Land Girls - series 3

An experiment in watching one of the relatively recent attempts to enliven daytime tv schedules.  Not bad at all.  In subject, at least, it doesn’t avoid the pre-watershed taboos of violence and sex, and isn’t constrained like many prime-time dramas by a two-hour slot.  Characters struggle up from the one-dimensional into something like life and if the odd scenario stretches things a bit (would Connie really feel she had no choice but to desert her fiancé for conman Danny, who seemed to operate as a one-man psycho before succumbing to pantomime knocked-over-the-head status?) it was still a well-crafted watch, with strong performances from the eponymous Land Girls, and lovely Nicholas Shaw (Ali).  The other slightly panto character was the old busybody, and both Joe Armstrong and Carolyn Pickles seemed slightly uncomfortable, and a bit out of keeping with the rest.  No offence to either of the actors, one of whom has given two great stage performances we have seen (and whose dad is the lovely Alun – see ‘Garrow’) and the other is a screen stalwart, or would be if there were more challenging roles for older women.  Speaking of which, could somebody please cast Sophie Ward in something where she isn’t terribly elegant and repressed?

Perhaps the best compliment overall would be to say that it’s far better than the 1998 Leland film of the same name, which must have had a much larger budget, and it’s far better than almost anything else to be seen before 8pm.