Land Girls (2009 TV series)
Encyclopedia
Land Girls is a British television period drama series, first broadcast on BBC One
on 7 September 2009. Land Girls was created by Roland Moore and commissioned by the BBC to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II
. The programme was BBC Daytime's first commission of a period drama. Land Girls was filmed in and around the city of Birmingham. The first series features Summer Strallen
, Christine Bottomley
, Jo Woodcock
and Becci Gemmell as four different girls doing their bit for Britain in the Women's Land Army
during the War. Land Girls won the "Best Daytime Programme" at the 2010 Broadcast Awards and in that same year the BBC announced that it had commissioned a second series, comprising five episodes. Woodcock and Gemmell reprised their roles as Bea and Joyce and Seline Hizli
made her debut as new girl, Connie Carter. The second series began airing from 17 January 2011 and two months later BBC Daytime Controller, Liam Keelan, renewed Land Girls for a third series. It began airing from 7 November 2011.
) and the opulent manor occupied by Lord (Nathaniel Parker
) and Lady Hoxley (Sophie Ward
). The girls, Nancy Morrell (Summer Strallen
), Joyce Fisher (Becci Gemmell), Bea Holloway (Jo Woodcock
) and Annie Barratt (Christine Bottomley
), have joined the Women's Land Army for very different reasons, but they all share the same goal – to help serve their country and to help win the war. Nancy is forced into joining the Women's Land Army, when female conscription begins. Joyce wants to serve her country, just like her husband is doing. Annie signs herself and her younger sister, Bea, up, so they can escape their abusive father. As the girls adapt to their new surroundings and begin the hard work, their lives begin to change. Six months later, Bea is married to Billy (Liam Boyle) and Joyce is still working at the farm. The brash Connie Carter (Seline Hizli
) arrives to do her duty and American industrialist, Jack Gillespie (Clive Wood
), comes to the Hoxley Estate on business. The third series once again focuses on the lives of the land girls at the Hoxley estate. After the local military hospital is bombed, the patients and staff relocate to Hoxley Manor. Connie is engaged to Reverend Henry Jameson (Gwilym Lee) and Iris Dawson (Lou Broadbent) arrives at the farm.
, "In the 1940s, class was obviously much more of an issue than it is now, so it made sense to capitalise on this factor by ensuring that the girls came from a mix of working and middle classes. During development of the series, Will Trotter (executive producer) suggested adding some upper class characters; so Lord and Lady Hoxley were added. This fully-fleshed out the class element of the series and enabled us to devise stories that threw a spotlight onto the great social leveller that was World War Two." Moore named his four main characters after his grandmother and great-aunts, which made the names authentic for the time period and he read accounts from real life land girls to make sure his stories were believable. He decided to set each forty-five minute episode three months apart to give the series "a unique format". He also wanted the series to be fast-paced. As well as focusing on the land girls, Moore also decided to "shed light on other less well-known aspects of the home front", including segregation of black and white American troops, the hunt for Nazi sympathisers and the use of prisoners of war as labourers.
Moore found out that Will Trotter from BBC Drama Birmingham was looking for drama ideas to pitch to the BBC Daytime Controller, Liam Keelan. Trotter was particularly looking for a Second World War drama that could air at the same time as the 70th commemoration of the outbreak of the war in September 2009. Trotter liked Moore's idea and it was green-lit, they, along with John Yorke, producer Erika Hossington and the directors, then began working to finalise the scripts. Ann Kramer, a historian specialising in the Women's Land Army, also helped out. The BBC announced the commission of Land Girls and another series called Week We Went to War in June 2009. Both series' would begin airing on 7 September 2009 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War. Keelan said "I'm delighted to be able to place Land Girls at this time of the day as part of a unique week of programming. We hope to pay tribute, not only to the many lives that were lost in the Second World War, but also to the land girls who played such an important role on the home front. We hope it'll be seen by as wide an audience as possible."
