Production
In June 2015, it was announced that a second series of Our Girl had entered production, set to follow 2-Section through "a risky mission in Kenya". [1] The second series was commissioned by Charlotte Moore and Polly Hill. [2] Executive producers were announced to be Caroline Skinner and Tony Grounds, and directors by Jan Matthys and Luke Snellin. [3] Grounds, who wrote the show's pilot and first series also returned as writer, [4] and expressed excitement to write the new series, teasing it was set to take place in a Kenyan refugee camp, the biggest one in the world, close to the Kenya/Somalia border, and focus on the conflict between the countries. [2] Grounds called it "both daunting and exciting" to have a new series of Our Girl enter production. [5] The protagonist originating from Manchester was incorporated as the actress Keegan was from there, with Grounds commenting: "it was good to write for her voice". [5]
Grounds based the new series in Kenya as he found its ongoing conflict with Somalia to be "an incredible setting for drama" after researching it thoroughly, and the characters would have never "faced anything like the situation they are confronted with". [5] Actor Ben Aldridge confirmed that the refugee camp in the show was based on Dadaab. [6] His co-star and lead actress Michelle Keegan also confirmed that the mission was a humanitarian one and would last over a six-week period for 2-Section, and that the new series would contain nods to the original one. [7] It was teased that the characters would quickly find the mission to be "full of surprises". [3] Further announcements confirmed the season would be composed of five sixty-minute episodes that were set to air on BBC One in late 2016. [8] [3] The first trailer for the series was released in June 2016. [9]
Like the first series, series 2 was also filmed near Cape Town in South Africa, despite being set in different countries. [10] Skinner explained that the reason why "it looks so different on screen" was because "the cast and crew decamped to dustier, desert-like just terrain 20 minutes outside of Cape Town". [10] Skinner added that South Africa was "an incredible place to film", "was really hot and very sunny, which is exactly what you want when you're trying to recreate Kenya", and had "magical" lighting. [10] The Kenyan refugee camp in the show was a township in real life, with locals being used as extras. [10] Series 2 began filming in January 2016. [8] [11]
To train for the series, actors had to attend boot camp in the UK for a few weeks, [10] which Keegan was surprised wasn't as bad as she expected: "I was a bit worried because I'd heard it was quite strict due to the army and what they have to go through. It was great fun and a bonding exercise for everyone to get to know each other before we flew out to South Africa". [7] After that, they did another week of boot camp in South Africa to acclimatise the cast to the heat and uniforms. [10] Advisors were employed for military accuracy and to support the cast through the physical demands. [10] Keegan was initially "worried" about filming in South Africa due to not being good in heat, but was thankful to film in a cooler time of the year. [7] The actress also stated: "I was working six days a week, in every single scene, so I had no time to miss home. It was one of those experiences where you look back and think what an experience of a lifetime, I loved every single minute". [7] Keegan performed several of her own stunts, calling it "very physical" and finding it "liberating", [7] despite admitting it was "quite extreme". [12] She was also surprised at how heavy the weapons used were and it was the first time the actress had held or operated a gun. [7]
In September 2014, it was announced that Lacey Turner, who played protagonist Molly Dawes in the first series, had left the show to return to her role on EastEnders. [13] In June 2015, it was announced that, as a result, Michelle Keegan had been cast as Georgie Lane, an army medic and the show's new protagonist for its second series. [1] As a "massive fan" of the series, Keegan expressed excitement to play Georgie. [1] Billed by the BBC as "gutsy, passionate and unstoppable", Georgie is an army medic like Molly who is fiercely dedicated to her job and "relishes the adrenaline and adventure that working with the army brings". [3] Keegan commented that wearing the uniform for the first time felt "quite surreal", but it immediately gave her a "sense of duty", as if she were a member of the army. [14] Keegan described her character as follows: "Georgie is an experienced army medic. She is good at her job, very professional and she knows what she wants in her life. Georgie puts her work first and not afraid to get stuck in, especially with the lads as well. I wouldn't say she is the alpha, but she doesn't take anything lying down". [7]
Luke Pasqualino was announced to portray a new character, Georgie's ex-fiance Elvis Harte, a Special Forces commander of the SAS group. [15] [16] He was billed as "cheeky", "fearless", "impulsive", and "cool under pressure". [3] Pasqualino noted that Elvis "knows how good he is" at his job and aspires to "make the world a better place", adding that his character has "a lot of bravado, a lot of cheekiness and a lot of cockiness about him but at the end of the day, he gets his end goal finished and he gets you the result". [16] Grounds and actor Ben Aldridge teased a return of Captain James, [8] which was eventually confirmed in March 2016. [17] The BBC called Captain James an "army man to the core" and "totally committed to his work". [3] Aldridge explained his characters' established relationships with Georgie and Elvis, as Georgie is a friend of Molly's and "still manages to impress and surprise him" and Captain James and Elvis "go way back and have been on tour together more than once". [6] When asked if he had changed from the first series, Aldridge responded "he's slightly more war-weary" as "Molly started him on this ethical debate with himself" the previous series. [18]
Other new cast announcements included Royce Pierreson as Dr Jamie Cole, a "warm and sensible" doctor in love with Georgie, [3] Rolan Bell as Sergeant King, Sean Sagar as Monk, Anthony Oseyemi as the Kenyan forces' Captain Osman, [15] Anna Tenta as Kicki, a Swiss woman who "fell in love with a career in humanitarian relief work", [19] Yusra Warsama as Nafula, Kicki's "passionate and hard-working" co-worker, [19] and Michael James as Jason Raynott, "a lonely chid growing up" who became interested in Islam in later life. [19]
