''Ultimate Force'' is a British television action

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

that was shown on ITV, which deals with the activities of Red

Troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troo ...

of the SAS (

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terr ...

). The first episode was broadcast on 16 September 2002, and a total of four series were produced. The series starred Ross Kemp as central character

Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a Military rank, rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administr ...

Henry 'Henno' Garvie. The show was initially described as a star vehicle for Kemp, who had been lured away from 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 ...

to ITV with a multimillion-pound contract. Kemp appeared in every episode of the four series. The series was co-created by Chris Ryan, a former British SAS soldier who was a member of the famous Bravo Two Zero patrol during the 1991

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

.Ultimate Force Introduction.
Retrieved on 1 January 2008. The series was produced by Bentley Productions.ALL3MEDIA International Press Release on 7 February 2005.
Retrieved on 1 January 2008.

Background

As well as his behind the scenes role, creator Chris Ryan appeared in the first series of the show playing Blue Troop leader Johnny Bell. A number of the cast featuring in the first two series did not return to appear in the third series, resulting in a change of characters. Domestically, the change of format seemed to produce diminishing returns for ITV. The third series was abruptly taken off air by the network midway through the run, only to return a few weeks later. The show was then moved to Saturday evenings at 9 p.m. A similar fate awaited series four, which was pulled after just two episodes. The three remaining episodes of the fourth series were not originally shown on ITV, but shown on ITV4, in January and February 2007. ITV showed the remaining three episodes of the series over a year later, starting on 18 May 2008. The DVD of the fourth series had previously been released on 25 September 2006. ITV then announced there would not be a fifth series, partially due to low ratings—hence the cutting of series three and four midway through their runs—whilst many of the stars moved onto other projects. Ross Kemp went on to host a series of documentaries following the progress of

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

troops in Afghanistan, whilst both Sam Callis and Christopher Fox joined ITV's police serial drama ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' portraying Sgt Callum Stone and DS Max Carter, respectively, from 2007 to the end of the series in 2010. Many plotlines throughout the series were left unanswered: most notably, the killing of Iain Macalwain by Henno, the conflict in Pete Twamley's marriage, and the murder of Jamie Dow's step-dad, which is hinted to have been carried out by Ricky Mann. DVD sales of the first two series resulted in more than £700,000 of revenue by the arrival of the third series, with both regular and limited edition sets making the top ten of the television sales charts. The series has also been aired in 120 countries, ranging from Europe to Southeast Asia.ALL3Media International Press Release on September 2004
Retrieved on 1 January 2008.

Cast

Red Troop

* Ross Kemp as Staff Sergeant Henry-George "Henno" Garvie; Red Troop SNCO and the only character to appear in every episode * Christopher Fox as Corporal Louis Hoffman (Series 1, Episode 3; Series 2–4); passes selection in Episode 3 of Series 1, and becomes a main character from Series 2 * Jamie Draven as Trooper Jamie Dow (Series 1–2); K.I.A. at the start of Series 3. Draven did not return for Series 3, and so a body double was used for the death scene * Tony Curran as Corporal/Sergeant Pete Twamley (Series 1–2); K.I.A. at the start of Series 3. Curran did not return for Series 3, and so a body double was used for the death scene * Danny Sapani as Corporal Ricky Mann (Series 1–2); K.I.A. at the start of Series 3. Sapani did not return for Series 3, and so a body double was used for the death scene * Sendhil Ramamurthy as Trooper Alex Leonard (Series 1); leaves the army at the end of Series 1, partly because of the death of his brother * Elliot Cowan as Lance Corporal Jem Poynton (Series 1 – Series 2, Episode 1); K.I.A. in a shoot out with French special forces in Series 2 * Heather Peace as Trooper Becca Gallagher (Series 3–4); passes selection and joins Red Troop in Series 3, and stays for the remainder of the series * Louis Decosta Johnson as Corporal Dave Woolston (Series 3–4); joins Red Troop in Series 3, and stays for the remainder of the series *