In March 2010, it was announced that a second series of Land Girls had been commissioned and that filming would begin later in the year. The BBC said the second series would see a return to the rural Forties and continue to examine the women who helped the war effort. Keelan said "The first series of Land Girls was something completely new for BBC One Daytime. It proved to be such a success with our viewers that I'm delighted to be able to announce the commission of a second series". Keelan added that he hoped the second series would continue to be a tribute to the real land girls. Trotter and Yorke returned as executive producers and Trotter said that the second series would see some old faces returning and some new ones arriving.
Two months after the second series had concluded, Keelan renewed Land Girls for a third series. Of the third series, Keelan said "It builds on the success of the previous two series which our viewers have loved for the dramatic way they have told the story of land girls – and their families and friends – in the Second World War." Trotter added that it was "brilliant" to continue the land girls' story and that the new series would give the team an opportunity to further explore "how those left at home lived their lives in the shadow of the Second World War."
was cast in the role of rich girl Nancy Morrell. Strallen read diaries and books on the land girls while she was preparing for her role. Of her character, Strallen said "Basically at the beginning, Nancy is a pain in the backside, she's one of those girls who has finished school and is looking to find a husband. [..] You hate to love her but it's not all dances and working on the farm. The actual reality of war sets in when someone in authority is challenging her patriotism." Strallen added that she enjoyed wearing the 1940s costumes and the hairstyles and that she had enjoyed filming the series. Becci Gemmell was cast as the patriotic Joyce Fisher, a woman whose parents were killed in an air raid and whose husband has been posted overseas. Like Strallen, Gemmell read diaries of the land girls during her research for the role. She also spoke to a former land girl who gave her some inside knowledge. The character of Joyce is Gemmell's first television role and she said that she "really loved" filming the series and hoped there would be a second run. Former Hope Springs
actress, Christine Bottomley
, was cast as the sensible and cautious Annie. Bottomley also researched the land girls after securing the role of Annie. Of filming the series, she said "I loved the experience of working in a completely different era and the completely different look." Jo Woodcock
was cast as Annie's younger sister, Bea. Nathaniel Parker
and Sophie Ward
were cast as Lord Lawrence Hoxley and Lady Ellen Hoxley respectively. Parker and Ward had previously worked together on A Village Affair
. Mark Benton
was cast as Farmer Finch, Danny Webb
as Dennis Tucker and Susan Cookson
as Esther Reeves. Fourteen year old Mykola Allen joined the cast as Esther' son, Martin.
The cast for series two was announced in June 2010. Woodcock and Gemmell returned to their roles of Bea and Joyce. Woodcock said she was "delighted" to return as she really likes her character. Six other cast members from the first series also reprised their roles, including Sophie Ward, Mark Benton, Danny Webb, Susan Cookson, Mykola Allen and Liam Boyle. It was also revealed that four new characters were to be introduced. Seline Hizli was cast as new girl, Connie Carter, who the Herts Advertiser said would "ruffle a few feathers". Land Girls is Hizli's first television role. Raquel Cassidy was cast in the role of Lady Hoxley's sister, Diana Granville. Clive Wood
and Liam Garrigan
joined as American businessman Jack Gillespie and Reverend Henry Jameson respectively. Keelan said that it was "wonderful" to have many of the original cast returning.
The BBC announced on 16 June 2011 that Gemmell and Hizli had reprised their role as Joyce and Connie for the third series, along with Sophie Ward, Mark Benton, Susan Cookson, Mykola Allen, Nicholas Shaw, David Schofield and Carolyn Pickles. Lou Broadbent joined the cast as new girl Iris Dawson and Gwilym Lee took over the role of Henry Jameson. Other new cast members included Dominic Mafham
as Dr Richard Channing, Joe Armstrong
as Danny Sparks, Paul Ritter
as Dennis Tucker's brother Frank and Samuel Edward-Cook as Walter.
. Crew from the BBC's daytime drama, Doctors, worked on the shoot, which lasted for seven weeks. Erika Hossington, the series' producer, said "Drama production has fantastic roots in Birmingham, but it's all happening again now with shows like Doctors, Survivors, Hustle and now Land Girls. A real life farm near Henley-in-Arden
in Warwickshire doubled for the Pasture farm, where the girls live and work. Hoxley Manor was created using Arbury Hall
in Nuneaton. The Black Country Living Museum
, Stoneleigh Abbey
, The Fleece Inn
and Toddington railway station
were also used for location shooting. Moore revealed that the series' location manager Michael Grisewood and series producer Sam Hill managed to secured the locations and that they needed very little set dressing. Things like satellite dishes, double glazing and pylons needed to be disguised by the production staff and trees with leaves had to be hidden during filming of winter scenes.
