Home Fires (British TV series)

• Francesca Annis as Joyce Cameron. Joyce is a pillar of the community, and the historical leader of the Great Paxford Women's Institute. Joyce is sophisticated and serene, and even her ex-nemesis Frances observes that she is a natural leader. Even though she can appear stern, pompous and vindictive, she is actually quite sympathetic to other people and proves herself to be a substantially good person.
• Daisy Badger as Claire Wilson (née Hillman). The former maid of Joyce Cameron and current maid of Frances Barden.
• Mark Bazeley as Bob Simms. An aspiring author following the minor success of his first book. He was a journalist in the First World War and suffered injuries to his arm and leg from shrapnel, though he admits it was nowhere near combat. Volatile, self-centered and pathetic, Bob is physically and emotionally abusive to his wife Pat.
• Leanne Best as Teresa Fenchurch. Great Paxford's new local teacher. She becomes a tenant in Alison Scotlock's home.
• Samantha Bond as Frances Barden. Leader of the WI.
• Clare Calbraith as Steph Farrow. A farming wife who comes to enthusiastically support the WI after some initial reluctance to join. Steph is very happy with her husband and only wants what is best for him; when he decides to enlist, she supports him through love rather than reason.
• Chris Coghill as Stanley Farrow. The local farmer and Steph's husband. He is brave and wants to enlist in the war, despite having unpleasant memories of the last conflict in which he served. Stanley loves his wife and son (also named Stanley) and works hard to provide for them.
• Ruth Gemmell as Sarah Collingborne. Frances Barden's sister and a member of the WI. She is the wife of the local vicar.
• Frances Grey as Erica Campbell. Wife of Dr. Will Campbell and the local pharmacist.
• Rachel Hurd-Wood as Kate Campbell. First daughter of Erica and Will Campbell. Vivacious and outgoing, she is more extroverted than her sister Laura.
• Leila Mimmack as Laura Campbell. The second daughter of Will and Erica Campbell.
• Mike Noble as Spencer Wilson. The local postman. Spencer takes a fancy to Claire after coming to her rescue in a bicycling accident. He is cheery and supports the WI's new form.
• Claire Price as Miriam Brindsley. The wife of local butcher Bryn, and a member of the WI. The thought of war terrifies her, as she knows it will eventually take away her son David.
• Claire Rushbrook as Pat Simms. A member of the WI. A battered wife, she has been a victim of her husband Bob's physical and verbal abuse for many years. She makes every effort to keep him happy, but remains with him out of fear, lying about and making apologies for his behavior.
• Daniel Ryan as Bryn Brindsley. The local butcher and husband to Miriam. Bryn fought in the First World War and survived. However, he was scarred by the events and Miriam forbids him from enlisting again. He cares greatly for his family and offers advice to his son David, who is determined to enlist.
• Fenella Woolgar as Alison Scotlock. Alison is a member of the WI. She lost her husband George during WWI, and his name can be seen on the memorial wall. Frances tells her husband that the WI is essential in Alison's case, because if she was not a member she would never leave the house and her life would revolve around looking at the memorial wall and caring for her dog, Boris.
• Jodie Hamblet as Jenny Marshall. Jenny is the switchboard operator for Great Paxford and works alongside Pat.
• Jacqueline Pilton as Cookie. An elderly member of the WI. Cookie is kind and worries for the WI when it becomes corrupt and selfish under Joyce's rule. However, she shows a lot of happiness when Frances takes over and happily supports the newly reformed WI's movements.
• Alexandre Willaume as Marek Novotny.
• Eileen Davies as Anne. The friend of Joyce and constant supporter of Mrs Cameron.
• Anthony Calf as Peter Barden. Peter is a businessman. He is the husband of Frances and very supportive of her acts in the WI.
• Mark Rowley as Stephen Banks.
• Sarah Thom as Jan Wilson, Spencer Wilson's mother.

The first season had a consolidated average rating of 6.2 million viewers to date and a 24 per-cent share.[4] June 2015, ITV announced that it had ordered a second season of the programme. Samantha Bond was nominated for an award from the Satellite Awards. Season 2 met with similar success compared with Season 1 as the premiere episode gained 5.2 million overnight views, with the second episode reaching 4.7 million views. Just days after the broadcast of the final episode of season 2, ITV announced it was cancelling the show and there would be no third season. A network spokesman said that despite the show's success, "the ITV commissioning team continues to refresh the channel's drama portfolio, hence the decision not to commission a further new season."

Fans gathered to protest against the cancellation, and a Change.org petition to bring the show back was signed by over 50,000 viewers, but the campaign was ultimately unsuccessful.

After the series' cancellation, the writer continued the story as a novelisation. Published initially in July 2017 as an ebook (in 4 parts) from Amazon, the complete novel in book-format (originally planned for release in October 2017 [4]) was published in May 2018.

Home Fires first aired on 3 May 2015 on ITV. Internationally, the series premiered in Australia on 10 October 2015 on BBC First.[5] The series premiered in the United States on 4 October 2015 on PBS.

• Home Fires at IMDb