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?
I loved the show!!! Why are all the wonderful shows cxl’d and garbage reality shows renewed!!! This was an entertaining well done series. Please bring it back.
Because the stations cater to the shows people watch. Stupid shows. Stupid people. Did you see the 2 hr movie last night?
I just found Bomb Girls on Netflix and immediately fell in love! I love the depth of the characters and how each has to figure out how to continue living and growing as best they can under such strange and sometimes tense conditions. The war changed the way we live in so many ways…ways that changed the course of our culture. Seems like there’d be almost unlimited story lines with everything that went on in this time frame. I love the juxtaposition of the simpler life style and thinking of the time with the complexity and uncertainty of the war.… Read more »
I am so tired of great shows like this being canceled and garbage being renewed. Canadian and British TV series are far superior to ours.
Bomb Girls is a Canadian series. Love the show and hope it will return, I’m sure they are getting good ratings on the repeats as there is nothing better to watch currently
Bring it Back!
I love the show. The actors are top-notch, and the costumes are wonderful! It touches on issues such as being a lesbian and the forbidden feelings, that society is still struggling with.
Another issue is the justification of prostitution to send the boys back into battle, as in the case of Vera. Self development and knowledge in breaking the traditional role of being a woman are wonderful to see and an encouragement for women of today. Please bring the show back!
Love, Love, Love the show!! very disappointed when it was xld!!
i work in a factory where it was used during WW II to build planes
i can understand a lot of what they were going through.
Please bring back the show!!! It is a view into the life that was
and one that still lives today. Not to mention the substance it had
compared to the ridiculous reality shows out there now!!
100% agree. I’ve been watching the re runs on Reelz and loving them. This is a worthwhile show with socially redeeming value. don’t cancel it. Tell your friend to write in support!
I don’t know what warrants a cancellation over a renewal of a show like this. Everyone I know was watching this series and I just don’t get it. I thought with the response the cancellation has had maybe they would renew but no such luck so far. M
My sisters & I watched anxiously from the very beginning. No, can’t believe it is canceled! Sorely disappointed!
It’s being shown in repeats now. Let’s hope it gains some traction and enough people make their voices heard so the producers will reconsider it’s cancelation.
Bomb Girls RockS!
Just discovered BombGirls on Netflix and watched all 18 episodes in two days. Cannot believe they canceled this series. Great to see how the different sexes reacted to the war and war effort. Bring it back.
I really miss this show. Can’t imagine y’all canceling it. With all the uninteresting shows on other stations I’m sure you could sell this to a US market. Please try.
Bomb Girls is much loved in the USA. Please bring it back!
why do they always cancel the good ones?? Bring ot back!!!!
bring back bomb girls, it was great
Love Bomb Girls. The world needs more good shows like this instead of the reality garbage
So disappointed that this series is being cancelled! I loved this series.
This is an excellent series. Please don’t cancel it! It is one of the best series I have seen in a long time! Excellent writing, excellent actors, great era nd very well done.
So sorry to see this wonderful show end. Finally a realistic view of Toronto in the ’40’s and how the women (and men) helped out with the war effort. Would love to see it continue.
A really great show. So much reality junk on TV that it is a shame to cancel a show with great writing and characters. I have watched it on Netflix here in the US and would love to see a Season 3.