Ultimate Force

Just finsished watching the final episode of the second series. Set in an overseas country two things bother me... 1 The lead charecter kills his officer without a moments hesitation -in cold blood- for reasons that are self explanitory..But the other characters don't seem in the slightest bit bothered or concerned how his death might have happened. 2. The helicopters that arrive to collect them after their mission - from a locally based operation - have a 'G' registration - this is a UK registration for those not in the know.

Apart from this it's great fun and full of action that is enjoyable to watch.

Look forward to the third series.

If you want to see character development and soapy plots, then I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place. If it's action you're after, then Ultimate Force is for you.

Former Eastenders hardman Ross Kemp plays the tough Sergeant in this show about the notorious Special Air Service, one of the most secretive regiments in the British Army. This is a show about one thing only-action and plenty of it!

The SAS are one of the most elite forces in the world, having seen action in places such as Oman and Iraq during the Gulf War. They are a highly trained regiment who go in, do their job with the minimum of fuss and causing as little damage as possible, and then they leave. This show did a great job portraying the S.A.S. Whilst some of what happened in this show may not be what the S.A.S. gets up to in real life, it is still a fantastic show which portrays the S.A.S. how they deserve to be portrayed-as courageous soldiers. This was a very good show which I hope gets a second series.

Who Dares Wins?

Dealing with the lives and missions of a small group of soldiers in Britain's most elite Army unit, the SAS, this is definitely one of the best British action / drama series for years. Although there's a definite nod towards `political correctness' in that this fictional SAS unit has a multi-ethnic make-up, plus a female member (in the real world, no women serve in the SAS), the series on the whole succeeds in striking the perfect balance between strong storylines, gritty realism, exciting action scenes, personal drama and the occasional touch of humor. The quality of the stories is also consistently good, and so far (after two series of six episodes each) I'd say that there hasn't been one single `weak' episode. Only perhaps the odd episode that's been `less good' than the others.

But last night – after watching the finale of Series 2 – I was left disappointed. Now I've never served in the military so I don't pretend to be an expert on these matters, but as a layman I've always thought that one of the series' main strengths is that it seems pretty realistic with regard to its portrayal of Army life and the kind of missions that UK special forces troops perhaps get sent on in real life etc. etc. However, the end of last night's episode left something of a bitter aftertaste, simply because the series' main character, Sergeant `Henno' Garvie (ably played by Ross Kemp of `Eastenders' fame) gunned down in cold blood his troop CO, Captain McElwaine, for no other reason than the latter had been shagging the wife of one of his men. The killing was done in cold blood and using a captured AK47 rather than Henno's own weapon to make it appear that the Captain had been killed by enemy fire – thus instantly transforming the Henno character into nothing more that a cold-blooded murderer. True, soldiers are trained to kill without hesitation if necessary. But I find it inconceivable that - given the (on the grand scale of things) relatively trivial nature of the Captain's `offence' - these would be the actions of an experienced, senior NCO in Britain's most elite military unit. And I found the actions of the rest of the squad (including their Colonel, who they'd just freed in a daring rescue mission) almost equally bizarre – namely dumping the (admittedly unpopular) dead Captain's body in a freezer full of beer and cracking jokes over it. Unbelievable. I hope that this is not the end of the series and that it will be back. Firstly because that last night's closing scenes notwithstanding, it's been such a great show up to now and secondly it would be a pity to end the whole thing on such a negative note – there definitely needs to be some character redemption!! Still – it's great that all six episodes of Series 1 are now available to buy on DVD, because this series is a must for anyone who enjoys hard-hitting action and / or military drama that pulls no punches.

We need a series like this. It does exactly what is says on the tin. Most of the situations are unbelievable but what do you expect from a show about the SAS? The production values are OK and the action is exciting without being silly (compared to made for TV American action movies). There are some stock characters but the script isn't laughable and the actors seem to care about what they are doing. As the new team member Jamie Draven portrays the right amount of innocence and brings a sense of duty to his role; his interactions with the rest of the cast are well thought out; you can see some chemistry between him and Alex Reid and I hope this is fleshed out in the next series. Although billed as such I never found Ross Kemp to be the star of the show and at times we aren't even supposed to like him; I am glad character is written this way and that his obvious mental scars dictate the person he is. This is in stark contrast to badly written imported shows where we are expected to believe that hardened battle veterans who are emotionally scarred and have shattered private lives are really nice guys who never do any thing wrong.

Some episodes are better than others; I actually thought the first episode was fairly weak but the second with the pressure group sniper story was excellent and allowed us to see flashes of how good the series could be.

I only got to see the first episode of the second series which took place on board a ship; the standout fight scene being that in the belly of the ship between Jamie Draven and the legionnaire, it was a tough no nonsense scrap and as exciting as the fight in the Bourne Identity.

Looking forward to the DVD.

The series was actually based on the books by Chris Ryan, who has acted as a story consultant for the whole series, and has actually appeared in a few episodes. Truth be told we don't really know what the SAS do or where they are, but I would guess that Chris Ryan has a pretty good idea!

The first episode was tricky, trying to establish new characters in a series is never easy. But I felt that as the series progressed it settled down into a good solid drama, and I'm very pleased to hear that a second series has been commissioned.

Jamie Draven especially has been one to watch - he is consistently excellent and certainly tones down the 'Kemp Effect' considerably. Actually, far from being a star vehicle for Kemp, the original screenplays were written from the persepctive of Jamie Draven's character, Kemp was shoehorned in as a later addition.

On the whole I think it is an excellent ensemble cast, Tony Curran brings a hard, gritty edge to his character, whilst Elliot Cowan provides a lot of the laughs. I'm certainly looking forward to series 2 with some relish!