ITV has commissioned a new drama following the lives of wives and girlfriends of soldiers serving in war torn Afghanistan.
Casting for the series will take place over the coming months, but the broadcaster has revealed some details of the four central characters – Debbie, Gemma, Louise and Claire – who live in Army quarters in the garrison town of Leysham.
Debbie is happy to see her husband, Howard, start a new life away from the Army just as her precious younger son Matt is heading to Helmand Province to serve alongside his big brother Tom. She has sleepless nights about her two boys, fearing the worst.
Gemma is Debbie’s daughter in law and married to Matt. Gemma enjoys playing house in her newly acquired living quarters. She is optimistic about their future, after a troubled upbringing of her own, and is determined to prove herself as a brilliant wife and good mother to toddler son Alfie.
Louise was an Army nurse so she knows the high-octane world from both sides. She met her husband Joe during a particularly gruelling six month tour of Afghanistan. She stayed in the Army after they married, but didn’t return to her duties after maternity leave. Louise may be married to a soldier but she tends to avoid the women who define themselves by their husband’s rank and reputation. Louise hates having to be both parents to their young children, Hannah and Grace but hopes it won’t always be like this.
Claire signed up for a dating website three years after her amicable divorce. She wasn’t looking for a man in uniform, but that’s what she got in Pete. He’s an Officer, so Claire must not only adjust to giving up her own career and relocating to be with him, but deal with the challenges of being a Captain’s wife and the demands of being a step-mother to Pete’s wayward 15 year old daughter Millie, too. Millie firmly resents Claire and her teenage son Sam 13 who’s moved in with them.
The drama has the working title of SWAGS but ITV says it will ait under another name.
Executive Producer Kieran Roberts says the series will be “an emotional and heart-wrenching drama about the women who fight their own battles on the home front while thousands of miles away their loved ones are risking their lives every day.”