Giving this show a rating is quite difficult and I've found myself torn between where to place my vote. You see, Ultimate Force had 2 fantastic seasons, (1 & 2), and then rapidly went downhill. Based on Seasons 1 and 2 however I find it hard to give it too low of a rating - they were excellent. However, having seen so many reviews and comments complaining about accuracy it feels like it is necessary to point out this is not a documentary, it's fiction and with fiction comes a need to let the odd inaccuracy slide once in a while. That said of course, Chris Ryan didn't do the worst job in the first two seasons and while anyone can figure out a lot was held back, they tried to give it a decent feel of reality. Seasons 1 and 2 followed the original Red Troop cast through a nice variety of story lines, from bank sieges, surveillance and infiltration to kidnappings and hostages, even throwing in a little black bag along the way. You were shown the discipline and the characters actions had a large degree of precise accuracy to them. They shot to kill, they didn't miss and they were good at what they did. Unfortunately, this didn't carry on until the shows end. Season 3 began with the vast majority of the original cast being removed - Jamie Dow (Jamie Draven), Pete Twamley (Tony Curran) and Ricky Mann (Danny Sapani) were all killed off with their faces covered and poor voice doubles while Caroline Walshe (Alex Reid) was nothing but an empty desk and a mention of having been transferred and this marked the beginning of the end. The feeling of precision and high standards disappeared almost instantly. Rebecca Gallagher (Heather Peace) joined Red Troop as a trooper after going through selection which was hard enough to deal with - you can ask an audience to suspend a little disbelief but suddenly asking them to believe that a woman is let into the SAS is taking it a little too far. The season felt like the production company hoped that a woman who was happy to appear naked and often topless would boost ratings and if that failed they'd try to grab the extra viewers by tripling the explosions. Episodes turned into 10 minute long scenes of explosions and firefights where they appeared to just run into a room and start shooting, often just filling the area with ammo till someone died. Season 4 seemed to be so desperate to claw back some respect that the writers came up with more and more ridiculous plots, more terrible FX and an even longer list of 'witty one liners', finally culminating in the most ridiculous of all.While some may find it hard to stomach that SSgt Henno Garvie would shoot a Captain in cold blood (#2.6 Dead is Forever) and thus prove that there was nothing he would stop at to protect the men around him, it's even harder to believe that a recently nearly blinded sniper cuts the wire on the timer of a nuclear bomb with a bullet while his SSgt hangs upside down off of a crane holding onto said bomb 200 feet above the ground....with 1 second left on the clock. All with terrible green-screening and superman jokes. Let's also not forget the recycled casting from the same episode, (#4.5 Slow Bomb), when the American female terrorist is the same actress that played Marisol, a member of the global action group attempting to kill a European banker in Season 1, (#1.2 Just a Target). So while I have given Ultimate Force a hearty 8/10 this is based purely on Seasons 1 and 2 and still even now, years later, would recommend them to anyone. They had a great cast with fantastic chemistry, well developed characters, interesting plot-lines and for the ladies, yes Jamie Draven in SAS gear, (the latter alone would make me give it a 10/10 if I wasn't trying to be fair). If I were to rate Seasons 3 and 4 however, it would barely scrape a 4/10 - and that would probably only be for the few flickers of promise that flashed through once in a blue moon - they just unfortunately didn't last. A shame really, it started so well.

Ultimate Force is a well made action/drama series that certainly pushed to boundaries as what can be shown on TV. It is well made, both in terms of drama and in terms of the action scenes. The ideology is sometimes fairly hard to stomach when -apart from normal commando routine- the SAS take the law into their own hands. That's beyond the realism of a commando unit and I sometimes found that hard to stomach. The format changed from 45 minutes episodes in the first two seasons to feature length episodes in seasons 3&4. With the exit of some popular characters a new twist was added: the troop was joined by a female soldier, Becca. This has been criticised as political correctness but one has to bear two things in mind: after the switch to a 60/90 minutes format additional elements to supply drama were needed and Becca's arrival fulfilled this need. Secondly, Ultimate Force is not a documentary but a drama series loosely based on the SAS, it was never meant to be anything but fiction. In fact Becca works fine as a character and her arrival is precisely not a point in case about feminism. Overall, from my point of view, the standard of writing got much better in seasons 3&4 as the new format allowed for more depth of character and more interesting / evolving story lines as opposed to the first two seasons where plots usually just revolved around one particular incident. All in all, it's rather entertaining and well made.

