Red Cap (TV series)

Red Cap is a British television drama series, produced by Stormy Pictures for the BBC and broadcast on BBC One. A total of thirteen episodes were broadcast over the course of two series, beginning with a feature-length pilot on 28 December 2001. The series follows the investigations and personal relationships of a British Army Special Investigation Branch unit of the Royal Military Police based in Germany.

The series initially focused on lead character, Sergeant Jo McDonagh (Tamzin Outhwaite), who was nicknamed McDoughnut, but later series played out as more of an ensemble piece, with several notable characters coming to prominence. A number of fictional regiments were featured in the series, including the Bedford Light Infantry, the Royal Cumbrian Fusiliers, the Wessex Regiment and the Derbyshire Light Infantry.

Cast

 * Tamzin Outhwaite as Sgt. Jo McDonagh
 * Douglas Hodge as Sgt. Maj. Kenneth "Kenny" Burns
 * James Thornton as Staff Sgt. Philip "Hippy" Roper
 * Gordon Kennedy as Sgt. Bruce Hornsby
 * Joachim Raaf as Detective Thomas Strauss
 * William Beck as Sgt. Maj. Steve Forney
 * Maggie Lloyd-Williams as Cpl. Angie Ogden
 * Peter Guinness as Capt. Gavin Howard
 * Blake Ritson as Lt. Giles Vicary
 * Raquel Cassidy as Staff Sgt. Neve Kirland (Series 1)
 * Poppy Miller as Staff Sgt. Harriet Frost (Series 2)
 * Ian Burfield as Sgt. Sam Perkins (Series 1)

Production
According to BBC sources, Outhwaite spent a week familiarising herself with Army life at the Reserve Training and Mobilisation Centre in Chilwell, Nottingham, prior to filming the series. Training included unarmed combat, 9mm pistol training, driving, drill, and understanding the Army's labyrinthine hierarchical structure. The series creator and writer, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Patrick Harbinson, was in the army himself and previously wrote fifteen episodes of the ITV military series Soldier Soldier. A BBC spokesman said; "With such experience, Patrick infuses Red Cap with a tangible sense of realism."

On 13 March 2004 Red Cap was axed by BBC executives, who cited: "At a cost of £10 million and an audience of just 5.5 million, executives thought it would not be worthwhile to renew it for another series."