Our Girl

[R4roger]

Anyone watching this drivel?
although slightly enjoyed the family dynamics going on last night, unfortunately DD's favourite programme and in fact Guardian seems to recommend it

PS Rest assured, you are all almost completely normal and in most cases, it will pass. Or maybe you'll still be obsessed ten years later.

Read this piece done on Thornton fan worship from The Times in 2005.
richardarmitagecentral.co.uk/main.php?g2_itemId=169930

Armitage's rolled up sleeves, I do remember those ;-)

Yes but Paperback this is my second of the year! First The Musketeers and now the Captain. I'm a lost cause!

DH is not home until late so hopefully I can fit in episode 4 after the kids are in bed I think that is my favourite I've watched episode 2 and 3 today already and half of the pilot

I was so relieved to find this thread a few days ago, the last 4 days of my life have been overtaken by this obsession - so it's fabulous to know I'm not alone! I honestly feel like a teenager, they have to make another series!

Yes I am seriously obsessed but I just read that Ben Aldridge's middle name is Charles!!

Thats really amused me :-)

Lyndie - all sounds completely normal to me. :) I didn't get into Musketeers and don't know why as guys were beautiful. My dd did (she's 27 now). Captain James crept up on me in ep 1 then half through ep 2, I just lost it completely. Wish he wasn't called Charlie tho. My fil's name - lovely man but ruins the mystique somewhat.

re the sexy fanfic. I did think about doing it, I really did as my stuff is pretty steamy but I just couldn't bring myself after loving the closed bedroom door s I could use my imagination. By concidence have just written a series where third book opens with a dashing army captain, critical after blood loss in his hospital bed - sudden bleeds are very useful plot devices that are highly dangerous but recoverable. Sigh.

I do have a (serious) question I've been meaning to ask.

If Molly is a medic, does that mean she is a trained Dr i.e. been to med school for 4 years etc. Or are they just taught the basics for keeping someone alive? I always felt she was a bit young for such a responsible position. Is she meant to be 18/19 or 22 (as Smurf was as inscribed on his coffin).

Would a 30 year old captain lust after an 18 year old and not a mature woman of the world who's not over the hill yet, like me

I have a question. If anyone hears of Ben Aldridge doing theatre, can they let me know? :)

Bellini, I really doubt she is a doctor. She said she had no GCSEs when she was talking to the boss about school.

I think she's basically a first aider. Albeit one trained in war trauma!

She's a combat medic. Advanced emergency first aid to keep people alive until they can get to hospital or doctors can get to them. Bit of a fudge though because army website says GCSE Maths and English at A-C are needed, but no further quals.

www.army.mod.uk/rolefinder/role/33/combat-medical-technician/

She had her 18th birthday in the one-off film and went off on basic training (14 weeks) shortly after her birthday. Then she says at the end of her basic training that she'd have 6 months training (medic / trade training) before she goes out to Afghan. And she doesnt have a birthday on tour so am guessing she must have had her 19th birthday before she went.

I just bought the pilot episode today from iTunes, I did watch it at the time but forgot how good it was! No Captain but still

Film Studies 101

Response from Student B
This student if only does not believe that there is uniformity in the sexiness of the male face throughout the series. However this student anticipates that the writer created capt James found himself in scenarios where a range of beautiful facial expressions were warranted. This student drools at feels his expression in the face holding moment is about shock at seeing Sohail point at Molly and perhaps realising the strength of his feelings for her, his distress at her distress and the need to relieve that and protect her. This 42yr old mother of 3 student thinks his unbelievable sexiness in this scene is down to his capacity for emotion, his empathy, not necessarily from his look. His facial expression looks numb (beautifully so) so the viewer imagines the turmoil he is going through.

In contrast to demonstrate to the examiner the full extent of my research the scene where he is waiting for her to come back to the FOB after saving Smurf in Ep 1 shows his face in a detached, officer, leader, soldier way. It is rugged, blatantly sexy in an alph male he could boss me about any time kind of way.

Finally, the expression on his face when he opens the door at the end of Ep 5 is everything I'd ever want pure unadulterated lust, love and joy all wrapped up into one smouldering look.

This student's conclusion therefore is that the facial expressions are only a part of Capt James undoubted sexiness. This hopelessly besotted student concludes that Capt James played it brilliantly, the looks, the expressions aligned with the script perfectly but actually added much more because his face was so expressive (not uniform at all) that in many cases, his face told the story without the need for words.

god I really need to snap out of my obsession

Mmmhhmmm
Keep on thinking that there are other aspects of CJ that are so appealing to us (shall i say it? don't shoot me!) middle aged mums...besides the obvious hotness. I mean, we all agree that he's perfect there, more or less a layer of tan.
But the character...? He's full of contradictions; parts of me think they are unnerving inconsistencies in the writing, other suspects this makes it even more fascinating : he's authoritative and bossy, yet when needed he listens to molly and overcome his prejudices (the scene when he says "this tent is stag only"?? How sexist is that? Still 1/4 episode later is impressed by her judgment of the situation and of Smurf frame of mind)
He's as posh as posh can be, but swears like a pro...
He can recite Dylan Thomas but sings like a teenager
He's über sexy, still was clearly married with a ice queen (what was he thinking??!)

