star, 31, tweeted a photo of herself sporting a see-through leopard bodysuit while out Halloween costume shopping in Miami, Fla., on Oct. 13. Kardashian flaunted her breasts and toned tummy as she posed for a mirror shot in the risque costume, which comes complete with ears and a tail.

"Rawwwr!!! Halloween Costume shopping," Kardashian posted, along with the picture on Instagram.

Kim K must be in the Halloween spirit. Not only did she share a photo of herself as a flapper at Eva Longoria's themed birthday party in 2011, but she even retweeted a photo of fans dressed up as her and boyfriend Kanye West for a costume party, writing, "OMG amazing!"

What do you think of Kardashian's frisky feline costume? See the photo below:

Sad news for Russell Crowe.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the actor, 48, and his wife of nine years, Australian singer Danielle Spencer, 43, have decided to separate after nine years of marriage. The pair, who married in April 2003 in a purpose-built chapel at Crowe's farm in South Wales, have two children together, sons Charles, 8, and Tennyson, 6.

Reportedly, the split is in part due to Crowe's busy film schedule, which has kept him away from his family in Sydney for most of the year. The Australian actor has six films coming out in the next 12 months, including "Man with the Iron Fists," "Les Miserables," "Broken City," "Man of Steel," "Noah" and "Winter's Tale."

The separation is said to be amicable and the couple's number one concern is raising their sons. Crowe will continue to shoot the biblical epic, "Noah," in the U.S. while Spencer will stay with the boys in Sydney.

Crowe and Spencer first met 22 years ago on the set of "The Crossing," before he made it big in Hollywood. Following his relationship with Meg Ryan, he returned to Australia and realized that Spencer was the one for him. Crowe proposed in December 2002, saying, "The thought [of marrying her] crossed my mind the first time I met her."

The Huffington Post has reached out to Crowe's rep.

The last time Christina Applegate hosted "SNL" was 19 years ago when she was part of the now quite extremely famous original Matt Foley, Chris Farley sketch, which she mentioned in the monologue. You know the one, where Applegate and David Spade cannot keep a straight face, while somehow Phil Hartman does keep a straight face because that's just what Phil Hartman used to do. Applegate was a terrific host because she blended into the cast and when that happens, "SNL" becomes a streamlined machine -- which it was last night. I'm already looking forward to when Applegate hosts again in 2031. Brace yourself kids, it's time for a quite jovial Scorecard ...

Sketch of the Night

"Cold Open: Vice Presidential Debates" (Jason Sudeikis, Taran Killam, Kate McKinnon, Usain Bolt) I mean, they even nailed Paul Ryan's widow's peak. As opposed to last week's it's-a-stretch-but-we-don't-know-what-else-to-do angle for the first presidential debate, the vice-presidential debate was tackled head on and it was perfect: The mannerisms, the dialogue ... everything. (And, yes, we, as a society, are quite fortunate that Jason Sudeikis decided to return to "SNL" for the election.)

Score: 9.0

The Good

"Sirens" (Jason Sudeikis, Taran Killam, Bobby Moyihan, Cecily Strong, Christina Applegate, Kate McKinnon, Fred Armisen) This was pretty fantastic because I can't think of one reason why a self-respecting siren wouldn't be singing Lisa Loeb. The gist, since it's not online: Odysseus is tempted by the sirens' songs, which happen to be "No Scrubs," "I Don't Want To Wait," and "Stay." (Also, I, too, am tempted by those songs so I finally feel like I have something in common with Odysseus. Finally.

(Sadly, this sketch is not online due to songs rights issues.)

Score: 8.5

"Taken Trailer" (Jay Pharoah, Taran Killam, Bobby Moynihan, Bill Hader, Christina Applegate, Jason Sudeikis) You know, it's true, a lot of daughters seem to be kidnapped away from fathers who are quite vengeful in their ways of getting them back. Regardless, one of the underrated things that "SNL" does is fake movie blurbs: "'None of the characters have names or back stories, and I like that,' raves The Director." "Peter Travers of 'Rolling Stone' gives it, 'One Review.'" Honestly, I could listen to 10 minutes of fake movie blurbs.

