<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Website </Td> </Tr> <P> Our Girl is a British television military drama series, written and created by Tony Grounds, first broadcast on BBC One on 24 March 2013 . The series initially starred Lacey Turner as Molly Dawes, a young woman from a working - class background who joins the British Army after deciding her life is going nowhere . Following the feature - length pilot episode, a full series of five episodes was commissioned, commencing broadcast on 21 September 2014 . For the series, Iwan Rheon and Ben Aldridge joined the main cast as Private Dylan "Smurf" Smith and Captain Charles James respectively . </P> <P> Turner left her role after the first series, and was replaced Michelle Keegan as the series' new lead, Lance Corporal Georgie Lane . Ben Aldridge returned to the cast, with newcomers Luke Pasqualino and Royce Pierreson amongst the new cast members . The second five - episode series began airing on 7 September 2016 . An extended third series, comprising twelve episodes, was commissioned in 2017 . Initially due to be broadcast in three blocks of four episodes, filming for this series took place in Nepal, South Africa and Malaysia . Keegan, Pasqualino and Aldridge all returned for this series, with Shalom Brune - Franklin and Rudi Dharmalingam amongst the new cast members for this series . The first four episodes, known as the Nepal Tour, began broadcasting on 10 October 2017 . The remaining eight episodes aired consecutively from 5 June 2018, with Olly Rix joining the cast as new special forces Captain "Bones" McClyde . </P> <P> 18 - year - old Molly Dawes (Lacey Turner), who lives in the East End of London, decides to join the army, deciding her life has no purpose on discovering that her boyfriend has been cheating on her . Encouraged only by the manager of the recruitment office, Sergeant Lamont (Paul Fox), she initially keeps her decision a secret from her family, which consists of her controlling father Dave (Sean Gallagher) and doting mother Belinda (Kerry Godliman). When the truth is exposed, Dave demands she changes her mind, threatening to disown her if she does not; leaving her to make the heartbreaking decision to step away as she heads off to training camp . Here, Corporal Geddings (Matthew McNulty) initially doubts Molly's merits as a potential soldier, but she strives to prove herself and eventually earns the respect of her peers, even reuniting with her mother Belinda when she visits her to apologise for Dave's actions . </P>

Why did they change characters in our girl