...can't make him out!

A to Mandy*

Love all the analysis

Can anyone suggest another series or film, so that I can move on from this? It is unhealthily taking over most of the day ...

If you don't mind having to read it yourself, Harry Potter porn? Blame Brodies

oh yes. best smutty fanfic I've found.

make sure you are alone....

eros-et-philia.tumblr.com/post/100517351832/in-f-cking-volved

NappyValleyMum - thank you for the photos of Captain James in his No 2 dress (learned a new term there) and also for attempting to send some via the private message. Shame they didn't work. I agree with everyone who has said he looks at his most hunky in his fatigues although I love him any way, be it clean shaven or stubbly. Agree too about the suntan. It did strike me that when we saw him in the paddling pool, he didn't look very tanned but the theory about them only just having come out to South Africa to film would explain that away very simply. Sleeves rolled up tanned forearms ..... oh yes please!

NappyValleyMum again - your arguments in your own exam paper are very clear. I award you an A*. Top of the class without a doubt. Also, I like your appeal to Tony Grounds and the BBC. Even if the BBC aren't reading these comments, I do think that Ben's PR agency will be on our tails. Well, I certainly hope so. I think you should lead us on this one! We will all assist you.

I was stuck in very slow moving traffic coming home tonight and so naturally my thoughts drifted towards Captain James, who else! I began to list my top scenes. What are your favourites?

These are in no particular order:

In the bunker (ok so this has to be my favourite)
Coco Pops
The coffee request, especially where their fingers are intertwined
Molly's-face-in-his-hands scene in the hospital after Sohail is found
Singing a duet
When he first catches sight of her in the Bath restaurant
The kiss in his parents' house
As they go into his quarters (but obviously before she finds out his marital situation)
The time where they confront the Afghan insurgents and he accompanies her and stands behind her in a masterful yet protective way.
When he goes into the area with her where she interviews Bashira's brother - again masterful but protective.

I know somebody loved the blisters shot and somebody else loved the eye drops scene. One I find really sexy but I have no idea why is when they are in his quarters and he asks her if she has ever been to Bath. She sits down and he then sits next to her. Don't know what it is about the way he bends his legs but that made my insides turn to jelly!

I tried talking to the assistant in Boots as I was buying some makeup about Our Girl in an oh-so-casual way but again received a shake of the head! If the Our Girl Facebook page has had over 17,000 likes, where are these people?????????

Looping at their screens and on iplayer, obviously ;-)

threadneedle . I am also rather partial to the one Brodies posted previously. (New internet connection being very bad so can't link again and don't really feel able to ask DH to fix my dumbass computers link facility as well as the malfunctioning broadband right now). If you want to keep it in your imagination, don't read either....

Other thoughts, does anyone else think that the Under Fives are quite endearing in name and terrible behaviour?

If Capt James didn't exist, would anyone else let Cprl Kinders dip his spoon in their Coco Pops?

cherin - I reckon, given the age of CJ's son, he was probably about 23/24 when they got married? His parents are clearly very well to do and the now ex-wife hardly looks as if she's from the gutter either. She's obviously not from a Forces-type background otherwise she would know about extended foreign tours and the stress of separation and this is what would appear to have driven a wedge between them. Was she, and I don't mean to be crass, taken in with the uniform and the officer rank? He probably wasn't a captain then though, I would guess a Lieutenant. From CJ's point of view, it would do nothing to hinder his promotion to be married, would look good in fact.

Honestly, I think any one of us could go onto Mastermind to answer questions on Our Girl/Captain James/Ben Aldridge! My obsession is not going away, I sort of wish it would!

My favourite scenes. Obviously all of the above listed by ilove.
Also when he first calls her dawsie ( I think that's when he REALLY admits to himself that he's falling for her)
His reaction and facial expressions before he comes out with "ditto".
When he strides past her when she tries to tell him nothing happened in Newport and then stops, turns to tell her to pack and then walks off again ( oh yes watching him walk away from behind - very sexy for some reason).
The look they give each other the following morning before they get into the truck back to bastion - what was going through his mind then, had he decided he was not going to take it any further due to the "messiness and army regulations"?
When Molly really doesn't want to go on leave and he's telling her to go but then watches her leaving with that intensity.
Oh I'm sure I could go on but I'll stop now ...

Cherin, Iloveble. I went to school with a lot of people of both sexes who went on to join the army on short service commissions( I think now called Gap year comissions). My best description is army work experience for posh kids, Sandhurst and all. They spend their gap year at Sandhurst and serving in the the army and then go to Uni. Some went back, some didn't. If James had done that and then met Rebeca at Uni, the ages fit, and it would explain why she didn't know what she was letting herself in for.