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Becci Gemmell (Home Time) and Seline Hizli return as land girls Joyce and Connie in the new five-part series of the award-winning Land Girls for ´óÏó´«Ã½ One Daytime.

Also returning for the third series are Sophie Ward as Lady Hoxley, Mark Benton as Farmer Finch, Susan Cookson and Mykola Allen as Esther and her son Martin, Nicholas Shaw as John Fisher, David Schofield as Vernon Storey and Carolyn Pickles as Mrs Gulliver.

Additional new faces joining the cast are Dominic Mafham (Kingdom, Always And Everyone) as Dr Richard Channing, who runs the medical hospital and is Lady Hoxley's new love interest; Joe Armstrong (Robin Hood, A Passionate Woman) as Danny Sparks, Connie's cockney ex-boyfriend; Paul Ritter (Vera, Friday Night Dinner) as Dennis Tucker's brother Frank; and Samuel Edward-Cook as Walter Storey, son of Vernon. They are joined by Lou Broadbent who plays new land girl Iris Dawson. Reverend Henry Jameson is played by Gwilym Lee.

Created by Roland Moore, Land Girls is once again set on the Hoxley estate and in the village of Helmstead, against the backdrop of war-weary Forties Britain. The highly popular drama is based at the run down Pasture Farm and the opulent Hoxley Manor, which is taken over as a hospital when the local military hospital is bombed.

The series continues to follow the lives and loves of the land girls doing their bit for Britain in the Women's Land Army (WLA) as the women work hard on the land, serving their country.

Will Trotter, Executive Producer of Land Girls, says: "It's brilliant to be able to continue the story of the land girls and the people whose lives interact with theirs, going back to see familiar faces as well as introducing new and exciting characters. This new series gives us the opportunity to explore further how those left at home lived their lives in the shadow of the Second World War."

Liam Keelan, Controller of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Daytime, adds: "This third series of Land Girls is part of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Daytime's ongoing commitment to produce more quality original British drama, which our audiences continue to ask for. It builds on the success of the previous two series which our viewers have loved for the dramatic way they have told the story of land girls – and their families and friends – in the Second World War."

Land Girls is being made by the team behind ´óÏó´«Ã½ Birmingham's award-winning Doctors, and is being currently being filmed on location in and around the West Midlands. The executive producers are Will Trotter and John Yorke. The producer is Ella Kelly and the directors are Ian Barber and Steve Hughes.

Land Girls is due to be shown on ´óÏó´«Ã½ One Daytime this autumn.

SD2