Land Girls

Four participants in the Women's Land Army—formed to maintain Britain's agricultural sector during World War II—are the focus of this sudsy yet suspenseful 2009 BBC miniseries. As the story opens, two new arrivals, Nancy (Summer Strallen) and Joyce (Becci Gemmell), settle into the workers' quarters on Hoxley Manor, joining sisters Annie (Christine Bottomley) and Bea (Jo Woodcock) in assisting Esther (Susan Cookson) and Mr. Finch (Mark Benton), who oversee farming operations. Annie and Joyce have husbands in the military, while Nancy takes a shine to Lord Hoxley (Nathaniel Parker), a war veteran married to the domineering Lady Ellen (Sophie Ward). Long days of manual labor aside, the ladies don't have it too bad, since they attend movies and dances, which is how Bea finds herself pregnant by a smooth-talking American soldier when she could have been spending time with Finch's sweet-natured son, Billy (Liam Boyle). Meanwhile, the paranoid Sgt. Tucker (Danny Webb) keeps an eye on the property to make sure that Finch—a bit of a rogue tempted by black-market possibilities—isn't selling anything other than produce, and that the women aren't passing on coordinates to the enemy (when he finds out that Nancy speaks Italian, he becomes convinced she's a spy). A reasonably entertaining tribute to a cadre of hardworking women, this is a strong optional purchase. [Note: Land Girls: Series 2 is also newly available.] (K. Fennessy)