Our Girl
British military drama following army medics from training to deployment.
Our Girl is a British television military drama series written and created by Tony Grounds, broadcast on BBC One from 2013 until 2020. The series began with a feature-length television pilot first broadcast on 24 March 2013, starring Lacey Turner as Molly Dawes, a young working-class woman who joins the British Army. The show ran for four series, with the protagonist changing after the first series, and concluded in 2020.
- Type
- Television series
- Genre
- Military drama
- Creator
- Tony Grounds
- Broadcaster
- BBC One
- Years active
- 2013–2020
- Notable cast
- Lacey Turner, Michelle Keegan
Lore & Background
The series was conceived after creator Tony Grounds visited an army base and heard about a young woman who transformed from a troubled recruit into a competent combat medic. The pilot, commissioned after BBC drama executive John Yorke asked Grounds for ideas for actress Lacey Turner, was completed three years after the initial meeting. Following the pilot, a five-episode series was commissioned, with Turner reprising her role for the first series, which began broadcast on 21 September 2014. Turner left after the first series, and Michelle Keegan was cast as new protagonist Georgie Lane for subsequent series. Keegan returned for a fourth series, which began broadcasting on 24 March 2020, and confirmed it would be her last. In August 2020, the BBC confirmed the fourth series would be the show's final one.
Reader's Guide
Our Girl received mixed reception across its run, with reviews leaning more positively for the pilot and first two series, and more negatively for the third and fourth. Critics generally praised the production, performances, and action sequences, but agreed that the show glamourised military life and suffered a confused tone as the series progressed. The series was filmed primarily in South Africa, which stood in for Afghanistan in the first and fourth series and for Kenya in the second. The third series was filmed in Nepal for its first part, and Malaysia was used to portray Belize in its second part. The show's significance lies in its focus on female soldiers and the personal journeys of working-class recruits, though its legacy is tempered by critical concerns about its portrayal of military service.
Did You Know?
- The pilot was filmed at the Army Training Centre Pirbright and the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford.
- Series 1 was filmed over 49 days in Bontebok National Park in South Africa.
- The third series was split into two parts, with the first set in Nepal and the second in Nigeria, Belize, and Bangladesh.
- Creator Tony Grounds based the second series on the conflict between Kenya and Somalia, with the refugee camp inspired by Dadaab.
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