Score: 7.0

"Christina Applegate Monologue" (Christina Applegate, Ensemble) Celebrating the lack of a holiday this weekend was clever. Though, there are already Christmas items available at my local drug store, so, I'm not sure how accurate Applegate's song really is, truth be told. Still, I'm always a sucker for a big "to-do" to be made out of the monologue -- and this was.

Score: 7.0

"Principal Fry" (Jay Pharoah, Vanessa Bayer, Christina Applegate, Kene Thompson) Wow, Jay Pharoah broke character. It's far from my favorite thing when cast members start laughing during a sketch, but, I think in the long run, this was really good for Pharoah. Even with his recent success as Obama, audiences may not feel connected to him because he's more hidden than the other cast members behind the guise of his fairly dead on impression. The fact that he broke (ever so slightly) while doing a character he loves (which also happens to be his former high school principal) is strangely endearing.

Score 6.8

"Tech Talk" (Christina Applegate, Bill Hader, Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, Fred Armisen, Nasim Pedrad, Cesily Strong) The line of the night might just be, "Does diabetes count as a product?" If nothing else, I've been considering upgrading to the iPhone 5 and, now, after watching this sketch, I may hold off because it sounds like there are a lot of problems. I have a strong feeling that wasn't supposed to be my biggest takeaway, but, alas.

Score: 6.0

"Weekend Update" (Seth Meyers, Nasim Pedrad, Kenan Thompson) First of all, Nasim Pedrad does a wonderful/terrible impression of Arianna Huffington. It sounds exactly/nothing like her and I hope this impression continues for a long time/never makes it to air again. (And the fact that Arianna just happens to be my boss's boss has absolutely nothing to do with me covering all of my bases. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.) Meyers was fine, I suppose. Serviceable even, but no real fire to speak of. And I always wonder how something like Jean K. Jean happens -- in the sense that it's been so long since we've seen this character. Does Kenan show up for work on Monday and think, This is the week Jean K. Jean returns. (If so, please do that for Deandre Cole.)

Score: 6.0

The Bad

"Gillette Master of Style" (Armisen, Pharoah, Sudeikis, Killam) I admit, I laughed when Jerry Sandusky showed up (which is a statement that I'm sure doesn't get spoken very often). But that was it. I mean, why would Jerry Sandusky be hanging out with Adrian Brody? Then again, in the real commercial, why are any of these guys hanging out together? To be fair, once Sandusky is entered into the equation, there's really no place to go with that idea that wouldn't be in poor taste. So, why bother?

Score: 5.0

"Dance Studio" (Christina Applegate, Kenan Thompson, Nasim Pedrad, Taran Killam, Bobby Moynihan) Hey, who needs Kristin Wiig when Christina Applegate is hosting? Good grief, was she ever channeling Wiig in this sketch. I almost feel like this sketch exists to give Applegate a front and center role -- which she certainly deserved but, outside of the monologue, didn't really get -- but, there doesn't seem to be much here other than "act eccentric." For the record, Applegate was great in this, I'm just not sure there was much of a point.

Score: 4.0

The Ugly

"The Californians" (Armisen, Killam, Applegate, Hader, Bayer, Sudeikis, Thompson, Moynihan, McKinnon, Pharoah) "The Californians" is the most polarizing current recurring sketch. And, yes, in the past, I have never liked this sketch because I have no idea what any of these people are talking about. Then again, I do not live in Los Angeles. As it turns out, this time around, I happened to be watching with a friend who lives in L.A. and she was laughing hysterically. "This is so inside baseball, but it's true. This is great." Well, I live in New York and I still don't get it and it's my Scorecard, so:

Score: 2.0

Average Score for this Show: 6.13

· Christina Applegate 6.13
· Seth MacFarlane 5.93
· Joseph Gordon-Levitt 5.51
· Daniel Craig 5.35

Mike Ryan is senior writer for Huffington Post Entertainment. You can contact him directly on Twitter. Click below for this week's "SNL," Not Ready For Primetime Podcast featuring Mike Ryan and Hitfix's Ryan McGee.

