Spearhead (TV series)

Spearhead
Genre	Drama Series
Created by	Nick McCarty
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	19
Production
Running time	c. 60 minute episodes
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	1978 – 1981

Spearhead is a British television drama series. Produced by Southern Television and broadcast on the ITV network, it ran for a total of three series and 19 episodes from 1978 to 1981. It featured the daily lives of a group of soldiers in 'B' Company, 1st Battalion Royal Wessex Rangers, a fictional British Army infantry regiment. The series is regarded as an accurate depiction of life at that time for soldiers in the army.

The programme reflects that, in the late 1970s, the British Army had the task of trying to keep the peace in Northern Ireland and maintained garrisons in Germany and Hong Kong. It also shows the inflexible class divisions in the army of the time. The 'glass ceiling' for even the most able soldiers of working-class origin, like Colour Sergeant Jackson, is shown to be a barrier to achieving advancement from non-commissioned to commissioned officer. Early episodes of the series show the army in an unfavourable light; two episodes deal with a petty thief who has a gambling habit, and another deals with an enlisted man going AWOL, until Jackson gets him back. Particularly controversial is an episode set in Northern Ireland, where some soldiers are portrayed as advocating a less aggressive campaign against all hostile civilians (including women and children). In addition to dodging bullets and road side explosives thanks to Britain's poor industrial relations at the time some of the other tasks assigned to the army were fire fighting with 1950s equipment and standing in for striking dustmen.

Through the run of the series, the Royal Wessex Rangers were posted to a number of locations, including to Northern Ireland, to West Germany with British Army of the Rhine, and as the resident battalion in Hong Kong.

The leading character in the first series is Colour Sergeant "Jacko" Jackson (Michael Billington). In the opening episode, the Royal Wessex Rangers are completing a tour of duty in Northern Ireland. Jackson is a member of the battalion's recce platoon charged with close reconnaissance of Provisional IRA terrorist suspects. When the battalion completes its tour, it returns to the mainland UK and is based at barracks in Tidworth, Wiltshire, where it is the British Army's "spearhead" battalion - an infantry battalion kept at short readiness for deployment worldwide. The battalion CO decides that each company in the battalion will have one platoon commanded by a non-commissioned officer. The OC of B Company, Major Taylor, accepts the recommendation of his 2ic, Captain Billings, to appoint Jackson as OC of 6 Platoon.

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