Land Girls, a popular series from the BBC, follows four members of the Women’s Land Army–women who worked on British farms during World War II for the war effort. Nancy (Summer Strallen), Joyce (Becci Gemmell), Bea (Jo Woodcock), and Annie (Christine Bottomley, The Street) find their lives turned upside down by their experiences- including pregnancy, adultery, losing a husband, suspicion of collaboration, racial strife, class schisms, and more at Pasture Farm. Rattling off the story elements like that makes Land Girls sound by-the-numbers, but that’s far from the case–though the subplots may seem familiar to any war-on-the-home-front tale, the treatment is intelligent, compassionate, and wonderfully acted. The central and supporting characters are skillfully drawn and vivid, while the script never gets mired in sentiment–for any moment that may feel a little pat, there’s another that’s bittersweet and rich with the contradictions of life.