Hossington said that the biggest challenge of the shoot was finding a farmer who was prepared to plough a field out of season for use during an episode set in the winter months. She said "It went right to the wire and we only found one a couple of days before filming. Farms are governed by so many rules and subsidies and have to be very careful about what land they use. We're shooting the girls picking swedes and beets, trying to look as cold as possible despite the sweltering heat." As Moore wanted each episode to be set three months apart, the design team were "stretched" with having to get the field ploughed and getting crops to grow at the wrong time of year. Trotter said that he had wanted to film another drama in Birmingham for a while and that he wanted to give the Doctors crew an opportunity to film something big. He explained that the ambition of Land Girls is "far greater than the budget would suggest" using the real Messerschmitt
plane as an example.
Trotter said that he has looked at using CGI
for the plane, but that it did not look good, so the team found a real plane and someone willing to fly it. He added that using the real plane actually worked out cheaper than using CGI. All of the costumes were hired from London and they had to be authentic for the time period.
The second series was also filmed on location in the West Midlands. For the opening of the first episode, Gemmell's character, Joyce, is taken for a flight in a Tiger Moth
plane. Gemmell said that she did not get to fly in the plane and instead she was taxied around a field. As the pilot was getting ready to fly everyone on the set had to be quiet, so he could talk to people via the radio. Gemmell said "It's quite something standing with 30 people spread out across a field in total silence for a good 10 minutes, then hearing in the distance the rumble of a plane engine getting louder and louder." She also praised the make-up department for getting her wig to stay on during filming. Gemmell added that the second series was tough to film especially for the team behind the scenes.
beginning from 7 September 2009. The series was also available on BBC HD
and the BBC iPlayer
. Land Girls was given an early evening time slot of 5.15pm and it was later repeated on Sunday evenings. Land Girls made its debut in Canada on 6 June 2010 on the Sundance Channel.
The second series of Land Girls began airing on 17 January 2011. The new series was once again made up of five 45 minute episodes and simulcast in HD
on the BBC HD channel. On 19 January 2011, it was announced that Land Girls had been sold to Sundance Channel Global, which covers France, Benelux, Asia and Eastern Europe. The series will also be shown by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
, the Danish broadcasting corporation, DR, the Globosat
television service in Brazil and the Finnish broadcasting company, YLE.
The third series of Land Girls begin airing on BBC One from 7 November.
However, The Daily Telegraph
reported that the drama was criticised for its historical inaccuracies and the BBC notice boards attracted nearly a hundred comments and complaints about military uniforms and other general historical reconstructions.
. Gemmell won the "Best Newcomer" award, with Ward and Webb winning the "Best Actress" and "Best Actor" awards respectively.
in Australia and BFS Entertainment in North America. The Land Girls: Original Soundtrack was released in early 2011, it contains period songs and original music composed by Debbie Wiseman
. The second series was released on DVD in the UK on November 7th 2011.
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 7 September 2009. Land Girls was created by Roland Moore and commissioned by the BBC to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The programme was BBC Daytime's first commission of a period drama. Land Girls was filmed in and around the city of Birmingham. The first series features Summer Strallen
Summer Strallen
Summer Peta Vaigncourt-Strallen is an English actress who has performed various roles on stage and screen. Her most notable theatre credits include Meg Giry in the West End production of Love Never Dies and Maria Von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound of Music at the London...
, Christine Bottomley
Christine Bottomley
Christine Bottomley is a British actress.She is best known for her regular roles as Melanie in the BBC comedy series Early Doors and Susie Ward in Heartbeat.-Life and career:...
