ITV's SAS drama 'Ultimate Force' proves international hit

by Staff,, Brand Republic 07-Jul-03, 11:00

LONDON - ITV's SAS drama 'Ultimate Force', which stars former 'EastEnders' star Ross Kemp, is proving a success internationally with the programme being sold around the world.

The second series of the drama, which tells the story about a troop from Britain's special forces elite regiment the SAS, has been sold to New Zealand, South Africa, Scandinavia and Canada.

The show has also proved a big hit in Eastern Europe, with broadcasters in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Russia all buying it.

The international sales of the SAS drama will come as a welcome relief to Chrysalis after it received a rough critical ride in the UK following its first series in last year.

Christina Willoughby, managing director of Chrysalis Distribution, said: "We are delighted to be able to announce these sales, which underline the series' continued appeal to a wide international audience."

The second series of 'Ultimate Force' returned to ITV1 in June as part of ITV's effort to attract more highly sought after light-viewing young men in the 18- to 34-year-old market.

Despite a critical panning, the second series is performing well for ITV with the first episode of the new series attracting 6m viewers, up on the first episode of the first series, which attracted 5.8m when shown in September.

The first episode of the new series got off to a bloody start with one of Red Troop killed and another seriously wounded in a shootout with suspected terrorists, who turned out to be French special forces.

'Ultimate Force' is advised by former SAS soldier and best-selling author Chris Ryan. Ryan wrote 'The One That Got Away' about his part in the ill-fated Bravo Two Zero mission during the first Gulf War.

In this week's episode, Kemp as Henno Garvie, leader of Red Troop, set out on an unofficial and deniable undercover mission to steal a list of terrorist targets from a virtually inaccessible vault.

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