I could not sleep after going to bed at 1 am on Wednesday November 9th 2011 and decided to get up and watch television and after flipping through the various channels came across the first episode of a series which had recently completed two seasons, watched and was sufficiently impressed to then spend sometime the following morning trying to find out if it was possible to continue viewing and after checking Sky Anytime and the Internet went back to Anytime and checked the individual channels and discovered the full first series and was immediately able to complete the second of the opening double episode and then the remaining four episodes of the first season.
On the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a Special Forces unit takes part in an operation to release a hostage, during which, John Porter disarms a boy named As'ad wearing a suicide vest. After the hostage is found, two soldiers are killed and one is left in a vegetative state. Believing the boy was responsible, and that Porter did not kill him, he is dishonourably discharged from the service and which creates a gulf between himself and his daughter and subsequently with his wife as he unable to find suitable employment or settle into civilian life. He is wracked by guilt and that his closest friend remains in a coma.
Seven years pass to so that the series is based on the world of 2010 when the series was given its first airing, A former colleague (Hugh Collinson) who was involved in the 2003 successful extraction has become head of a unit at MI6 and he has obtained employment for Porter as a security officer to the building.
In Iraq the daughter, Katie Darmouth, of a former government Minister, and front line news reporter, is kidnapped outside of Basra by a an organisation called the "Sword of Islam"; A young man was spotted by Katie observing her prior to the kidnap and when she sees the same young man participating in the kidnap she is able to capture his picture on her phone which is passed to the MI6 Unit. The picture of the young man is circulated and is seen by Porter who recognises him as the young man in the photo. He visits Collinson and pleads to be reinstated to assist in the rescue of the hostage and capture the young man who might be able to establish that the soldiers were killed by another. He is refused in part because he has suffered from post traumatic stress.
The former Minister is insistent that action is taken to find secure the release of his daughter and on learning that Porter is convinced he knows where the girl could be held, he presses the authorities to reinstate Porter who is subject to psychological and physical testing. The clinical psychologist, an attractive young woman, has sex with him because as it is later reported it was evident that the lack of a sexual relationship was the only thing holding him back!
The situation becomes intense when the kidnappers uploaded a film of the woman demanding the release of someone held at Belmarsh Prison. Upon realising one of the kidnappers is As'ad, Collinson accompanies a field unit managed by an MI6 HQ female officer Leyla Thompson who has reservations about using Porter. When they think they have lucky break and able to trace the location of the last broadcast the unit is killed as it is a prearrange bobby trap with only Leyla surviving.
The disaster leads the Government under pressure from the former Minister to seek to negotiate with the consequence that the captors claim their demand is not being taken seriously and chop off one of the woman’s hands at her wrist. It is at this point that Porter attempts a one person rescue in defiance of the Government‘s unwillingness to risk further personnel. He has been equipped with the latest tracking device inserted into a tooth cavity. He has a two part plan. The first is to get him captured and taken to where the woman is being held and to play on the Muslim commitment that having saved the life of the young man he is indebted to his saviour. He also hides a small blade in a contained in his anal cavity. He persuades the woman to trust him and this includes being beaten on her back and his plan nearly does not work as she is about to be decapitated on camera when he breaks out of where he is being held and rescues her. The captors have checked and removed his tooth tracking device but they manage to get out a Satellite phone location and escape with the help of the young man. However although a helicopter reached the trio in times, orders have been given by Collinson not to bring back the young man who has sworn that he did not kill the soldiers.
Back home, Porter learns from the woman that the young man had sworn he had not killed the British Soldiers and that they had been killed by another British Soldier. Porter guesses correctly that it was Collison. He is reunited with his family.
For the second two parter the action switches to the Capital of Uganda Harare where a Former S.A.S believes he is being hired by the British Government to kill the President and Dictator Robert Mugabe. It is in fact a body double and agent is captured and placed in prison. He is to be put on a show as a means of rallying opposition to British campaign against the Ugandan President. This would be every embarrassing for the British government so the MI6 special unit are instructed to arrange to get the man out of prison and the country although there is also the suggestion of a fall back position of the man being killed so he cannot talk.