Some frugal people are so good at pinching pennies that they leave their thumbprint on Abe Lincoln's face.

Take Terence Candell, a California man so cheap that he keeps no furniture in his Oakland home and painted his entire house on a single bucket of paint.

"Furniture is a keeping-up-with-the-Jones thing," Candell told The Huffington Post. "It doesn't give anything back."

Candell's miserly ways have earned him a segment on "Extreme Cheapskates," a new TLC series debuting Oct. 16, that focuses on America's thriftiest folks.

Certainly, Candell qualifies. He is so cheap that on the rare occasion he takes his family out to a restaurant, he opts for a budget Chinese buffet and has six people split three plates of food.

"Everybody got some food," he explained. "Plus, two of the people there weren't really supposed to come along."

The tightfistedness annoys his family to no end, but Candell believes that money only buys happiness if you don't actually spend any of it.

"I wasn't born a cheapskate," he said. "My brother used to save up his money so he could buy a soda when the rest of us had Kool-Aid and he would just sip it for hours."

When not saving his money, Candell looks for what prodigal individuals lose.

"How dare you walk through a parking lot without looking down?" he said. "People drop money all the time."

Candell would love to be known as "America's cheapest person," but he's going to get competition from other tightwads featured on the series. People like Greg Insco, a Zumba instructor in Cincinnati who washes his clothes when he takes a shower, leaves the tags on his clothes and only flushes his toilet once per week using shower water he's saved in a bucket.

He also steals plastic silverware and condiments from restaurants.

Then there's Kay is a New York City resident who manages to save half of her salary in one of America's most expensive cities by refusing to buy toilet paper and by dumpster diving for food behind the city's finer dining establishments.

Victoria Hunt is a self-made millionaire in Columbus, Ohio, who lives on $12,000 in part by putting her freezer on a timer so it only runs 12 hours a day and taking showers at her gym to save electricity and water. She also saves two bucks a month in water bills by urinating in a bottle and then emptying it in her garden.

Or how about Roy Haynes, who runs a pet rescue center in Huntington, Vt.?

He digs through movie theater trash cans looking for old drink cups and popcorn canisters so he can take advantage of free refills and he hangs up his dental floss to dry so he can reuse it later.

Haynes said he saves $40 a month by unplugging every single appliance in his home when not in use.

"I never noticed the recession," he told HuffPost. "Except when people started coming to me asking for tips."

TLC director of production Mike Kane learned a few tips that he may adopt.

"One of the people we profiled is an expert at repurposing," Kane said. "He took an onion bag and put some soap in it and showed how it could clean a dirty metal pan."

Although "miser" is the first part of the word "miserable," Kane found that the cheapskates seem quite happy.

"These people do their cheapness with a smile and," Kane told HuffPost, "as a result, I was smiling too when I watched the footage."

Lindsay Lohan will continue her chatty streak (following her appearance on TMZ Live this week) and will sit down for a one-on-one interview with the legendary Barbara Walters ... TMZ has learned.

Tired as it may seem, SNL's "The Californians", which parodies Los Angeles residents for being vain, stupid and blonde, continues to entertain. There are really only three jokes --under-pronunciation, over-dramatic faces and street directions -- but lampooning the second most hated city in America isn't that hard to do.

The fourth installment of the sketch gave shout outs to California Dates, lagoon-style pools and the Getty Center. Umami Burger was also name dropped (yay!), but the sketch got a thumbs down when Devon and Stuart fought over whether the restaurant was located on Santa Monica Boulevard or Little Santa Monica Boulevard. The answer: neither!

It's reassuring to see that the sketch, which lampoons Californians for being vain and shallow, survived Kristen Wiig's departure. Watch Christina Applegate take her place in the video above, and stay tuned to the end for Usain Bolt's blonde cameo.

LOS ANGELES — Union picketing has brought a temporary halt to second-season production of the NBC reality show "Fashion Star."