Liam Garrigan Liam Garrigan (born 1981) is an English actor. As a youth, he attended classes at Kingston upon Hull's Northern Theatre Company and was a student at Wyke College, Kingston upon Hull. His first television role was in 2003 as Characters of Holby ...

as Corporal Ed Dwyer (Series 3); passes selection in Series 3 and joins Red Troop; K.I.A. between Series 3 and 4 in an unknown incident, and buried at the start of Series 4 * Jamie Michie as Corporal Finn Younger (Series 4); joins Red Troop at the start of Series 4

Officers

* Miles Anderson as Colonel Aidan Dempsey;

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

of 22 Regiment, and the only character apart from Garvie and Hoffman to appear in all four series * Alex Reid as Captain Caroline Walshe (Series 1–2); Reid did not return for Series 3, the character supposedly having been reassigned by Dempsey *

Jamie Bamber Jamie St John Bamber Griffith (born 1972/73), known professionally as Jamie Bamber, is a British actor, known for his roles as Lee Adama in ''Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series), Battlestar Galactica'' and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin in t ...

as Captain Dennis "Dotsy" Doheny (Series 1–2); resigns to take the fall for the incident with French special forces in Series 2 * Richard Armitage as Captain Ian Macalwain (Series 2); Red Troop Commander, replacing Captain Doheny; he was killed by Garvie at the end of Series 2 * Sam Callis as Captain Patrick Fleming (Series 4); Red Troop Commander, replacing Captain Macalwain

Attache

Tobias Menzies Tobias Simpson Menzies (born 7 March 1974) is an English actor. He is known for playing Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in the third and fourth seasons of the series ''The Crown'', for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding S ...

as Box 500 (Series 1); MI5 attaché * Lucy Akhurst as Pru Banks (Series 2); MI5 attaché, replacing Box 500 * Hannah Yelland as Kathy Crampton (Series 3); MI5 attaché, replacing Pru Banks

Minor characters

* Chris Ryan as Staff Sergeant Johnny Bell (Series 1); head of Blue Troop (SNCO) * Derek Horne as Sergeant Sean Smith (Series 2–3); head of Blue Troop (SNCO) * Anthony Howell as Trooper Sam Leonard (Series 1); member of Red Troop, K.I.A. in the first episode * Laurence Fox as Corporal Mick Sharp (Series 1); passes selection, and later joins Red Troop in the final episode of the series * Jackie Morrison as Laura Twamley (Series 1–2); long suffering wife of Pete Twamley * Liz White as Beth Dow; sister of Jamie Dow * Paul Brightwell as Sergeant Konchalovsky * Richard Klvac as Sergeant Tarkovsky * Goran Kostic as Sergeant Pudovkin * Valentine Pelka as Colonel Bundarchuk * Julian Rivett as Klimov * Igor Urdenko as Mikhailov * Adam Fogerty as Taras Rustum * Oleg Stefan as Pyotr

Episode list

Series 1 (2002)

Series 2 (2003)

Series 3 (2005)

Series 4 (2006)

Broadcasters

*¹ Originally aired on the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

, though sporadically. Only the first four episodes of Series 1 aired. The

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

then bought the rights to show ''Ultimate Force'', but started at Series 2. Series 2 episodes were shown on the weekly schedule of Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. *² Title means S.A.S.: British Special Forces. *³ Also being aired on the UK.TV channel via Australian Pay TV networks. *⁴ With slight changes in the episodes' order, due to French TV regulation for youth protection: some episodes considered as too violent and can't be aired before 10:00pm. E.g. Series 3, Episode 2 has been aired in the middle of Series 1, at 10:45 p.m. after two episodes of Series 1.

References

External links

* *{{epguides, UltimateForce, Ultimate Force 2002 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings 2000s British drama television series British action television series British military television series British English-language television shows ITV television dramas Television series by All3Media Television shows set in Hertfordshire Works about the Special Air Service