Porter has been offered and accepted a field operative appointment with MI6 and he is selected for the mission with Leyla Thompson, appointed his liaison officer on the ground. His task is to get himself arrested and into the same prison as the would be Mugabe assassin, to make contact and get him out.
Leyla goes first to South Africa and from there into Uganda under a false identity posing at a South African official seeking the extradition of Porter. She visits to advise him that the man is to be moved early for trial early and she undertakes to have a vehicle waiting outside the prison on the morning of the appointed day for the break out.
Porter has prepared for the breakout by undertaking a prize fight for money as the champion of a prison guard who gains significantly financially from the side bets on the outcome. He persuades the guard to arrange another contest at dawn in which he offers to fight two men and thus increase the odds for the Guard. With the prisoners and guards focussed on preparing for this event he stages the breakout and persuades the would be assassin (Masuku) to trust him. Leyla is ordered by Collinson to abandon her involvement in the mission and get herself out of the country leaving Porter and Masuku to fend for themselves after they managed to escape.
They hotwire a car which Porter drives into the countryside to an off road location where the car is hidden in the brush and Musaku finds that Porter has prepared a grave for him under orders from London. Musaku is able to convince Porter that he was set up in that as just with the break out the Colonel Tshuma had crack security troops waiting for him kill the Presidential double.
In fact London has worked out they have a traitor and discover that the link man in the Embassy in South Africa is in the pay of the Mugabe administration and Collison makes his way to South Africa to confront the Embassy official who his team has discovered lives in fine style with substantial funds in offshore accounts.
Porter and Masuku attempt to make it out of Uganda to South Africa on foot chased by Colonel Tshuma with the help of an indigenous tracker. At one point the two men are nearly capture but manage to escape by jumping off a cliff into a river.
They come across a young girl being raped at a one nun orphanage and on intervening find that some bandits are using the children as hostages as part of a alleging helping to get people over the border for payment. The group are in fact killing the people they are supposed to help but they are able to rescue two of the children although a fire fight follows. As it no longer safe for the orphanage to remain the nun takes the children on her own over the border while the two men hold off the Colonel and his men until the British S.A.S unit arrives. The Colonel is killed in the battle and Masuku, who was previously a trained S.A.S operative elects to stay in the area. Collinson is thwarted in bringing the Embassy traitor to justice as the man commits suicide.
Porter had upset his daughter by having to cancel a weekend home not knowing that his wife was due to go into hospital for an operation which was not considered life threatening. Because of complications the woman dies understandably leaving the daughter shocked and distressed. Collinson breaks the news to Porter while he is in South Africa recovering from his injuries and he is able to talk to his daughter via computer video link.
The final two parter of this first series is set in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan on the border with Pakistan. British planes called into assist American patrols fighting on the ground are called in to assist with air rocket fire only to find that at the last moment the rockets are deflected and his patrols they are attempting to help with understandable alarm on the part of the USA.
It is discovered that former British computer technology specialist called Baxter had disappeared and turned up in Afghanistan and is believed to be behind the incidents. The story is a complicated one. It appears that Baxter was recruited by the CIA and his wife and children fast tracked into the USA and provided new lives and identities. Baxter has joined a warlord with a base in Pakistan who has a plan to take control and bring stability once Foreign forces leave and part of the plan is to bring disunity between the British and USA force to get them to leave sooner than later. Unbeknown to Baxter who is an idealist the Warlord who is an educated and cultured is being supported by the USA government via the CIA to take over the country when they depart.
Porter is sent to extract him but the CIA lean on Collinson to leave them to their fate when they are captured by as USA patrol unaware of the background or involvements of the CIA and MI6 interests. The CIA wants the world to believe Baxter was a rogue British agent and nothing to do with the USA.
Porter and Baxter escape and Porter who has posed as a guidance system arms dealer offers to provide the codes for the latest rockets coming on stream and is taken by Baxter to meet the Warlord Zahir and then tells the warlord that Porter must be SAS from his behaviour and Porter is then tortured to reveal intelligence information on the location of British forces which of course he does not know. He eventually is able to persuade Baxter that that the Warlord is working with the CIA and that the death of two men is being exchanged for more arms and intelligence. They manage to escape and make contact with the HQ.