About 70 members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees picketed the show Saturday at Hollywood Center Studios, prompting producers to cancel a taping and dismiss a studio audience.

IATSE official Vanessa Holtgrew told the Hollywood Reporter the union was striking against the show until a contract is reached.

The union allows members to work on the non-union "Fashion Star," but they get no pension and health benefits without a union contract.

IATSE is fighting to keep a foothold as union-heavy productions like feature films in Los Angeles increasingly give way to productions that tend to be non-union like reality shows.

NBC and the show's three production companies had no immediate comment.

___

Information from: The Hollywood Reporter, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com

Mom-to-be Holly Madison is gorgeous and glowing!

The Playboy bunny showed off her baby bump while attending the "Forever Home Family Picnic" event, for people who have provided a home for a shelter dog, at Freedom Park in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 13.

Dressed in yellow, Madison proved pregnancy agrees with her as she cradled her belly and smiled for the cameras. The 32-year-old is expecting her first child with boyfriend Pasquale Rotella next March.

"It's actually easier than I thought," Madison told E! News of being pregnant. "I haven't had any of the crazy side effects ... No morning sickness or anything yet. So I've been lucky!"

As for her cravings, the former "Girls Next Door" star revealed she's staying away from the fatty foods. "I crave blueberries all the time," she confessed. "So I'm making blueberry muffins and blueberry smoothies, so knock on wood my cravings stay healthy."

Check out pictures of Madison's bump below:

It's a "Lost" reunion! Mark Pellegrino, who played Jacob on the ABC drama, is heading to "Person of Interest," which stars fellow "Lost" alum Michael Emerson, who played Ben Linus on "Lost."

"Person of Interest" creator Jonathan Nolan revealed the news during the show's panel at New York Comic-Con, according to Entertainment Weekly, noting that Pellegrino will play the head of a publishing empire.

Fellow "Lost" alumni Alan Dale and Ken Leung have previously appeared with Emerson on "Person of Interest."

In other casting news...

Another "Lost" alum is heading to "Parenthood." Emily Evan Rae, who played a young Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), has landed a multi-episode arc on "Parenthood." The young actress, whose little sister Savannah Paige Rae plas Sydney on the series, will have some interaction with Max (Max Burkholder) as a member of the student council. [TVLine]

Denise Richards has a new gig. The actress will appear in the ABC Family drama pilot "Socio" as the mother of the protagonist Danny Ryder (Avan Jogia), who returns home after serving five years for murdering his aunt as a child and reconnects with his best friends Jo (Maddie Hasson) and Lacey (Kylie Bunbury). "Terriers" alum Kimberly Quinn has joined the pilot as well as Jo's mom. [THR]

Keith David is joining "Touch." "The Cape" alum will guest star as Dutch, an ex-Navy Seal and old friend of Keifer Sutherland's character, on a Season 2 episode. [TVLine]

Hal Holbrook is stopping by "Monday Mornings." Holbrook will play neurosurgeon Arvin Wayne on the TNT series. [TVLine]

Katie Cassidy is returning to "Gossip Girl." The "Arrow" actress will return to the CW series as the mischief-making Juliet Sharpe for the show's series finale. [EW]

Richard Harmon has been cast in "Bates Motel." Harmon has joined the A&E series as Norman Bates' (Freddie Highmore) high school nemesis. [TVLine]

There's more casting news for "The Secret Lives of Wives." "Awake" alum Laura Allen joins the NBC pilot as Alison Dunn, the "grounded and levelheaded wife of Kyle" (Martin Henderson) who has something he's hiding. [TVLine]

"Call The Midwife," PBS's newest Sunday-night British drama series, has already been hailed as a successor to the smooth and stately smash hit "Downton Abbey."

But while "Downton," the enthralling saga of a wealthy, well-dressed aristocratic clan, excels in a field well known to fans of British TV, its new ratings rival lends the spotlight to a less familiar breed of heroine: the (eponymous) postwar London midwife. And as Terri Coates will tell you, that's quite an innovation.

