''Red Cap'' is a British
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
drama series, produced by Stormy Pictures for the
BBC and broadcast on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...
. A total of thirteen episodes were broadcast over the course of two series, beginning with a feature-length pilot on 28 December 2001. The series follows the investigations and personal relationships of a British Army
Special Investigation Branch unit of the
Royal Military Police
The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operation ...
based in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
.
The series initially focused on lead character,
Sergeant Jo McDonagh (
Tamzin Outhwaite), who was nicknamed McDoughnut, but later series played out as more of an
ensemble piece, with several notable characters coming to prominence. A number of fictional regiments were featured in the series, including the Bedford Light Infantry, the Royal Cumbrian Fusiliers, the Wessex Regiment and the Derbyshire Light Infantry.
Cast
*
Tamzin Outhwaite as Sgt. Jo McDonagh
*
Douglas Hodge as Sgt. Maj. Kenneth "Kenny" Burns
*
James Thornton as Staff Sgt. Philip "Hippy" Roper
*
Gordon Kennedy as Sgt. Bruce Hornsby
* Joachim Raaf as Detective Thomas Strauss
*
William Beck as Sgt. Maj. Steve Forney
*
Maggie Lloyd-Williams as Cpl. Angie Ogden
*
Peter Guinness as Capt. Gavin Howard
*
Blake Ritson as Lt. Giles Vicary
*
Raquel Cassidy as Staff Sgt. Neve Kirland (Series 1)
*
Poppy Miller as Staff Sgt. Harriet Frost (Series 2)
*
Ian Burfield as Sgt. Sam Perkins (Series 1)
Episodes
Pilot (2001)
Series 1 (2003)
Series 2 (2004)
Production
According to BBC sources, Outhwaite spent a week familiarising herself with Army life at the Reserve Training and Mobilisation Centre in Chilwell, Nottingham, prior to filming the series.
Training included unarmed combat, 9mm pistol training, driving, drill, and understanding the Army's labyrinthine hierarchical structure. The series creator and writer, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Patrick Harbinson, was in the army himself and previously wrote fifteen episodes of the ITV military series ''
Soldier Soldier''. A BBC spokesman said; "With such experience, Patrick infuses Red Cap with a tangible sense of realism."
On 13 March 2004 ''Red Cap'' was axed by BBC executives, who cited: "At a cost of £10 million and an audience of just 5.5 million, executives thought it would not be worthwhile to renew it for another series."
References
External links
''Red Cap''at
bbc.co.uk
*
*{{IMDb title, id=0327354, title=Red Cap
BBC television dramas
2001 British television series debuts
2004 British television series endings
2000s British drama television series
British military television series
Military fiction
English-language television shows
Television shows set in Germany
Television shows set in London