Throughout the second and third stories the question of who killed the two British soldiers in Iraq leaving the third in a coma has remained to be answered. Porter has established a sexual relationship with the clinical psychologist who passed him fit to return to active duty and the Leyla has also had her suspicions about the behaviour of Collison ever since refused to allow the young man who had helped Porter and the TV Journalist to escape. When the third soldier dies the two women combine to get the evidence to clear Porter and reveal the truth of Collinson. With the death of the third soldier arrangements are made for the bullet in his body to be removed and tested and it is found not only to have been fired by a British weapon but the one which had been used by Collinson.
When Collinson yields to the CIA pressure to abandon Porter and Baxter Leyla blackmails him into assisting and he goes to Afghanistan and uses a jeep to locate the two men and then arranges for an air extraction. Unfortunately Baxter is killed by one of the Warlord’s men so Porter, having been advised of the situation has to confront Collinson about what happened alone. At first Collinson denies liability and gains control of the situation proposing to kill Porter, saying that he will also be to show that in fact the weapon in his possession originally belonged to Porter. Porter then gains control and Collinson admits that he had also seen the boy with a weapon but he, as Porter, had hesitated, about killing him. He had then heard further noise and movement and opened fire killing his own men.
He admits that he had the opportunity to tell the truth of what had happened but decided not to do so. He had then covered up since but also tried to look out for Porter and his family. He is badly wounded as they come under increasing fire and he then provides cover for Porter to escape.
The episode ends in a cliffhanger, as a Delta force elimination team is given the green light by the CIA to intercept and kill Porter, on the grounds he is a rogue officer heading for Iran.
The second and third stories did not have the same authenticity as the first although both contain moments which one suspects are close to the reality. The series is a success because of the inclusion of two outstanding British Actors. Porter is played by Richard Crispin Armitage (born 22 August 1971) known for his roles as John Thornton in North and South, Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, and Lucas North in Spooks. He is currently cast as Thorin Oakenshield in the two-film adaptation of The Hobbit.
Collinson is played by Andrew Lincoln (born Andrew James Clutterbuck; 14 September 1973) is an English actor, known for his roles in the TV series This Life, Teachers and Afterlife, and the films Love Actually and Heartbreaker. He currently plays the lead role in AMC's television series The Walking Dead.
On the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a Special Forces unit takes part in an operation to release a hostage, during which, John Porter disarms a boy named As'ad wearing a suicide vest. After the hostage is found, two soldiers are killed and one is left in a vegetative state. Believing the boy was responsible, and that Porter did not kill him, he is dishonourably discharged from the service and which creates a gulf between himself and his daughter and subsequently with his wife as he unable to find suitable employment or settle into civilian life. He is wracked by guilt and that his closest friend remains in a coma.
Seven years pass to so that the series is based on the world of 2010 when the series was given its first airing, A former colleague (Hugh Collinson) who was involved in the 2003 successful extraction has become head of a unit at MI6 and he has obtained employment for Porter as a security officer to the building.
In Iraq the daughter, Katie Darmouth, of a former government Minister, and front line news reporter, is kidnapped outside of Basra by a an organisation called the "Sword of Islam"; A young man was spotted by Katie observing her prior to the kidnap and when she sees the same young man participating in the kidnap she is able to capture his picture on her phone which is passed to the MI6 Unit. The picture of the young man is circulated and is seen by Porter who recognises him as the young man in the photo. He visits Collinson and pleads to be reinstated to assist in the rescue of the hostage and capture the young man who might be able to establish that the soldiers were killed by another. He is refused in part because he has suffered from post traumatic stress.
The former Minister is insistent that action is taken to find secure the release of his daughter and on learning that Porter is convinced he knows where the girl could be held, he presses the authorities to reinstate Porter who is subject to psychological and physical testing. The clinical psychologist, an attractive young woman, has sex with him because as it is later reported it was evident that the lack of a sexual relationship was the only thing holding him back!
