Our Girl WON’T return for a fifth season following Michelle Keegan’s exit as show bosses feel it’s ‘the right time’ to end the series
Our Girl won’t be returning for a fifth series following Michelle Keegan‘s exit, it was revealed on Tuesday.
BBC bosses and the show’s creative team have opted to end the military drama series following the 33-year-old star’s departure from the role of lead character, Sergeant Georgie Lane.
Our Girl creator Tony Grounds told Radio Times: ‘With the finale of series four showing Georgie ready to move on with her life, it feels like the right time for us to do the same.’
End of the road: Our Girl WON’T return for a fifth season following Michelle Keegan’s exit as show bosses felt it was ‘the right time’ to end the series, it was revealed on Tuesday
Despite this, Tony admitted he’d be keen to reunite with Michelle at some stage in the future.
He explained: ‘Michelle and I are keen to continue our working relationship and, who knows, maybe we’ll catch up with Georgie in the future.
‘I wanted to say a big thank you to the fans of the show, it’s been a joy to write.’
Piers Wenger, the controller of BBC Drama, added: ‘We are very proud of Our Girl and would like to thank Tony Grounds, Michelle Keegan and the fantastic cast and crew for all their hard work on the show.’
‘Right time’: Our Girl creator Tony Grounds claimed series four gave the show a satisfactory conclusion as Michelle’s character Georgie Lane was ‘ready to move on with her life’
In January Michelle quit Our Girl after series four of the drama, revealing she was keen to spend more time in the UK and ‘explore other opportunities’ in her career.
She played British army medic Georgie on the show for three seasons but plans to leave in order to spend more time in the UK.
The demanding filming schedule of the show had seen the Stockport born star travel to South Africa, Nepal and Malaysia for several months of filming a year.
Michelle’s husband Mark Wright also had moved back to the UK from Los Angeles where he was working on US TV.
At the time, the former Coronation Street actress acknowledged that it had been a ‘really difficult decision’ to walk away from the show.
When speaking with The Sun about her decision the ex-Coronation street star said: ‘I’ve had the most incredible four years on the show and I want to thank the BBC for giving me such an amazing opportunity.
Possibilities: Tony added that he and Michelle would keep up their working relationship, and he teased that ‘maybe we’ll catch up with Georgie in the future’
‘Playing Georgie has been a life changing role for me. I’ve loved every second of the adventure so it was a very hard decision to make not to return.
‘I feel it is the right time to explore other exciting opportunities but I’m so happy to be part of the new series coming soon so it’s not the end just yet.’
At the time of the announcement, producers were said to have been looking for another actress to replace Michelle to play the lead, which starred former EastEnders actress Lacey Turner, 31, for its first run in 2014.
‘Hard decision’: In January Michelle quit Our Girl after series four of the drama, revealing she was keen to spend more time in the UK and ‘explore other opportunities’ in her career