, Jo Woodcock
Jo Woodcock
Jo Woodcock is an English television, film and stage actress. Whilst active since 2000, Woodcock has recently come into prominence following her critically acclaimed performances as Alice in the television drama Torn in 2007, and as Liza-Lu Durbeyfield in the television series Tess of the...
and Becci Gemmell as four different girls doing their bit for Britain in the Women's Land Army
Women's Land Army
The Women's Land Army was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls...
during the War. Land Girls won the "Best Daytime Programme" at the 2010 Broadcast Awards and in that same year the BBC announced that it had commissioned a second series, comprising five episodes. Woodcock and Gemmell reprised their roles as Bea and Joyce and Seline Hizli
Seline Hizli
Seline Hizli is a British actress. She plays the role of Connie Carter in the drama series Land Girls. She got the series straight after graduating from RADA. As well as Land Girls, Hizli also appeared as Mae West in Appropriate Adult.-References:...
made her debut as new girl, Connie Carter. The second series began airing from 17 January 2011 and two months later BBC Daytime Controller, Liam Keelan, renewed Land Girls for a third series. It began airing from 7 November 2011.
Plot
Land Girls is set in the English countryside during World War Two. Four different girls arrive at the Hoxley Estate to begin their new working lives at the Pasture Farm owned by Frederick Finch (Mark BentonMark Benton
Mark Benton is an English actor, perhaps most famous for his roles as Eddie in Early Doors and Howard in Northern Lights.-Life and career:Benton was born in Guisborough, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England....
) and the opulent manor occupied by Lord (Nathaniel Parker
Nathaniel Parker
Nathaniel Parker is an English actor best known for playing Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley in the BBC crime drama series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.-Personal life:...
) and Lady Hoxley (Sophie Ward
Sophie Ward
Sophie Ward , is an English actress and the daughter of actor, Simon Ward.-Career:One of Ward's early film roles was in the film Young Sherlock Holmes. Other early films included Return to Oz, Little Dorrit and A Summer Story, and she also portrayed the unattainable love object in the video of Roxy...
). The girls, Nancy Morrell (Summer Strallen
Summer Strallen
Summer Peta Vaigncourt-Strallen is an English actress who has performed various roles on stage and screen. Her most notable theatre credits include Meg Giry in the West End production of Love Never Dies and Maria Von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound of Music at the London...
), Joyce Fisher (Becci Gemmell), Bea Holloway (Jo Woodcock
Jo Woodcock
Jo Woodcock is an English television, film and stage actress. Whilst active since 2000, Woodcock has recently come into prominence following her critically acclaimed performances as Alice in the television drama Torn in 2007, and as Liza-Lu Durbeyfield in the television series Tess of the...
) and Annie Barratt (Christine Bottomley
Christine Bottomley
Christine Bottomley is a British actress.She is best known for her regular roles as Melanie in the BBC comedy series Early Doors and Susie Ward in Heartbeat.-Life and career:...
), have joined the Women's Land Army for very different reasons, but they all share the same goal – to help serve their country and to help win the war. Nancy is forced into joining the Women's Land Army, when female conscription begins. Joyce wants to serve her country, just like her husband is doing. Annie signs herself and her younger sister, Bea, up, so they can escape their abusive father. As the girls adapt to their new surroundings and begin the hard work, their lives begin to change. Six months later, Bea is married to Billy (Liam Boyle) and Joyce is still working at the farm. The brash Connie Carter (Seline Hizli
Seline Hizli
Seline Hizli is a British actress. She plays the role of Connie Carter in the drama series Land Girls. She got the series straight after graduating from RADA. As well as Land Girls, Hizli also appeared as Mae West in Appropriate Adult.-References:...
) arrives to do her duty and American industrialist, Jack Gillespie (Clive Wood
Clive Wood
-Film and television:Wood's first starring TV role was as Vic Brown, opposite Joanne Whalley and Susan Penhaligon, in the 1982 ITV drama series based on the novel A Kind of Loving. He has played Matt Kerr in Press Gang, DCI Gordon Wray in The Bill and Jack Morgan in London's Burning...
), comes to the Hoxley Estate on business. The third series once again focuses on the lives of the land girls at the Hoxley estate. After the local military hospital is bombed, the patients and staff relocate to Hoxley Manor. Connie is engaged to Reverend Henry Jameson (Gwilym Lee) and Iris Dawson (Lou Broadbent) arrives at the farm.
