# Military Wives
**Military Wives** is a 2019 British comedy-drama directed by Peter Cattaneo in which women on an army base form a choir while their partners are deployed to Afghanistan. It stars [Kristin Scott Thomas](https://www.edgepedia.org/kristin-scott-thomas) as Kate, the colonel's wife, and [Sharon Horgan](https://www.edgepedia.org/sharon-horgan) as Lisa, and was inspired by the BBC documentary series *The Choir: Military Wives* and the real Military Wives Choirs movement.[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/military-wives) • [2](https://embankmentfilms.com/articles/kristin-scott-thomas-sharon-horgan-to-star-in-peter-cattaneos-military-wives-1692705174)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Peter Cattaneo; screenplay by Rosanne Flynn and Rachel Tunnard[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/military-wives) |
| Principal cast | Kristin Scott Thomas (Kate), Sharon Horgan (Lisa), Jason Flemyng (Crooks)[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/military_wives/cast-and-crew) |
| Premiere | Toronto International Film Festival 2019, Special Presentations, world premiere[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/military-wives) |
| Release | Earliest release 27 February 2020 (Australia); United Kingdom 6 March 2020 (Lionsgate UK); United States distributed by Bleecker Street[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt8951692/) |
| Box office | $4,890,505 worldwide, all international; the United Kingdom accounted for $3,316,173[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt8951692/) |
| Runtime / rating | 112 minutes; PG-13[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt8951692/) |
| Reception | 77% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 123 reviews; 53% from audiences[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/military_wives) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film is set on the fictional Flitcroft Garrison, where the women's partners have been deployed to Afghanistan. Kate, the colonel's wife, persuades a mismatched group of women to form a choir, and the singing becomes their lifeline through the anxiety of deployment, leading to a performance at the [Royal Albert Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-albert-hall).[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-05-23/full-monty-director-peter-cattaneo-military-wives) • [7](https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/military-wives) The script manufactures a rivalry between the choir's two leaders, the brittle Kate and the laid-back Lisa, and includes the death of a new wife's husband in combat.[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/military-wives-review-song-remains-same) The choir's signature piece is a homemade power ballad created from soldiers' letters, and the group's progress runs from uncertain warbling to a confident a cappella version of Yazoo's "Only You" and an "Ave Maria".[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/military-wives-review-song-remains-same)
## The real story behind the film
The first military wives choir was formed in 2010 at [Catterick Garrison](https://www.edgepedia.org/catterick-garrison) in [North Yorkshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/north-yorkshire), an idea of Nicky Clarke, whose husband Hugo was due to deploy to Afghanistan in the spring of 2010. With her friend Caroline Jopp she posted notices at the garrison and hired a music teacher, and she also wrote to the celebrity choirmaster [Gareth Malone](https://www.edgepedia.org/gareth-malone) asking for help. Malone was unavailable but liked the idea and replicated it for the fourth season of his BBC series *The Choir*, titled *The Choir: Military Wives*, filmed at the Royal Marines Base Chivenor in Devon with wives and girlfriends of servicemen deployed to Afghanistan.[9](https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/military-wives/)
The real choir called itself the "Military WAGS", using the British tabloid acronym for wives and girlfriends. The movement grew into the Military Wives Choirs, a registered charity with 75 choirs and more than 2,200 members across British military bases in the United Kingdom and abroad, drawing members from the [British Army](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-army), Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, and [Royal Marines](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-marines). The real choir performed the song "Sing" for the Queen at her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.[9](https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/military-wives/) The charity describes the film as telling a fictionalised version of the start of the movement, and the film's characters and specific storyline are almost entirely fictional, with no character based on Malone.[10](https://irp.cdn-website.com/1ecc2b30/files/uploaded/MWCF%202020%20Report%20%26%20Accounts%20Signed.pdf) • [9](https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/military-wives/)