The situation becomes intense when the kidnappers uploaded a film of the woman demanding the release of someone held at Belmarsh Prison. Upon realising one of the kidnappers is As'ad, Collinson accompanies a field unit managed by an MI6 HQ female officer Leyla Thompson who has reservations about using Porter. When they think they have lucky break and able to trace the location of the last broadcast the unit is killed as it is a prearrange bobby trap with only Leyla surviving.
The disaster leads the Government under pressure from the former Minister to seek to negotiate with the consequence that the captors claim their demand is not being taken seriously and chop off one of the woman’s hands at her wrist. It is at this point that Porter attempts a one person rescue in defiance of the Government‘s unwillingness to risk further personnel. He has been equipped with the latest tracking device inserted into a tooth cavity. He has a two part plan. The first is to get him captured and taken to where the woman is being held and to play on the Muslim commitment that having saved the life of the young man he is indebted to his saviour. He also hides a small blade in a contained in his anal cavity. He persuades the woman to trust him and this includes being beaten on her back and his plan nearly does not work as she is about to be decapitated on camera when he breaks out of where he is being held and rescues her. The captors have checked and removed his tooth tracking device but they manage to get out a Satellite phone location and escape with the help of the young man. However although a helicopter reached the trio in times, orders have been given by Collinson not to bring back the young man who has sworn that he did not kill the soldiers.
Back home, Porter learns from the woman that the young man had sworn he had not killed the British Soldiers and that they had been killed by another British Soldier. Porter guesses correctly that it was Collison. He is reunited with his family.
For the second two parter the action switches to the Capital of Uganda Harare where a Former S.A.S believes he is being hired by the British Government to kill the President and Dictator Robert Mugabe. It is in fact a body double and agent is captured and placed in prison. He is to be put on a show as a means of rallying opposition to British campaign against the Ugandan President. This would be every embarrassing for the British government so the MI6 special unit are instructed to arrange to get the man out of prison and the country although there is also the suggestion of a fall back position of the man being killed so he cannot talk.
Porter has been offered and accepted a field operative appointment with MI6 and he is selected for the mission with Leyla Thompson, appointed his liaison officer on the ground. His task is to get himself arrested and into the same prison as the would be Mugabe assassin, to make contact and get him out.
Leyla goes first to South Africa and from there into Uganda under a false identity posing at a South African official seeking the extradition of Porter. She visits to advise him that the man is to be moved early for trial early and she undertakes to have a vehicle waiting outside the prison on the morning of the appointed day for the break out.
Porter has prepared for the breakout by undertaking a prize fight for money as the champion of a prison guard who gains significantly financially from the side bets on the outcome. He persuades the guard to arrange another contest at dawn in which he offers to fight two men and thus increase the odds for the Guard. With the prisoners and guards focussed on preparing for this event he stages the breakout and persuades the would be assassin (Masuku) to trust him. Leyla is ordered by Collinson to abandon her involvement in the mission and get herself out of the country leaving Porter and Masuku to fend for themselves after they managed to escape.
They hotwire a car which Porter drives into the countryside to an off road location where the car is hidden in the brush and Musaku finds that Porter has prepared a grave for him under orders from London. Musaku is able to convince Porter that he was set up in that as just with the break out the Colonel Tshuma had crack security troops waiting for him kill the Presidential double.
In fact London has worked out they have a traitor and discover that the link man in the Embassy in South Africa is in the pay of the Mugabe administration and Collison makes his way to South Africa to confront the Embassy official who his team has discovered lives in fine style with substantial funds in offshore accounts.
Porter and Masuku attempt to make it out of Uganda to South Africa on foot chased by Colonel Tshuma with the help of an indigenous tracker. At one point the two men are nearly capture but manage to escape by jumping off a cliff into a river.
They come across a young girl being raped at a one nun orphanage and on intervening find that some bandits are using the children as hostages as part of a alleging helping to get people over the border for payment. The group are in fact killing the people they are supposed to help but they are able to rescue two of the children although a fire fight follows. As it no longer safe for the orphanage to remain the nun takes the children on her own over the border while the two men hold off the Colonel and his men until the British S.A.S unit arrives. The Colonel is killed in the battle and Masuku, who was previously a trained S.A.S operative elects to stay in the area. Collinson is thwarted in bringing the Embassy traitor to justice as the man commits suicide.