Conception and development
Land Girls was conceived by Roland Moore, who wanted to cover the subject matter of the Women's Land Army in an ensemble drama. Once he had the idea, Moore set about creating the characters of Nancy, Joyce, Annie and Bea and devising story ideas from them. He told the Writers' Guild of Great BritainWriters' Guild of Great Britain
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds .-Activities:...
, "In the 1940s, class was obviously much more of an issue than it is now, so it made sense to capitalise on this factor by ensuring that the girls came from a mix of working and middle classes. During development of the series, Will Trotter (executive producer) suggested adding some upper class characters; so Lord and Lady Hoxley were added. This fully-fleshed out the class element of the series and enabled us to devise stories that threw a spotlight onto the great social leveller that was World War Two." Moore named his four main characters after his grandmother and great-aunts, which made the names authentic for the time period and he read accounts from real life land girls to make sure his stories were believable. He decided to set each forty-five minute episode three months apart to give the series "a unique format". He also wanted the series to be fast-paced. As well as focusing on the land girls, Moore also decided to "shed light on other less well-known aspects of the home front", including segregation of black and white American troops, the hunt for Nazi sympathisers and the use of prisoners of war as labourers.
Moore found out that Will Trotter from BBC Drama Birmingham was looking for drama ideas to pitch to the BBC Daytime Controller, Liam Keelan. Trotter was particularly looking for a Second World War drama that could air at the same time as the 70th commemoration of the outbreak of the war in September 2009. Trotter liked Moore's idea and it was green-lit, they, along with John Yorke, producer Erika Hossington and the directors, then began working to finalise the scripts. Ann Kramer, a historian specialising in the Women's Land Army, also helped out. The BBC announced the commission of Land Girls and another series called Week We Went to War in June 2009. Both series' would begin airing on 7 September 2009 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War. Keelan said "I'm delighted to be able to place Land Girls at this time of the day as part of a unique week of programming. We hope to pay tribute, not only to the many lives that were lost in the Second World War, but also to the land girls who played such an important role on the home front. We hope it'll be seen by as wide an audience as possible."
In March 2010, it was announced that a second series of Land Girls had been commissioned and that filming would begin later in the year. The BBC said the second series would see a return to the rural Forties and continue to examine the women who helped the war effort. Keelan said "The first series of Land Girls was something completely new for BBC One Daytime. It proved to be such a success with our viewers that I'm delighted to be able to announce the commission of a second series". Keelan added that he hoped the second series would continue to be a tribute to the real land girls. Trotter and Yorke returned as executive producers and Trotter said that the second series would see some old faces returning and some new ones arriving.
Two months after the second series had concluded, Keelan renewed Land Girls for a third series. Of the third series, Keelan said "It builds on the success of the previous two series which our viewers have loved for the dramatic way they have told the story of land girls – and their families and friends – in the Second World War." Trotter added that it was "brilliant" to continue the land girls' story and that the new series would give the team an opportunity to further explore "how those left at home lived their lives in the shadow of the Second World War."
Casting
Summer StrallenSummer Strallen
Summer Peta Vaigncourt-Strallen is an English actress who has performed various roles on stage and screen. Her most notable theatre credits include Meg Giry in the West End production of Love Never Dies and Maria Von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound of Music at the London...
was cast in the role of rich girl Nancy Morrell. Strallen read diaries and books on the land girls while she was preparing for her role. Of her character, Strallen said "Basically at the beginning, Nancy is a pain in the backside, she's one of those girls who has finished school and is looking to find a husband. [..] You hate to love her but it's not all dances and working on the farm. The actual reality of war sets in when someone in authority is challenging her patriotism." Strallen added that she enjoyed wearing the 1940s costumes and the hairstyles and that she had enjoyed filming the series. Becci Gemmell was cast as the patriotic Joyce Fisher, a woman whose parents were killed in an air raid and whose husband has been posted overseas. Like Strallen, Gemmell read diaries of the land girls during her research for the role. She also spoke to a former land girl who gave her some inside knowledge. The character of Joyce is Gemmell's first television role and she said that she "really loved" filming the series and hoped there would be a second run. Former Hope Springs
Hope Springs (TV Series)
Hope Springs is a British television comedy-drama series following the lives of four female ex-cons in hiding following a multimillion pound robbery. Produced by Shed Productions, the company behind Bad Girls, Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road, the 8-part series began airing on BBC One on 7 June...
actress, Christine Bottomley
Christine Bottomley
Christine Bottomley is a British actress.She is best known for her regular roles as Melanie in the BBC comedy series Early Doors and Susie Ward in Heartbeat.-Life and career:...
