Red Cap | |
---|---|
Genre | Drama |
Created by | Patrick Harbinson |
Starring | |
Composer(s) |
Hal Lindes Sheridan Tongue |
Country of origin | United kingdom |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Patrick Harbinson Gareth Neame Mike Dormer William Davies |
Producer(s) | Sarah Wilson |
Running time | Pilot 90 minutes Series 49-51 minutes |
Production company(s) | Stormy Pictures |
Release | |
Original network | BBC One |
Picture format | 16:9 576i |
Audio format | Stereo |
First shown in | 28 December 2001 |
Original release | 7 January 2003 | – 12 February 2004
Red Cap is a British television drama series produced by Stormy Pictures for the BBC and broadcast on BBC One. Two series of six episodes each were produced following a feature length pilot. It featured the investigations (and personal relationships) of a British Army Special Investigation Branch unit of the Royal Military Police based in Germany. Ostensibly the lead character was Sergeant Jo McDonagh (nicknamed McDoughnut), played by Tamzin Outhwaite, but the show was more of an ensemble piece, with several notable characters coming to prominence.
Sergeant Jo McDonagh is in Bosnia on Close Protection detail as part of an international operation to capture wanted war criminal Radan Vladic. At the remote farmhouse of Vladic's proposed arrest, only the slain remains of an advance Special Air Service (SAS) team are found, seemingly murdered in an ambush.
Lance Corporal Paul Engels is killed by a stray mortar, and Sgt. Charlie Fleckner narrowly escapes, SIB are called in to investigate what appears to be a tragic accident. But it soon becomes clear that there are just too many suspicions to write off Engel's death - suspicions that are compounded when Engel's brother claims Fleckner's innocence might not be that clear cut.
The team's investigations lead them to some photographs that indicate Engles and Fleckner shared a secret - they were involved in an apparent war crime in Iraq. More than enough motive for murder. However, the situation soon escalates when the team uncovers evidence of an illicit love affair that involves blackmail, betrayal and retribution. An affair is ultimately the cause of Engels' demise.
A group of soldiers are sitting in a garage playing cards and drinking. Private Barham is drunk but decides he wants more alcohol and takes off in an armored personnel carrier tearing through the base like a mad man. After a high-speed chase, Barham crashes the vehicle into an abandoned building. When the Red Caps arrive, they make a gruesome discovery - there is a mummified corpse hanging from the debris.
Tamzin Outhwaite (Sergeant Jo McDonagh), according to the BBC spent a week familiarising herself with Army life at the Reserve Training and Mobilisation Centre in Chilwell, Nottingham. Training included unarmed combat, 9mm pistol training, driving, drill, and understanding the Army's labyrinthine hierarchical structure.