Our Girl: BBC One Army Recruitment Drama Starring Lacey Turner

The BBC is walking a thin line between army propaganda and serious drama with Our Girl, a ninety-minute play due to be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday 24 March 2013. The programme tells the story of Molly Dawes (played by Lacey Turner), a teenager living in London’s East End with a difficult family life and no real future ahead of her.

She has no qualifications and a part-time job in a nail bar, but throwing up in the doorway of an army recruitment office after a drunken night out leads to her joining the forces. She starts her army life in a rebellious mood but has that drummed out of her to become a real soldier. But this is not Private Benjamin by another name. Lacey Turner’s character is a mile away from Goldie Hawn’s. She is a rough London girl who thinks she’s tough but starts to find out what tough really means.

That said, the show has its problems. The Ministry of Defence allowed filming to take place at its real training base in Pirbright, but in return they got to vet the script. So do not expect anything that shows the army in a bad light. This is close to being a glorified recruitment film for the armed forces, showing dead-end teenagers a possible way to change their lives. As such, viewing should be carried out with caution.

Actors in Our Girl

Lacey Turner is no stranger to playing an East End girl being best known for her long-running role as Stacey Slater in Eastenders, which she landed in 2004 and from which she quit in 2010. Other roles have included Lia in two episodes of the third series of Being Human, Elizabeth Lavenza in Frankenstein’s Wedding, Ellie Flint in Bedlam and Stella in Switch. She has twice won a best actress British Soap Award for Eastenders as a well as a most popular actress National Television Award.

Kerry Godliman and Sean Gallagher play Molly’s parents Belinda and Dave. Matthew McNulty plays Corporal Geddings, Fiona Skinner Corporal Richards and Branwell Donaghey Sergeant Adams. Other actors include Daniel Black, Matt Hookings, Harriet Madeley, Stuart Ward, Mimi Keene, McKell Celaschi-David, Ciaran Clancy and Sarah Dungworth.

Team behind Our Girl

Filmed on location in Hertfordshire, Our Girl was commissioned for BBC One by Ben Stephenson, controller of BBC drama commissioning, and Danny Cohen, controller of BBC One. The executive producer was John Yorke, controller of BBC drama production, and the producer was Ken Horn. It was written by Tony Grounds and directed by David Drury.

“Mine was a story of one girl’s journey from a somewhat out of control miscreant, working in an East Ham nail bar, to someone who is an asset to her country,” said Tony Grounds. “A journey to be proud of.”