, was cast as the sensible and cautious Annie. Bottomley also researched the land girls after securing the role of Annie. Of filming the series, she said "I loved the experience of working in a completely different era and the completely different look." Jo Woodcock
Jo Woodcock
Jo Woodcock is an English television, film and stage actress. Whilst active since 2000, Woodcock has recently come into prominence following her critically acclaimed performances as Alice in the television drama Torn in 2007, and as Liza-Lu Durbeyfield in the television series Tess of the...
was cast as Annie's younger sister, Bea. Nathaniel Parker
Nathaniel Parker
Nathaniel Parker is an English actor best known for playing Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley in the BBC crime drama series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.-Personal life:...
and Sophie Ward
Sophie Ward
Sophie Ward , is an English actress and the daughter of actor, Simon Ward.-Career:One of Ward's early film roles was in the film Young Sherlock Holmes. Other early films included Return to Oz, Little Dorrit and A Summer Story, and she also portrayed the unattainable love object in the video of Roxy...
were cast as Lord Lawrence Hoxley and Lady Ellen Hoxley respectively. Parker and Ward had previously worked together on A Village Affair
A Village Affair
A Village Affair is the name of a novel by prolific English romance author Joanna Trollope. The story concerns a housewife and mother who embarks on an affair with a female acquaintance. It was televised by ITV starring Sophie Ward, Kerry Fox and Nathaniel Parker ....
. Mark Benton
Mark Benton
Mark Benton is an English actor, perhaps most famous for his roles as Eddie in Early Doors and Howard in Northern Lights.-Life and career:Benton was born in Guisborough, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England....
was cast as Farmer Finch, Danny Webb
Danny Webb (actor)
Danny Webb is a British television and film actor. He may be best known for his role as the prisoner Morse in Alien 3. He has appeared in many famous British television programmes including The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Emmerdale Farm, Our Friends in the North, A Touch of Frost, Agatha...
as Dennis Tucker and Susan Cookson
Susan Cookson
Susan Cookson is an English television actress. She lives in Sheffield with her husband, actor Malcolm Scates, and her two children Ruari and Dan. She also has two sisters....
as Esther Reeves. Fourteen year old Mykola Allen joined the cast as Esther' son, Martin.
The cast for series two was announced in June 2010. Woodcock and Gemmell returned to their roles of Bea and Joyce. Woodcock said she was "delighted" to return as she really likes her character. Six other cast members from the first series also reprised their roles, including Sophie Ward, Mark Benton, Danny Webb, Susan Cookson, Mykola Allen and Liam Boyle. It was also revealed that four new characters were to be introduced. Seline Hizli was cast as new girl, Connie Carter, who the Herts Advertiser said would "ruffle a few feathers". Land Girls is Hizli's first television role. Raquel Cassidy was cast in the role of Lady Hoxley's sister, Diana Granville. Clive Wood
Clive Wood
-Film and television:Wood's first starring TV role was as Vic Brown, opposite Joanne Whalley and Susan Penhaligon, in the 1982 ITV drama series based on the novel A Kind of Loving. He has played Matt Kerr in Press Gang, DCI Gordon Wray in The Bill and Jack Morgan in London's Burning...
and Liam Garrigan
Liam Garrigan
Liam Garrigan is an English theatre and television actor. As a youth he attended classes at Kingston upon Hull's Northern Stage Company and was a student at Wyke College, Kingston upon Hull.Garrigan trained as a professional actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the City of London...
joined as American businessman Jack Gillespie and Reverend Henry Jameson respectively. Keelan said that it was "wonderful" to have many of the original cast returning.
