If there's any downside in Britain stopping conscription ( And I don't believe there is any downside to this ) it's that the general mainstream civilian knowledge of the military is rather ignorant , uninformed or misinformed . Certainly no one was happier than the British military forces themselves when conscription was scrapped in this country in 1960 but media depictions of the British military rarely paint a convincing picture with one or two very notable exceptions like the late 1970s ITV drama SPEARHEAD and this BBC drama entitled OUR GIRL is the latest in a long line to not get it right
One gets the feeling it's produced as more of a star vehicle for some soap opera actress in this case Lacey Turner a former EASTENDERS regular who plays protagonist Molly Dawes in much the same way as a not very good actress would play a role in EASTENDERS . You don't really get the impression you're watching a real character called Molly Dawes who exists in the real world , more of a caricature of the BBC view of urban teenage girls from the East End of London . Also despite the use of some strong language in a very vain attempt to make this seem like a tough gritty real life drama involving the military it does have a very BBC 3 cheap production value feel to it . I wasn't expecting APOCALYPSE NOW style helicopter assaults filmed in Afghanistan but even so the budget seems lacking
Artistic license such as a protagonist miraculously staggering around and stopping to vomit outside an army recruitment office thereby setting up a very weak inciting incident can be forgiven but a " realistic portrayal of the modern day British army " ( it says here ) it's somewhat lacking . Molly actress woman just passes the one and a half mile within the set time but no one mentions what this set time should be ! I've no idea what it is in 2013 but do know that it was 7 minutes 30 seconds in 1988 for most recruits and I guess if I really wanted to know what it was in 2013 google would be my friend . Also you don't address female officers as " Ma'am " it's always " sir " regardless of gender etc etc . Remind me what branch of CND the military adviser was in ?
Some people might say it's good that the BBC are showing the military in a good light but would this be the same television company who employed the likes of Rageh Omar who was the station's main correspondent during the invasion of Iraq who equated that conflict with Vietnam simply because both countries have palm trees ! and who constantly used the phrase " heavy coalition casualties " when daily coalition fatalities were in single figures . I can't think of the BBC making any dramas showing the British military in a good light since the Pertwee era of DOCTOR WHO and even then that was fighting alien invasions . Pro military ? When you've got the BBC as allies who needs enemies
One gets the feeling it's produced as more of a star vehicle for some soap opera actress in this case Lacey Turner a former EASTENDERS regular who plays protagonist Molly Dawes in much the same way as a not very good actress would play a role in EASTENDERS . You don't really get the impression you're watching a real character called Molly Dawes who exists in the real world , more of a caricature of the BBC view of urban teenage girls from the East End of London . Also despite the use of some strong language in a very vain attempt to make this seem like a tough gritty real life drama involving the military it does have a very BBC 3 cheap production value feel to it . I wasn't expecting APOCALYPSE NOW style helicopter assaults filmed in Afghanistan but even so the budget seems lacking
Artistic license such as a protagonist miraculously staggering around and stopping to vomit outside an army recruitment office thereby setting up a very weak inciting incident can be forgiven but a " realistic portrayal of the modern day British army " ( it says here ) it's somewhat lacking . Molly actress woman just passes the one and a half mile within the set time but no one mentions what this set time should be ! I've no idea what it is in 2013 but do know that it was 7 minutes 30 seconds in 1988 for most recruits and I guess if I really wanted to know what it was in 2013 google would be my friend . Also you don't address female officers as " Ma'am " it's always " sir " regardless of gender etc etc . Remind me what branch of CND the military adviser was in ?
Some people might say it's good that the BBC are showing the military in a good light but would this be the same television company who employed the likes of Rageh Omar who was the station's main correspondent during the invasion of Iraq who equated that conflict with Vietnam simply because both countries have palm trees ! and who constantly used the phrase " heavy coalition casualties " when daily coalition fatalities were in single figures . I can't think of the BBC making any dramas showing the British military in a good light since the Pertwee era of DOCTOR WHO and even then that was fighting alien invasions . Pro military ? When you've got the BBC as allies who needs enemies