Ultimate Force
| Ultimate Force | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Drama • Military • Action • Adventure |
| Created by |
Rob Heyland Chris Ryan |
| Starring |
Ross Kemp Tony Curran Jamie Draven Alex Reid Miles Anderson Christopher Fox Sam Callis Heather Peace |
| Theme music composer | Rick Wentworth |
| Composer(s) | Rick Wentworth |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 21 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Brian True-May |
| Producer(s) | Ian Strachan Peter Norris |
| Running time | 50—100 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Bentley Productions |
| Distributor | Carlton Visual Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV, STV, UTV |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 16 September 2002 – 1 June 2008 |
Ultimate Force is a British television action drama series that was shown on ITV, which deals with the activities of Red Troop of the SAS (Special Air Service). 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 Henry 'Henno' Garvie. The show was initially described a star vehicle for Kemp, who had been lured away from the BBC 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. The series was produced by Bentley Productions.
As well as his behind the scenes role, created Chris Ryan appeared in the first series of the show playing Blue Troop leader Johnny Bell. Domestically, the change of format seemed to produce diminishing returns for ITV. The third series three 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 pm. 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 troops in Afghanistan, whilst both Sam Callis and Christopher Fox joined ITV's police serial drama The Bill. Notably, a large number of 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, who is hinted to have been killed 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.
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