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.

Considering her annoying family, a cheating boyfriend and worthless friends, being in danger of getting blown up every day probably doesn't seem like such a bad move for Ms Dawes. And indeed, this whole enterprise might as well be bankrolled by the army... the camaraderie and discipline she has in the force is in stark contrast to her pitiful existence back home, where no-one likes her and every day is a drudging chore. In fact, it looks like so much fun, can I enlist? (What do you mean, spare tyre?!)

Joking aside though, by far the best parts of this BBC film are those when she's at training camp blossoming from a smart-mouthed little girl with issues... to a smart mouthed-little girl with issues, and a great big gun. Her friendships with her commanding officer and a fellow recruit who has self esteem issues are touching on a few levels, and Lacey Turner's performance as the feisty 18 year old is out of this world.

Les convincing though, is her time spent back in Newham, as her father is an irredeemable caricature of every child's worst nightmare, and her boyfriend is such a lying, manipulative sack of... manure, you wonder how such a smart girl like Molly ever hooked up with such a piece of... dirt. AND her lifelong mates turn on her at the drop of a hat. It's not very logical, and drives down the realism in the rest of the film. Still, it does pack a punch... and the poignant ending will leave you with a lump in your throat. Or maybe, I should try swallowing harder? 6/10

I must say that this Film 'Our Girl' is one of the most compelling things i have watched for a very long time. I felt it was so fantastic that i have watched it several times this week and i have expressed the same emotion (cry) every time i have watched it. Lucy Turner takes the title role of a London girl who has a very chaotic life who feels that she wants more from it than she and those around her have. She ends up in an Army recruitment office and the story of how she ends up there becomes clear as you watch the film. As the film progresses and i felt that it was compelling watching you see Molly Dawes (Lucy Turners character name) change her outlook on life and develop qualities and attributes which she had always had but she was not aware of them.Her friendship with Katie a fellow recruit who came from Leyland who had self confidence issues and how they helped each other achieve what they both wanted was an added bonus to this story. The very moving way that the corporal brought the best out of Molly was well done. This whole film is worth watching time and time again and each time i watch it i can see so many different things that the writers wanted to express and bring to our screens. The ending of this film is so well written and acted that my tears flowed even more. Well done BBC and Lucy and everyone who brought this to our viewing. I must say that after watching this I sent a text to each of my three daughters telling them how very proud of them i am and what they have each achieved in life which was not always easy for them either. This Film is a must watch. I know it was only a one off film but if the BBC were to do a series on Molly Dawes i feel it would be compelling viewing.

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.

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. ***