'It must be right, I saw it on TV!': An observational study of third stage birth practices in popular television programmes.

Objectives: To examine modern media depictions of the third stage of birth in a selection of UK television representations.

Design: Observational study of a sample of televised fictional and real births, audited against current National Institute of Health and Social Care Excellence (NICE) guidance.

Setting: UK television channels BBC ( and ) and Channel 4 ().