Our Girl: Our Reality.

I've just finished watching BBC drama Our Girl, starring former 'Eastender' Lacey Turner, and all I can feel is an overwhelming warming of the heart.
The show depicts the maturing of typical teenager Molly Dawes, starting with her 18th birthday and consequent 'piss-up'. We've all experienced it: the shots, the laughter, then the downfall of the arguments and screams of "you slag". It seems Eastenders was brilliant training for Turner, she hit them high pitched screams perfectly.

 But it's obvious from the start that Molly's whole life is a monumental piss-up, not just her 18th: her family situation, with all the chaos and her (let's be honest) dick of a father; her tragic 'friendships' with people who don't respect her; and don't even get me started on her Albanian boyfriend.
Cue a well-placed Army poster, which Molly throws up on before 'seeing the light' and changing her life. Yes, it may seem a bit cliche, but I chose to ignore it for once, because this show, unlike others which rely on cliche, has substance.
The training process Molly goes through to join the Army has striking parallels to the X Factor 'judges houses' stage, particularly in Molly's interview when she uttered the words "I've never been given a chance. If I had one I wouldn't let you down" (or something to that effect) followed by Molly sat on a bench outside in floods of tears (don't worry, not nearly as bad as Rylan).
 Again, very cliche.
 But it fit with her life. The director of this drama hasn't sugar-coated British life at all, which is refreshing as well as tragic. People in Molly's situation probably don't get a chance unless they fight for it, which is why her progress and camaraderie with fellow budding soldiers are seriously heartwarming viewing. Her early 'class clown' moments do provide a bit of humour in this otherwise tragically real drama however, which is necessary. I particularly enjoyed the dirty mind joke.
It's a pretty bleak reflection on society today when a teenage girl asks to speak to her parents and they immediately assume she's pregnant. But again, this isn't some sugar-coated fairytale. It's the reality of our time, but thankfully Molly provides a better role model for teenage girls. I'm not saying we should all sign up to the Army, but we should all do something to make us proud of ourselves without considering the judgement of others. It's pretty impressive to see a girl from such a screw up of a family make something of herself. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it if I had a dad like that.
To sum up father Dawes: he tries to pimp out his daughter to make a bit of money.
It's like a really sinister Del Boy, willing to try anything to make a few quid.
I was pretty disappointed by Molly's mum when she followed her husband by ignoring Molly, it made me kind of lose hope for Molly and I actually anticipated it could be the tipping point for her to revert back to her old life. My hope was restored shortly after thankfully, when Molly didn't let her father ruin her opportunity and her mother had the guts to finally come see her daughter (even if it was behind her husband's back).
Only two things were missing from Our Girl, in my opinion, which would have made it even better viewing.
1. Someone needed to give Molly's dad a punch. Oh, and 'Proud' Mary.
2. Where was the carry-out of the promised romance between Molly and the Corporal?
I've heard rumours there may be a follow up, so I expect to see both of these in the next episodes!

If you didn't watch Our Girl tonight, you must must must watch it on catch up (which you can find here). It brilliantly depicts Britain today, warts and all. But most importantly, it follows a success story and paves the way for more.

What did you think of Our Girl? Let me know in the comment box below!