The BBC announced on 16 June 2011 that Gemmell and Hizli had reprised their role as Joyce and Connie for the third series, along with Sophie Ward, Mark Benton, Susan Cookson, Mykola Allen, Nicholas Shaw, David Schofield and Carolyn Pickles. Lou Broadbent joined the cast as new girl Iris Dawson and Gwilym Lee took over the role of Henry Jameson. Other new cast members included Dominic Mafham
Dominic Mafham
Dominic Mafham is an English actor. He was born on 11 March 1968.He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.Dominic began his career at The Royal Shakespeare Company in 1990. He was with the RSC for four years....
as Dr Richard Channing, Joe Armstrong
Joe Armstrong (actor)
Joe Armstrong is an English actor. He played Allan A Dale in the BBC series Robin Hood. He plays Hotspur in the forthcoming BBC production of Henry IV, Part 1 and he will appear in the film Closer to the Moon by Nae Caranfil...
as Danny Sparks, Paul Ritter
Paul Ritter (actor)
Paul Ritter is a British stage and screen actor.His selected filmography includes roles in Quantum of Solace, Son of Rambow, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Nowhere Boy, The Eagle and the 2007 television serial Instinct....
as Dennis Tucker's brother Frank and Samuel Edward-Cook as Walter.
Filming
Filming on the first series began in July 2009 in Birmingham and Land Girls became the first period drama to film there since 1994's Martin ChuzzlewitMartin Chuzzlewit (TV series)
Martin Chuzzlewit was a 1994 TV mini series produced by the BBC. It is based on the novel by Charles Dickens, with a screenplay by David Lodge. The music was composed by Geoffrey Burgon...
. Crew from the BBC's daytime drama, Doctors, worked on the shoot, which lasted for seven weeks. Erika Hossington, the series' producer, said "Drama production has fantastic roots in Birmingham, but it's all happening again now with shows like Doctors, Survivors, Hustle and now Land Girls. A real life farm near Henley-in-Arden
Henley-in-Arden
Henley-in-Arden is a small town in Warwickshire, England. The name is a reference to the former Forest of Arden. In the 2001 census the town had a population of 2,011....
in Warwickshire doubled for the Pasture farm, where the girls live and work. Hoxley Manor was created using Arbury Hall
Arbury Hall
Arbury Hall is a Grade I listed country house in Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England, and is the ancestral home of the Newdigate family, later the Newdigate-Newdegate and Fitzroy-Newdegate families....
in Nuneaton. The Black Country Living Museum
Black Country Living Museum
The Black Country Living Museum is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings, located in Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The museum occupies a urban heritage park in the shadow of Dudley Castle in the centre of the Black Country conurbation...
, Stoneleigh Abbey
Stoneleigh Abbey
Stoneleigh Abbey is a large country mansion situated to the southwest of the village of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building.The Abbey was founded by the Cistercians in 1154...
, The Fleece Inn
The Fleece Inn
The Fleece Inn is a public house in Bretforton, Worcestershire in the Vale of Evesham: the half-timbered building, over six hundred years old, has been a pub since 1848, and is now owned by the National Trust. The inn was extensively damaged by fire on 27 February 2004 — repairs and...
and Toddington railway station
Toddington railway station
Toddington railway station serves the village of Toddington in Gloucestershire, England. Since 1984 it has been the main base of operations for the heritage Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. The station is located on the Honeybourne Line which linked and and which was opened by the Great...
were also used for location shooting. Moore revealed that the series' location manager Michael Grisewood and series producer Sam Hill managed to secured the locations and that they needed very little set dressing. Things like satellite dishes, double glazing and pylons needed to be disguised by the production staff and trees with leaves had to be hidden during filming of winter scenes.
Hossington said that the biggest challenge of the shoot was finding a farmer who was prepared to plough a field out of season for use during an episode set in the winter months. She said "It went right to the wire and we only found one a couple of days before filming. Farms are governed by so many rules and subsidies and have to be very careful about what land they use. We're shooting the girls picking swedes and beets, trying to look as cold as possible despite the sweltering heat." As Moore wanted each episode to be set three months apart, the design team were "stretched" with having to get the field ploughed and getting crops to grow at the wrong time of year. Trotter said that he had wanted to film another drama in Birmingham for a while and that he wanted to give the Doctors crew an opportunity to film something big. He explained that the ambition of Land Girls is "far greater than the budget would suggest" using the real Messerschmitt
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
plane as an example.