Coates, who is an experienced midwife, is the show's technical advisor and part of its very DNA. Her 1998 essay on the dearth of midwives in literature inspired another real-life midwife, Jennifer Worth, to write her memoirs. The TV series grew out of those memoirs -- and although Worth passed away in the summer of 2011 without seeing any of the shows, Coates now works hard to ensure authenticity on set (with help from a few £5,000 prosthetic babies and other skillfully engineered props).

HuffPost Parents spoke to Coates about how the show was born, and found out that while uniforms and standards may have changed since the 1950s, childbirth itself -- in all its trials, traumas and triumphs -- has always been composed of the same highly emotional parts.

You've been a part of this project since the very beginning, when you inspired Jennifer Worth to write her memoirs. Can you talk about how the concept for “Call The Midwife” came about?

In 1997 I was completing a master's degree, and for one part of it I decided that I would like to look at how the midwife was perceived in English literature. After reading an awful lot and writing an 8,000 word essay, I came to the conclusion that the midwife was almost completely absent from literature -- and that I would really have liked somebody to have written some form of a story about what a midwife did, so that the general population would know how we worked and what we did.

Around the same time, the journal of the Royal College of Midwives was being relaunched. The new editor asked me if I could do an article for him with a very quick turnaround. So that's what I did -- I wrote 1,500 words and came to the conclusion that somebody needed to write a story that did for midwifery what James Herriot did for vets.

What kind of response did you get?

The article was very well received, and I got a lot of letters through the Royal College saying that people really appreciated my point. One of the letters was from Jennifer Worth, who was a newly retired music teacher and said that it had made her remember her time as a nurse and a midwife in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s and that I'd inspired her to tell her story. A lot of the people who wrote to me said that they'd like to write, or that they had written [something], and I didn't really think much more of it.

About 18 months after that, Jennifer wrote back to me; she said she'd written her memoirs and asked me if I wanted to read them. I said of course -- and she sent me her hand-written manuscript. The stories just leapt off the page, but there were a lot of things that she'd misremembered about midwifery practice. So I got in touch with her and asked her if she'd like me to correct the midwifery for her. And that started about 12 years' worth of collaboration.

Can you describe the hands-on involvement that you have in the production of the show? What you do on a given day of shooting?

It starts before the shooting -- it starts with the script, because if the first time I got it was on the set, we might get into all sorts of difficulties. I correct midwifery errors in the script and then on the set I work with makeup, costume and props to make sure that the equipment they're using is correct, and that the setup we have is appropriate (so if it's a clinic setup, I make sure that the clinic beds look right and the equipment they have around them is correct). And then on the set itself and in rehearsals I teach the actresses how to undertake basic midwifery procedures, such as taking blood pressure and doing abdominal examinations. It's all on prosthetic bumps -- nobody's put at any risk.

And are there elements of midwifery that have actually changed in the time since Jennifer was practicing? How much research have you had to do into older practices that just aren't used anymore?

Practice changes quite subtly and slowly over time. Childbirth really is pretty much the same, and has been for millennia. Taking blood pressure hasn't changed really since we had a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff -- so there are a lot of things that are exactly the same. ...

But professional education has improved; hygiene has improved; the uniform has definitely improved, thank heavens -- much easier to work in now! Contraception has improved, so women don't have to have baby after baby after baby [anymore]. They now know what causes it and they know how to stop it. So we don't have women like Conchita, in the first episode, [having] 24 –- they're more likely to have two or three or maybe four, but certainly not 24 pregnancies. Women are better educated, and because they're better educated they know what to ask for.

What about the role of midwives in their communities?

We don't walk or cycle around quite so much as we used to. We don't live on the corner anymore. Instead of living in small communities or little groups of midwives -- as they do on the set, in Nonnatus House -- midwives live in their own homes with their own families.

But the clinic setup is pretty much the same; women still come to a clinic to see their midwife -- although the midwife that they see may not be the same one all the way through.

