Simply A Masterpiece

Powerful

A Masterpiece!

Blistering performances.

I Wasn't a fan of series 1 of Our Girl, didn't like Lacy Turner as lead and didn't like the way the story progressed throughout the first series so when I heard it was coming back for a second season I was going to give it a miss until I heard Michelle Keegan was to take up the lead role so I decided to give it a chance and I am glad I did. Keegan knocks it out of the park and then some. Series 2 will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you like War drama's and high adrenaline rushes then Our Girl series 2 is for you.Keegan's performances have seriously surprised me transitioning from Soap to a Drama is never easy and she has something in her arsenal that Turner was missing. I love Our Girl now and will be watching every episode from now on. Eyes glued to set. Love it.

Our Girl started as a one off film written by Tony Grounds before it was developed by the BBC as a regular television series.Lacey Turner is Molly Dawes, a teenager in Newham, living in an overcrowded house with her siblings. Mum (Kerry Godliman) is pregnant again, Dad (Sean Gallagher) is a bit of a layabout and an unpleasant racist and sexist of the east end type.Molly's boyfriend is a young Muslim who also is another worthless individual who easily cheats on her and really does not value her.So Molly who looks like a bright girl, seems to already have a life which is taking her nowhere with people who are just shiftless. Molly ends up joining the army which gives her life purpose and self esteem.The problem is her family and boyfriend are left befuddled by her decision.However basic training allows her to turn her life around and give her life renewed purpose as she makes new friends and finds out that it is better to help out fellow recruits rather than be a put upon babysitter at home.The series started out with a lot of grittiness of inner London domestic life. Lacey Turner puts in a convincing performance as Molly and it is a refreshing positive portrayal of army life, not sure whether it is very realistic vision of army life and does felt a bit like propaganda as well.Yet the film was better than the subsequent series in my opinion and at least it offered a positive note that a person can have the courage of their convictions to turn their life around.

If there's any downside in Britain stopping conscription ( And I don't believe there is any downside to this ) it's that the general mainstream civilian knowledge of the military is rather ignorant , uninformed or misinformed . Certainly no one was happier than the British military forces themselves when conscription was scrapped in this country in 1960 but media depictions of the British military rarely paint a convincing picture with one or two very notable exceptions like the late 1970s ITV drama SPEARHEAD and this BBC drama entitled OUR GIRL is the latest in a long line to not get it right One gets the feeling it's produced as more of a star vehicle for some soap opera actress in this case Lacey Turner a former EASTENDERS regular who plays protagonist Molly Dawes in much the same way as a not very good actress would play a role in EASTENDERS . You don't really get the impression you're watching a real character called Molly Dawes who exists in the real world , more of a caricature of the BBC view of urban teenage girls from the East End of London . Also despite the use of some strong language in a very vain attempt to make this seem like a tough gritty real life drama involving the military it does have a very BBC 3 cheap production value feel to it . I wasn't expecting APOCALYPSE NOW style helicopter assaults filmed in Afghanistan but even so the budget seems lacking Artistic license such as a protagonist miraculously staggering around and stopping to vomit outside an army recruitment office thereby setting up a very weak inciting incident can be forgiven but a " realistic portrayal of the modern day British army " ( it says here ) it's somewhat lacking . Molly actress woman just passes the one and a half mile within the set time but no one mentions what this set time should be ! I've no idea what it is in 2013 but do know that it was 7 minutes 30 seconds in 1988 for most recruits and I guess if I really wanted to know what it was in 2013 google would be my friend . Also you don't address female officers as " Ma'am " it's always " sir " regardless of gender etc etc . Remind me what branch of CND the military adviser was in ?Some people might say it's good that the BBC are showing the military in a good light but would this be the same television company who employed the likes of Rageh Omar who was the station's main correspondent during the invasion of Iraq who equated that conflict with Vietnam simply because both countries have palm trees ! and who constantly used the phrase " heavy coalition casualties " when daily coalition fatalities were in single figures . I can't think of the BBC making any dramas showing the British military in a good light since the Pertwee era of DOCTOR WHO and even then that was fighting alien invasions . Pro military ? When you've got the BBC as allies who needs enemies

Since leaving EastEnders the actress best known as Stacey Slater tried other projects, and not really with much success, Switch was dull, only an appearance in Being Human was interesting, but this one off film was her chance to improve. Basically eighteen year old Molly Dawes (Lacey Turner) lives with her family, pregnant mother Belinda (Kerry Godliman) and father Dave (Sean Gallagher) and five siblings, in the London Borough of Newham in a crowded council house, but none of them seem to have any future ahead, and she has Albanian boyfriend Artan (Daniel Black) asking to marry her. When she turns eighteen she has a birthday night out to celebrate, she ends up drunk and being sick, and she finds herself outside the doorway of an army recruitment office with a life size image of an army girl, the next day she returns there to be part of the army, and soon enough she is at an army training centre undergoing physical and mental activities, including long runs, maths tests and presentations about herself. While doing this Molly finds that she can come clean about what a hard life she has had and she gains support from her fellow aspiring soldiers, and in an interview she asks to be given a chance because she has never had one, and as her training goes on she finds that she finally has a purpose, to become a soldier. She does inform her parents of this decision and career choice, while her mother is supportive her father doesn't want to know, but their girl continues on to become a professional soldier serving in Afghanistan, and in the end she writes a potential "letter from the grave", this is where her father does listen and finally is proud of her. Also starring Matthew McNulty as Cpl. Geddings, Andrew Scarborough as Sgt. Peters, Branwell Donaghey as Sergeant Adams, Paul Fox as Sgt. Lamont, Stuart Ward as Lance Corporal Brammer, Steven Miller as Corporal Leech, Harry Ferrier as Chris Ingrams, Mimi Keene as Jade Dawes, McKell Celaschi-David as Dean and Harriet Madeley as Nat. Turner gives a really good performance as the young girl trying to find her way in the world, and finding a determination to achieve something no matter how difficult, I initially watched the first few minutes and thought I was going to get bored, but I luckily stuck with it and it was an interesting youth based near coming-of-age story, a watchable drama. Very good!