For a series on 22 Regiment.... its quite good. Yet it has its flaws.Anyone who has read books by Ryan, McNab, Horsefall (all aliases) and of coarse the legends of 'Paddy' Blair Maine, De le Billiere will enjoy it. Warning, don't expect too much! Firstly some of the technical stuff has been changed for the obvious reason that certain strategic data cannot be revealed on television. Chris Ryan has done a good job as technical adviser and protected the essentially secret and surprise tactics. Anyone who has followed the history of the Regiment or has served know what I mean.The good thing is, there's no grandiose bravado and over pepped up scenes like in most movies about 'other' special forces...... that make it look like Batman and Robin are kitting up to save the world. The other good thing is, no one on this series is 'invincible' or comes across as a 'super-soldier'..... the directors got one thing right which most others don't get.... special assignment combat troops are not 'The Terminator'. they are flesh and blood, make mistakes, rely on each other..... in short, ordinary men, in extraordinary circumstances, performing the necessary. To those of you who didn't get that, well go watch "The Guns of Navarone" very carefully again.One thing that most people should take from this series is what it shows in certain episodes. People are over eager to condemn good soldiers as senseless butchers who 'love to kill'. This may be true in some instances, but that's a limited exception. They do what they do because they're trained for it. Guys forgive me for the comparison but, people love Dobermans and rothweilers......despite the fact that they can rip a man apart. yet you have them as guard dogs. Same with special troops. We need them We can afford to condemn them in a self-righteous manner when the goings good. When we're the hostages, we thank God for having men more brutal and lethal that the terrorist. This comes out in the episode with the tribunal. Its easy to talk technicalities when you're safe and not the one looking down the wrong end of a barrel. Who dares wins, yet who hesitates, dies.As for the characters, its only to be expected that they'll be like this, after all this is a series, not a documentary. So one may have to ignore the mushy stuff and the clichéd character portrayals etc... to comment on the actors would be fruitless.... they did the best job they could so live with it...Although the traditional aspect of the Regiment were brought out, the close knit bond, closing off your emotions to death so that the job gets done, the difference between officers who look out for their men and the old school 'Ruperts', the devil's in the nightmares, the fear of going 'US' or 'unserviceable', the strain on the home front. These were the real aspects that were brought out. The romantic affairs etc....cest la vie.One particularly fascinating scene was when the men line up and salute the out-going officer. That whole scene conveys so much as to what the heart of the SAS is about. Now that is the act of gentlemen soldiers. Scenes like that, speak more for the Regiment than the whole series itself.The plots may seem unbelievable but some of them are very real situations which have come up during the history of the Regiment. The plots borrow heavily from Ryan's books, who in turn has taken the situations from past campaignes. Notice the lack of 'let's stop dooms-day' plots. That's because... they rarely happen. Hostage situations, airline hijacks, embassy sieges, and the various black-ops are part of the Regiments 'legends'.The woman in the SAS was a nice idea but I wonder how many women can tackle the Brecan Beacons? If there are any, then perhaps 22 should reconsider because 'She dared, she should win'. And speaking of the Beacons... why weren't they shown in the episodes about selections? In conclusion, it is a shame that the series was limited to the exploits of Red troop. It would have been nice to see both Red and Blue in action together or better still, to see more action from A B or D squadron. I'd love to see "Land of Fire" and "The Watchman" made into a movie! So.... when are they going to do that?Cheers Gentlemen!!!

It seems that the one Jamie that everyone seems to talk about is Jamie Draven.. well there was also another Jamie on the show.. Jamie Bamber.Playing the 'Rupert' Dotsy he was superb. He's only been in the biz a short while but already he's clocked up an impressive resume.. from Hornblower as Archie Kennedy through to such plays as the Scarlet Pimpernel and in Poirot.He's not only a talented actor but also very intelligent (and cute of course). (He went to Cambridge and has a 1st Class MA Honors in Modern Languages.. well he can speak three of them). If you ever have chance to see him in a stage production then go.. You'll not regret it. I've just seen Dr Faustus and believe me it was amazing, so much so I had to see it twice.Jamie's stage presence and acting ability is overwhelming. Not only that.. he's a nice guy to. It's hard to think that the two can go hand in hand nowadays. Or maybe I'm just a cynic.At the moment you can catch him in Battlestar Galactica (the new one) as Apollo. He is at ease with characters from sci-fi to drama productions.Just one last thing, if you ever get the chance to see him or meet him, don't pass up the chance. You won't be disappointed.