Trotter said that he has looked at using CGI
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
for the plane, but that it did not look good, so the team found a real plane and someone willing to fly it. He added that using the real plane actually worked out cheaper than using CGI. All of the costumes were hired from London and they had to be authentic for the time period.
The second series was also filmed on location in the West Midlands. For the opening of the first episode, Gemmell's character, Joyce, is taken for a flight in a Tiger Moth
De Havilland Tiger Moth
The de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and was operated by the Royal Air Force and others as a primary trainer. The Tiger Moth remained in service with the RAF until replaced by the de Havilland Chipmunk in 1952, when many of the surplus aircraft...
plane. Gemmell said that she did not get to fly in the plane and instead she was taxied around a field. As the pilot was getting ready to fly everyone on the set had to be quiet, so he could talk to people via the radio. Gemmell said "It's quite something standing with 30 people spread out across a field in total silence for a good 10 minutes, then hearing in the distance the rumble of a plane engine getting louder and louder." She also praised the make-up department for getting her wig to stay on during filming. Gemmell added that the second series was tough to film especially for the team behind the scenes.
Broadcasting
The first series consisted of five episodes lasting 45 minutes, which were broadcast across five days on BBC OneBBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
beginning from 7 September 2009. The series was also available on BBC HD
BBC HD
BBC HD is a high-definition television network provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007...
and the BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clip content to include whole TV shows....
. Land Girls was given an early evening time slot of 5.15pm and it was later repeated on Sunday evenings. Land Girls made its debut in Canada on 6 June 2010 on the Sundance Channel.
The second series of Land Girls began airing on 17 January 2011. The new series was once again made up of five 45 minute episodes and simulcast in HD
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
on the BBC HD channel. On 19 January 2011, it was announced that Land Girls had been sold to Sundance Channel Global, which covers France, Benelux, Asia and Eastern Europe. The series will also be shown by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, the Danish broadcasting corporation, DR, the Globosat
Globosat
Globosat is a multichannel cable and satellite TV service in Brazil, created in 1991, after the creation of cable and satellite TV services. It has also operated a channel in Portugal, TV Globo Portugal, having earlier operated a similar channel, GNT Portugal, until 2006...
television service in Brazil and the Finnish broadcasting company, YLE.
The third series of Land Girls begin airing on BBC One from 7 November.
Series 1: 2009
| № | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate |
|---|
Series 2: 2011
| № | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate |
|---|
Series 3: 2011
| № | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate |
|---|
Reception
Land Girls surpassed the average audience share for the year in its slot by a full three percentage points and peaked at 2.6 million viewers.However, The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
reported that the drama was criticised for its historical inaccuracies and the BBC notice boards attracted nearly a hundred comments and complaints about military uniforms and other general historical reconstructions.
Awards and nominations
Land Girls won "Best Daytime Programme" at the 2010 Broadcast Awards. Later that year, it was named "Best Drama" at the Royal Television Society AwardsRoyal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
. Gemmell won the "Best Newcomer" award, with Ward and Webb winning the "Best Actress" and "Best Actor" awards respectively.
Home media
Series one of Land Girls was released on DVD in the UK by Acorn Media in November 2010, two months before the official January 2011 release date. The DVD contains all five episodes of the drama, a documentary about the real land girls and a photo gallery. The DVD was distributed by ABC CommercialABC Commercial
ABC Commercial is the commercial arm of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is responsible for making a profit through the creation, marketing and retailing of ABC products and services worldwide.-History:...
in Australia and BFS Entertainment in North America. The Land Girls: Original Soundtrack was released in early 2011, it contains period songs and original music composed by Debbie Wiseman
Debbie Wiseman
Debbie Wiseman MBE is a composer for film and television. She studied at Trinity College of Music Junior Department, and then piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama....
. The second series was released on DVD in the UK on November 7th 2011.
External links
- Land Girls at the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...