Porter had upset his daughter by having to cancel a weekend home not knowing that his wife was due to go into hospital for an operation which was not considered life threatening. Because of complications the woman dies understandably leaving the daughter shocked and distressed. Collinson breaks the news to Porter while he is in South Africa recovering from his injuries and he is able to talk to his daughter via computer video link.
The final two parter of this first series is set in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan on the border with Pakistan. British planes called into assist American patrols fighting on the ground are called in to assist with air rocket fire only to find that at the last moment the rockets are deflected and his patrols they are attempting to help with understandable alarm on the part of the USA.
It is discovered that former British computer technology specialist called Baxter had disappeared and turned up in Afghanistan and is believed to be behind the incidents. The story is a complicated one. It appears that Baxter was recruited by the CIA and his wife and children fast tracked into the USA and provided new lives and identities. Baxter has joined a warlord with a base in Pakistan who has a plan to take control and bring stability once Foreign forces leave and part of the plan is to bring disunity between the British and USA force to get them to leave sooner than later. Unbeknown to Baxter who is an idealist the Warlord who is an educated and cultured is being supported by the USA government via the CIA to take over the country when they depart.
Porter is sent to extract him but the CIA lean on Collinson to leave them to their fate when they are captured by as USA patrol unaware of the background or involvements of the CIA and MI6 interests. The CIA wants the world to believe Baxter was a rogue British agent and nothing to do with the USA.
Porter and Baxter escape and Porter who has posed as a guidance system arms dealer offers to provide the codes for the latest rockets coming on stream and is taken by Baxter to meet the Warlord Zahir and then tells the warlord that Porter must be SAS from his behaviour and Porter is then tortured to reveal intelligence information on the location of British forces which of course he does not know. He eventually is able to persuade Baxter that that the Warlord is working with the CIA and that the death of two men is being exchanged for more arms and intelligence. They manage to escape and make contact with the HQ.
Throughout the second and third stories the question of who killed the two British soldiers in Iraq leaving the third in a coma has remained to be answered. Porter has established a sexual relationship with the clinical psychologist who passed him fit to return to active duty and the Leyla has also had her suspicions about the behaviour of Collison ever since refused to allow the young man who had helped Porter and the TV Journalist to escape. When the third soldier dies the two women combine to get the evidence to clear Porter and reveal the truth of Collinson. With the death of the third soldier arrangements are made for the bullet in his body to be removed and tested and it is found not only to have been fired by a British weapon but the one which had been used by Collinson.
When Collinson yields to the CIA pressure to abandon Porter and Baxter Leyla blackmails him into assisting and he goes to Afghanistan and uses a jeep to locate the two men and then arranges for an air extraction. Unfortunately Baxter is killed by one of the Warlord’s men so Porter, having been advised of the situation has to confront Collinson about what happened alone. At first Collinson denies liability and gains control of the situation proposing to kill Porter, saying that he will also be to show that in fact the weapon in his possession originally belonged to Porter. Porter then gains control and Collinson admits that he had also seen the boy with a weapon but he, as Porter, had hesitated, about killing him. He had then heard further noise and movement and opened fire killing his own men.
He admits that he had the opportunity to tell the truth of what had happened but decided not to do so. He had then covered up since but also tried to look out for Porter and his family. He is badly wounded as they come under increasing fire and he then provides cover for Porter to escape.
The episode ends in a cliffhanger, as a Delta force elimination team is given the green light by the CIA to intercept and kill Porter, on the grounds he is a rogue officer heading for Iran.
The second and third stories did not have the same authenticity as the first although both contain moments which one suspects are close to the reality. The series is a success because of the inclusion of two outstanding British Actors. Porter is played by Richard Crispin Armitage (born 22 August 1971) known for his roles as John Thornton in North and South, Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, and Lucas North in Spooks. He is currently cast as Thorin Oakenshield in the two-film adaptation of The Hobbit.
Collinson is played by Andrew Lincoln (born Andrew James Clutterbuck; 14 September 1973) is an English actor, known for his roles in the TV series This Life, Teachers and Afterlife, and the films Love Actually and Heartbreaker. He currently plays the lead role in AMC's television series The Walking Dead.
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