''Red Cap'' is a British

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular su ...

, produced by Stormy Pictures for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

. 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 Special Investigation Branch (SIB) was the name given to the detective branches of all three British military police arms: the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police. It was most closely associated with the Royal ...

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 operations ...

based in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The series initially focused on lead character,

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

Jo McDonagh (

Tamzin Outhwaite Tamzin Maria Outhwaite (; born 5 November 1970) is an English actress, presenter and narrator. From 1998-2002, and again from 2018-2019, she played the role of Mel Owen in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. She has also starred in a number of ...

), 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

as Sgt. Jo McDonagh *

Douglas Hodge Douglas William Hodge (born 25 February 1960) is an English actor, director and musician. He has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as film and television where he has appeared in ''Robin Hood'' (2010), '' Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Retu ...

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 Raquel Cassidy is an English actress. She played the role of Phyllis Baxter in the television series ''Downton Abbey'' (2013–2015), winning a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. She has re ...

as Staff Sgt. Neve Kirland (Series 1) * Poppy Miller as Staff Sgt. Harriet Frost (Series 2) *

Ian Burfield Ian Burfield is an English actor, who has often played roles as police officers and detectives on television. He appeared in 12 episodes of ''The Bill'', 39 episodes of ''EastEnders'', and played the part of a Tweed Coat Fingerman in 2005 film '' ...

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 ''Soldier Soldier'' is a British television drama series. Created by Lucy Gannon, produced by Central Television and broadcast on the ITV network, it ran for a total of seven series and 82 episodes from 10 June 1991 to 9 December 1997. It ...

''. 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 BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

* *{{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 British English-language television shows Television shows set in Germany Television shows set in London