## Production
Cattaneo, whose 1997 hit was *The Full Monty*, joined the project nearly four years before release, before the script was finalized, and said the documentary convinced him there was a genuine story to tell. The film was shot primarily at Catterick Garrison, the actual home of the first military wives choir, with base inhabitants used as extras.[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-05-23/full-monty-director-peter-cattaneo-military-wives)
**Casting and singing.** Cattaneo did not want Broadway-level singers and worried the film would become "Mamma Mia"-style spectacle. He approached Oscar nominee Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan simultaneously, and both quickly agreed; the rest of the ensemble was chosen to reflect the women who would actually live on a base. He said the cast are "competent singers" rather than great ones, and he wanted the early singing to be pretty bad.[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-05-23/full-monty-director-peter-cattaneo-military-wives)
Budget constraints gave Cattaneo only five weeks to shoot. He filmed largely in chronological order so the choir would improve naturally, allowed two days of initial rehearsals, and then stopped singing rehearsals as much as he could, shooting with two or three cameras and as few takes as possible to keep the scenes feeling alive.[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-05-23/full-monty-director-peter-cattaneo-military-wives) Production sound mixer Dylan Bennet has described the director's instruction that the film "is not a musical, it should sound like a real choir singing in real spaces".[11](https://amps.net/news-archive/militarywives) The score is by Lorne Balfe, with cinematography by Hubert Taczanowski.[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/military-wives)
## Reception
The film holds 77% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 123 reviews, with a critics consensus that it "offers few surprises" but its pleasures are real; the audience Popcornmeter stands at 53%.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/military_wives) Reviewers singled out the central pairing: the Sydney Morning Herald's Brad Newsome wrote that the "chalk and cheese" combination of Scott Thomas and Horgan holds interest in material that might otherwise have become humdrum.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/military_wives) The British Film Institute's Sight and Sound review called it a heartwarming if predictable dramedy, a regendered cousin of *The Full Monty*, while noting that the script strains for laughs and defaults to sentimentality.[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/military-wives-review-song-remains-same) A Soldier magazine review judged it entertaining but flawed by poor character development, rating it three of five stars.[12](https://soldier.army.mod.uk/media/44vdyhaj/soldier-mar-2020.pdf)
Commercially, the film earned $4,890,505 worldwide, entirely from international territories, with the United Kingdom contributing $3,316,173 of that total.[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt8951692/) The Military Wives Choirs charity reported that the film reached number 1 in the DVD chart upon release.[10](https://irp.cdn-website.com/1ecc2b30/files/uploaded/MWCF%202020%20Report%20%26%20Accounts%20Signed.pdf)
## References
1. [Military Wives, British Council UK Films Database](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/military-wives)
2. [Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan to star in Peter Cattaneo's 'Military Wives', Embankment Films / Screen Daily](https://embankmentfilms.com/articles/kristin-scott-thomas-sharon-horgan-to-star-in-peter-cattaneos-military-wives-1692705174)
3. [Military Wives: Full Cast & Crew, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/military_wives/cast-and-crew)
4. [Military Wives (2019), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt8951692/)
5. [Military Wives, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/military_wives)
6. [What happened to 'The Full Monty' director Peter Cattaneo, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-05-23/full-monty-director-peter-cattaneo-military-wives)
7. [Military Wives, Bleecker Street Media](https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/military-wives)
8. [Military Wives review: the song remains the same, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/military-wives-review-song-remains-same)
9. [Military Wives: History vs. Hollywood, History vs. Hollywood](https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/military-wives/)
10. [Military Wives Choirs Foundation, 2020 Report & Accounts](https://irp.cdn-website.com/1ecc2b30/files/uploaded/MWCF%202020%20Report%20%26%20Accounts%20Signed.pdf)
11. [Military Wives: The Challenges and Rewards of Recording a Live Choir in Movie Production, AMPS](https://amps.net/news-archive/militarywives)
12. [Soldier magazine, March 2020 review of Military Wives](https://soldier.army.mod.uk/media/44vdyhaj/soldier-mar-2020.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2019 to 2020 › Released in 2019*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license