Land Girls, Series One – Romance and Life on the Home Front

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Land Girls isn’t a series that appealed to me because of British star power (I don’t know any of the names or faces save for one), but rather the catnip is its setting. I finally got the series on-line for Christmas, and find it sometimes flawed but always endearing.

Land Girls Season One

Land Girls, Series One (2009) BBC TV Review

There isn’t one person who is untouched by the war England is embroiled in. While the men fight bravely for the preservation of their beloved country, the women do their bit to help, and join the Women’s Land Army. Two new arrivals arrives to join the ranks of “land girls”.

Joyce Fisher (Becci Gemmell) and Nancy (Summer Strallen) meet on the train, two women who are complete opposites. Joyce is self-reliant, and a married woman who frets over her husband’s service. Nancy is a city-bred pretty face who frets more about her make-up than an important cause. When their train goes unmet at the station, the two begin the long walk to the farm where they meet Farmer Finch, and their supervisor Esther (Susan Cookson). Joining them as roommates is a pair of sisters. Annie (Christine Bottomley) has just said good-bye to a husband she barely knows, and is now caught in a loveless marriage; and the seventeen-year-old Bea (Jo Woodcock), a flirtatious, spit-fire of a girl the farmer’s son (Liam Boyle) is sweet on.

Up at the manor house, the aristocratic Lady Hoxley (Sophie Ward) rules with an iron fist. This applies to not just the girls but also her husband, Lawrence (Nathaniel Parker). With his marriage on the rocks, it isn’t long before Nancy sets her sights on Lord Hoxley and he on her. Despite the odds stacked against them, and the war, they fall in love, with consequences neither could forsee.

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Land Girls, Series One

From the first time I read about this, the concept didn’t sell me. Of late, I’ve “adjusted” to period pieces about war torn societies. This is because of the direction BBC is heading. Despite first impressions, I’ve actually found many a jewel among the time period. Land Girls might be sweet as sugar for most of its five-episode run but there is threats. A traitor, a man bent on revenge and unhappy marriages enter the mix. All issues that do trip up in a couple of disappointing ways.

Everyone involved pulls together a beautiful production. I did read that there are factual errors when it comes to the costumes for the time period but since I am not an expert, I cared little for the probable blunder. All that matters is it’d not obviously misplaced, and it looks gorgeous. Everything about the series is simply put, charming. With time I grew to love this series as much as anything else that I enjoy from the “other side of the pond.” All of the characters are likable which is always on the plus side of things, but there is something about them that’s “restrained.” We always question their motives, and what drives them. This can be something on the downward slope of story distractions.

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Land Girls, Series One

Extremely popular in the United Kingdom as a kind of daytime soap opera, it isn’t hard to see why Land Girls does so well in that venue. It’s sort of a “soapy” feel-good drama. Not everyone has the pleasure of a happy-ever-after. Some characters get that pretty picture of an end, others are left heartbroken; and another character leaves us with the whisper of a promise that maybe she will get a second chance to right wrongs. What’s more, all of the characters realize the error of their ways, even if some of them made the mistakes knowing it was wrong. In the aftermath, they are left with a the broken pieces of a guilty conscious.

With a second season already on DVD, I look forward to seeing it, and an eventual states bound season three. This isn’t the usual British picture where things are pretty as an afternoon English tea. Instead it’s messy, but when it counts, it’s a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

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Content equates to a PG13 or a just passable PG. There is an out-of-wedlock pregnancy [a naïve girl is seduced] and two extra-marital affairs [two scenes show the lovers lying in bed]. A few minor sexual innuendos are present. Several characters drink at the pub and one man dies after a gunshot wound.

About Rissi JC

amateur graphic designer. confirmed bookaholic. bubbl’r enthusiast. critical thinker. miswesterner. social media coordinator. writer.

4 comments

  1. This was one I went "back and forth" on whether or not I wanted to see, Ruth. In the end, I went with it and thought it was a charming picture of life during this era – not that war is thought of as "charming," mind you.

    Looking forward to seeing S2 – and I am like you, S3 should make it to the states this summer. YAY! =)

    PS: have you ever seen the WWII series Wish Me Luck, Ruth? It looks interesting but once again, I've not seen it. =)

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