Molly, une femme au combat

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.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Mollie Dawes (Lacey Turner) is a typically (or so East Enders would have you believe) upfront, balsy South London girl, whose life is a bit of a shambles, what with an abusive father, cheating immigrant lover and false friends. One night, after throwing up at the entrance to an Army Recruitment Centre, she believes she's found the key that can turn her life around. Despite no encouragement from all those around her, she plods on with it, in time her cocky front broken down and built back up again to build her in to a better character.

There are those ex East Enders who simply fade in to obscurity and are lucky to be seen performing panto again, and those who seem determined to make their post Walford career in to something a bit more lively. Lacey Turner would seem to be one such example, appearing in this ambitious one off BBC drama, that feels pretty workmanlike and unsurprising for the most part, but still has the odd flashes of class to raise itself up.

It opens in a depressingly familiar environment from where a lot of these gritty kitchen sink dramas tend to start in, and feels so unsurprising because most of the characters behave in exactly the way you expect them to, not all that convincingly played by all the performers. As the main character, the vast bulk of it rests on Turner's shoulders, and she is the one we're kept with till the end, on the way incurring a rather shocking, gratuitous sex scene that comes out of nowhere, on to the end which ends on a more touching and poignant note than you might expect. It's an interesting and well written role, and had it had a bigger budget and maybe some better actors and director, it could have been even more than it is. But as it is, you still can't see Turner's, quite possibly one of 'the squaire's' better performers, post EE career going belly up if she keeps going with meaty stuff like this. ***

This TV Movie is not Full Metal Jacket, or any other military film focused on coming of age which I have seen. Its heroine is not an introspective youth contemplating the truth of what is going on with the world around her. Instead, she is a highly common modern girl who chances upon the British Army. Like all films of its genre, there is a good deal of yelling and screaming, this is after all boot camp. The characters though do not display heroism or bravado through their yells or screams. Instead it is shown in soft spoken scenes which chronicle Molly's progression. The yelling and screaming is there to create the boot camp atmosphere, not to build character or to be the centre of the film.

Some plot holes do exist, and some of the side characters could have done with much more development. However when the constraints of a 90 minute TV Movie, which certainly with the BBC's current climate did not have a very large budget, are applied, these faults become understandable. Also, while I am not sure, I get the feeling that scenes where these grey areas in the plot and the characters are fleshed out were written, but left out do to time constraints.

I personally think that Molly speaks to all of us who once dreamed of being in the Army. She is simply an ordinary girl who is given the opportunity to apply herself, and finds that she capable of much more than she thought possible. All of us have a little bit of ourselves that likes to think so. Through her journey Molly most certainly fulfils that part of ourselves which dares to dream upon a whim.

Within minutes this had me gripped. So well written and such emotion portrayed from Lacey Turner. Incredibly well put together and along with series one of Our Girl - a brilliant watch.

Molly Dawes lives with her father, mother and multitude of siblings in a working class area of London. She's just turned 18 but instead of a feeling of euphoria all she sees is problems. Her boyfriend is unfaithful, she doesn't like her job and her father is a deadbeat. So she decides to join the Army.

A movie-length first episode of the series, so don't expect any nice neat resolutions or Hollywood endings. It's reasonably good without being great. We see Molly's background, which is a bit of a drag. This part seems quite predictable and seems to just delay the inevitable.

Once she's in the Army the film gets much more interesting as we see her having to make decisions regarding her future and having to adapt to Army life. There's a few overly neat and convenient plot developments but it's pretty good, good enough for me to stick with the series.