Network: Reelz
Episodes: 18 (hour) + two-hour movie
Seasons: Two
TV show dates: September 11, 2012 — May 26, 2014
Series status: Cancelled
Performers include: Meg Tilly, Jodi Balfour, Charlotte Hegele, Ali Liebert, Antonio Cupo, Sebastian Pigott, Peter Outerbridge, Anastasia Phillips, Jim Codrington, and Lisa Norton.
TV show description:
Set in 1940s Toronto, this TV series explores the lives of various women who find themselves thrust into new worlds. They work in munitions factories, building the arms that keep their overseas husbands, lovers, brothers, and sons alive and fighting.
While they’re building bombs, the women also find themselves flourishing with newfound freedom, discovering strengths they never before imagined. At the same time they’re often woefully under-equipped for the new challenges they face. Amid propaganda and sexual harassment, crossing social and cultural boundaries, these remarkable women form a unique sisterhood.
Lorna Corbett (Meg Tilly) met her husband Bob (Peter Outerbridge) at age 18 before he shipped out to the Great War, and married after their affair left her pregnant. Bob returned a broken man, shell-shocked and paralyzed, and their dream of a happy life vanished. Lorna quietly relishes her new job as it’s a chance to escape an oppressive home and is secretly jealous of the other ladies’ happiness. She’s determined not to let them make the same mistakes she did. Lorna is especially resentful Gladys and seeks to break the spirited girl, even though she recognizes her own long-lost exuberance.
Gladys Witham (Jodi Balfour) is a wild child and the only daughter in a wealthy Rosedale family. Gladys’s privileged life has made her fearless with an appetite for life and she’s always gotten what she wanted. Now, what she wants is changing and its far less superficial. Does this leave room for James Dunn, her fiance?
New to Toronto, Kate Andrews (Charlotte Hegele) is eager to please and gifted at lifting spirits thanks to a staggeringly talented singing voice. Beneath her smile is a sheltered, insecure girl who’s on the run from her abusive street-preaching father. Cobbling together a new identity, Kate appears to have evaded punishment and her past, for now.
Betty McRae (Ali Liebert) is a recent arrival from rural Saskatchewan. An early arrival to Victory Munitions, Betty quickly rose through the ranks to be a well-regarded worker who doubles as Blue Shift’s on-floor trainer of the new workers. She fled her troubling past to live in a place with fewer men to mistrust. Betty has a hard attitude but for some reason, this doesn’t seem to apply to her interactions with Kate.
Blue Shift’s materials controller, Marco Moretti (Antonio Cupo), is responsible for the raw materials coming into the factory, as well as the export of every finished bomb. He gained his experience from his family’s fireworks factory, and now supports his mother, sister and nieces as the sole breadwinner. His father has been locked away in an internment camp alongside hundreds of other Italian immigrants. Though Marco considers himself a Canadian, he knows others see him as a potential enemy and is unable to enlist.
James Dunn (Sebastian Pigott) is smart, attractive, wealthy, and poised to take the world by storm. He’s a decent man whose refinement haven’t resulted in snobbery. Still, having been largely sheltered from the world’s harsh truths, he’s woefully innocent about matters of the heart. While he’s drawn to Gladys, her exuberance often threatens to overwhelm him. He was an American before Pearl Harbor and still doesn’t feel that the war is truly his to fight.
Vera Burr (Anastasia Phillips) is a Blue Shift worker and was disfigured in an accident at the factory and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. African-American Leon (Jim Codrington) works in the warehouse at Victory Munitions. A jazz musician and singer, he saves Kate from an attempted assault. Edith McAllum (Lisa Norton) is a floor worker at Victory, is close friends with Lorna, and befriends Bob while dealing with the aftermath of her husband’s death.
Bomb Girls: Facing the Enemy (series ending movie)
It is the Spring of 1943 and the Battle for the Atlantic rages as an Axis victory seems inevitable. The one hope the Allies have – production of newly developed sonar equipment – is moved to Victory Munitions when the British factories are bombed. Under the increased pressure, the women of Vic Mu — Gladys, Lorna, Kate, Betty and Vera — band together in a tight bond of support and friendship. Then, in the darkest hour of the war, a new and disturbing menace appears – a saboteur among the factory workers.
First aired: May 26, 2014.
What do you think? Do you like the Bomb Girls TV series? Do you think it should have been cancelled or renewed for a third season?
Definitely renew, women cannot be reminded enough about how far they have come. Hard earned respect still hangs by a whim, Republicans would like to erase your choice.
Best show ever. Please don’t cancell..
Damn well better renew it
This is a great series, even my husband likes it. I hope it doesn’t get canceled.
We really like bomb Girls and hope that Reelz picks up the second season (It was renewed in Canada for 12 more episodes).
It is well researched except for the stockings they continue to show – in the 1940’s there weren’t any hose that looked like that, although the ones they have hanging up in the background of many scenes might be authentic. Other than that – a pretty good job.
I love this show. It’s a wonderful change of pace from the usual cops, hospital dramas and sitcoms. Please don’t cancel it.
I love this show. I can’t believe it is cancelled. But I’ve told several people about it and they don’t have Reelz chan or they have never heard of it. I wish a major network would pick it up. That’s a shame!
Darlene Tucker » it’s not cancelled.
I find this to be one of the best period dramas I’ve ever seen. I hope it continues for a long time to come.
I love this show & its characters.I hope it lasts a long time
I love dated shows and movies !!! This show is great , am very much hoping for a second season and 3 and 4 etc…….
Love this show, My Mom was a bomb girl so it lets me know how it was she didn’t like to talk about that time.
The show Bomb Girls is great. I am a researcher and writer and live in an area where there was a very large munitions plant. The things depicted on the show are just the things that were faced by women in WW II. The other story of the men being out for profit also was another thing that happened. Really well written and researched.
I love this show usually I only watch crime dramas but this drama I’ll make an exception for. (Its retro appeal is also a reason I’m watching it 😉 )
Great show hope last a long time.
I think “Bomb Girls” are great have just seen it for the first time. I think it is great that we
have a series dedicated to the Greatest Generation. Those brave men and women who stepped up when the world was in WWll. I hope the series runs for a very long time. There are many of that generation still left and some are not able to do so much these days so bravo. The generation that lived it is here to watch , remember, and be proud of their part.