Chris Ryan's Strikeback

Even so, my point still stanRAB. Surely Porter is labouring under the unfair accusation that he killed all 3 soldiers?

Collinson makes a big point in the final showdown of the fact that Porter lent him the UMP and that the question of who actually fired it is his word against Porter's. How does the recovery of the bullet from the previously comatose soldier change this in any way? Of course he was shot with a round from Porter's UMP - that is not in dispute.

It's rubbish scripting and a lost opportunity to create a genuinely good military drama with decent production values and a quality cast.
 
Must disagree with you on that The Unit was good & I thought rather down to earth in many respects (for a US military show).

Have quite enjoyed Strike back too even though it has deviated from the bok rather a lot!
 
TBH, I'd say both this series and Luther have serious flaws. Strikeback has more colour and pace than Luther - but it is way more predictable. In narrative terms, it's like they've decided that ITV circa 1995 is the blueprint for this series ... and that isn't really something to aspire to now. The story-telling in this series looks really shallow and dated next to 24, Lost and House and I still struggle to square Jed Mercurio's brilliant work on Bodies with the Ultimate Force-lite he's delivered here.

I too am puzzled as to why Sky have played Strikeback out on a Wednesday night in May after spending a significant amount of money on it. Wouldn't it have played better in September, on a Sunday night, say? Or maybe it was commissioned before Sky One's new director of programmes Stuart Murphy took charge and he decided he didn't like it? :confused:
 
I have to say that Mercurio's name as the writer on this was the biggest single shock. To go from writing the brilliant, potent and provocative Bodies to something as shallow as this is a bit of fall from grace.

I too like to kick back and watch a good action thriller - but that's why I love 24. This was dumbed-down beyond belief. Why didn't they just revive Ultimate Force?!

I'm all for a bit of shlock ... but this was not good shlock.
 
Yeah, forgot about the ghost writer, think his last 3 books (including 'Strike Back') where not written by him. He just gives the basic plot and fills in all the technical stuff.
 
When Layla confronted Collinson with what she found, it looked like Collinson was going to crap himself

Surely he has had x amount of years to get better game face then that


does anybody know what kind of ratings it got
 
Not seen it yet but the book was pretty good. I've read a lot of Ryan's novels & Mcnabb, of the two I feel Ryan is the beter writer.
 
Plus also when he took the phone out of the dead scottish guy's pocket why didn't he take the flash drive as well, quite how Collinson made it all the way from the UK headquarters to Afghanistan within a couple of hours, he must have had a rocket ship, but it was enjoyable despite the plot holes.
 
I thought exactly the same thing until I found out that most of Ryans books are written by a ghost writer, he pens the basic outline and technical aspects and the ghost writer does the rest.

I read 'Strike Back' a year ago and they cold have added so much more to the story, why they changed Porter from a tramp living rough on the streets to a security guard in the MI5 building is beyond me
 
In episode 3, did anyone else notice that when they broke out of the prison, Porter hotwired the car and yet when they pulled up in the bush, he appeared to turn it off with a key !!
 
I completely agree. I don't usually like stuff like this but thought it was really good!

But like you say I haven't read the book and there's nothing more frustrating if you've read a great book and they make a hash of the serialisation of it.

Roll on next episode for me though :)
 
It seems like everyone who hasn't read the books really liked the show, I also haven't read any of the books and thought it was decent.

Is episode 3 a different book?
 
Let's not be under any illusions , neither mcnab or Ryan write their books, they're ghost-written by journeymen thriller-writers and the detail is given authenticity by the laRAB. In my opinion the superior stuff is the early mcnab series of books, there's much less flab and perfect outcomes. The really infuriating stuff is elsewhere - the ops room and mission is staffed with nothing but beautiful looking people, who spend their time explaining the bleeding obvious to each other. Yes, it's csi/house/greys in another set of clothes.

Speaking of clothes, all the "sas" uniforms were brand new, all their chest rigs were brand new and had a tenth of the kit actual operators would wear on such missions. No body armour in the plate carriers, one or two magazines at most...and when Porter ran out of ammo behind his range rover, he pulled out a toy Airsoft magazine from his gun and stared at it. They don't look the same as proper magazines. Just sloppy film-making.
 
Just watched the first two episodes and have to say I really really enjoyed this! Was quite surprised with it being a Sky One show and all lol!

Just "acquiring" episodes 3 and 4 which have just aired and will definitely watch these tomorrow. I shouldn't have kept the first two "waiting" a whole week!

Is nobody else watching though?? Eps 3 and 4 finished on Sky One just a while ago and nobody has commented....
 
Good fun episodes although the very end was a bit contrived. It's a shame that they didn't rewrite the original plot and may be have had another soldier who shot the SAS guys and was trying to hide the fact. The Porter/ Collinson combo worked well and I'll miss Collinson if the series is renewed.
 
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