Home Fires
As I stated in my post about Mercy Street, Home Fires is another show gone too soon.
With only two seasons to its name, I’m not sure why this show was
cancelled. There was so much more that
could have happened had it been allowed to go on.
It’s
the start of World War II and the local Women’s Institute (WI) has disbanded to
a degree. Joyce Cameron (Francesca
Annis), the domineering president, has been overthrown. Now, to get back at the WI, Joyce is going to
do everything she can to hinder whatever the remaining members set out to
do. In all honesty, the conflict between
Joyce and the WI is really a bunch of petty squabbles. It just goes to show, that even in times of
war, petty squabbles don’t cease to exist.
The
events surrounding the WI aren’t the only things happening in the town. Everyone is going through their own personal
struggles. Miriam Brindsley (Claire
Price) is doing everything she can to keep her son from going off to war. Desperate to keep her only child at home,
Miriam even goes so far as to not tell the ration board of his existence. When the son finds out, he runs off to join
the military on his own, leaving behind a distraught mother and a poor father
trying to get her to understand.
Steph
Farrow (Clare Calbraith) is a farmer who must deal with the fact that her
husband would rather be off fighting than at home. Fortunately for her husband, Steph
understands his desire and sends him on his way, but it leaves her to deal with
the farm and the government on her own with only her son for help. Unable to read, following the government’s
new farming requirements is nearly impossible for Steph, leaving her at risk of
losing the farm.
The
local doctor, Dr. Will Campbell (Ed Stoppard) discovers he has lung cancer,
leaving the future of his family in doubt.
His older daughter, Kate (Rachel Hurd-Wood) falls in love and marries a
pilot, but Laura (Leila Mimmack), Dr. Campbell’s younger daughter, has an
affair with a married officer creating a scandal. With his daughter’s name tainted, people stop
seeing Dr. Campbell for medical care.
Already stressed with his illness and the experimental treatment he is
going under, it is up to his wife, Erica (Frances Grey), to get everything back
on track.
Next
door to Dr. Campbell and his family is Pat Simms (Claire Rushbrook), a woman
severely abused by her husband, Bob (Mark Bazeley). Physically, mentally, verbally, and
emotionally abused. Pat tries to keep
the abuse a secret, but it is not easy.
In an effort to get some sense to her life, Pat starts working as a
telephone operator despite it being against her husband’s wishes and
command. When Bob is sent to the front
lines to be a journalist, it is a relief.
Now alone, Pat is free to live the life she wants, and even fall in love
with someone who loves her back.
As
with Mercy Street, there are so many storylines I haven’t
mentioned. There’s the officer who falls
in love with Sarah Collingborne (Ruth Gemmell), the pastor’s wife. Sarah, in the meantime, hides an emotionally
struggling pilot determined to defect from the military. The husband of the new president of the WI,
Frances Barden (Samantha Bond), dies and Frances discovers he had a child with
his accountant. Then, due to an attack
on his own village, Frances reluctantly lets the boy live with her. Meanwhile, there is the bookkeeper, Alison Shotlock
(Fenella Woolgar), who gets caught cooking the books (unwillingly) for war
profiteers, and then decides to work for the police in order to catch others.
Even
with all I have written, there are still many more things to say and storylines
to talk about. That’s why it’s such a
shame this show ended after two seasons.
It’s only 1940. There is a lot
more war left to go and so many things could happen. Plus, there are storylines left hanging from
the last episode. Unfortunately, those
storylines will have to be left where they are, because Home Fires has
ended, making it yet another good show cancelled far too soon.
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