Back in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s there were lots of small maternity units where people gave birth still within their community, but now there are not so many small, cottage hospitals. There are far more large centers of excellence -- just like in the States. You go to a hospital or to a larger clinic to have your antenatal care. In that way progress has moved on.

The series has a large pop culture following in the U.K. now. How has it been received by the professional midwifery community?

Midwives have been very complimentary about the show. They are just delighted that midwifery and childbirth are being portrayed accurately. There's an awful lot of childbirth on films and in soap operas where you just see a woman screaming, and that doesn't really portray the reality of birth. Birth and labor are very hard work, but it's a teamwork between the mother and her midwife. And I think that the relationship between the mother and the midwife is portrayed very nicely in “Call the Midwife” and it reflects the wonderful stories that Jennifer wrote. There have even been obstetricians who have been very complimentary about it. It's been very gratifying. People who practiced in the ‘50s and ‘60s have also been complimentary about how the work has been shown. Some have said, “Oh, we didn't do it quite that way” -- but I think in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s there was a greater variation in what was thought to be correct and normal. We didn't have the national guidelines for things and I think practice was slightly more varied; they did what they believed was right at the time because there weren't any other guidelines.

What does the success of the series mean to you personally?

I'm absolutely delighted to see that it's doing well. Jennifer wrote so vividly about life in the East End in the 1950s that I think if she'd excluded midwifery and just written about life in the East End, the stories would have leapt off the page anyway. She wrote very unsentimentally, and she wrote an amazing piece of social history. And the popularity of the books has just grown and grown. It has been a vindication. It's lovely.

Watch the Call the Midwife series premiere:

Taylor Momsen appears in a new spoken word music video for her band, The Pretty Reckless, in which she stands completely naked while reading a verse from her song "Under the Water" for Amp Rock TV's initiative, "The Words."

The 19-year-old rocker poetically reads off lyrics from the track, while black and white images of her body flash across the screen until it is revealed that she is, in fact, nude.

What a far cry from the days when Momsen played innocent teen Jenny Humphrey on The CW's "Gossip Girl."

Showing off her trademark raccoon eyes, a naked Momsen reads:

Lay my head under the water, lay my head under the sea. Excuse me sir am I your daughter? Won't you take me back and see? It's not a time for being younger and all my friends are enemies. And if I cried unto my mother, she wasn't there for me. Broken lines across my mirror show my face all red and bruised. And though I screamed and I screamed no one came running, I wasn't saved from you. Don't let the water drag you down, don't let me drown in the waves. I could be found, I could be one that was saved. Lay my head under the water. Alone I pray for calmer seas. And when I wake from this dream with chains all around me ... I've never been free.

Well, we all know Momsen is not afraid to shock.

Watch the video above and see still photo below:

Want a sneak peek of what's to come on the first season of The CW's "Arrow" (Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET)?

Below is a reel of the first nine episodes of the DC Comics-inspired series and it includes some sneak peeks and first looks at the Well Dressed Man, Deadshot, Deathstroke, The Huntress and China White.

The Hollywood Reporter recently broke the news that "Torchwood" alum John Barrowman would play the Well Dressed Man on "Arrow." Look out for him to have a secret meeting with Oliver's (Stephen Amell) mom Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson) in the trailer below.

The Season 1 trailer also features Michael Rowe, who plays Deadshot, and takes aim at the Queens. There's also Jeffrey Robinson as Deathstroke, who shares a secret history with Oliver. Plus, see Kelly Hu in action as seductive mercenary China White and Jessica De Gouw as The Huntress, who has her own idea of serving justice.

The series premiere of "Arrow" was the most-watched telecast on The CW in over three years and Willa Holland, who plays Oliver's sister Thea Queen, may know why. "Unlike most television shows, ['Arrow'] is something that already from the start has a huge fan base," Holland told The Huffington Post. But, she added, "there's a lot of pressure from the fans, but all I can say is that we've worked our asses off in the last couple months and I think they're going to be quite happy with the pay-off."

See if she's right by tuning in for more "Arrow" on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.