Career Ultimate Force

Ultimate Force - Captain Ian Macalwain (2003)

Richard Armitage joined Ultimate Force, a British television military-drama series, for episodes 2-6 of its second series. His character, Captain Ian McIlwain, joins Red Troop (a fictional unit within the SAS) as the unit's new commander. (Wikipedia, Ultimate Force, accessed April 11, 2009)

Macalwain is not a bad guy, but he is a bit edgy. I don't think I am anything like him, which is why it is interesting to play him. He's eloquent with a sharp tongue and can humiliate people in an argument, which was really enoyable to play. He comes in as a captain and throws his weight around. (Ultimate Force dvd, Richard Armitage Online, Ultimate Force, Playing Ian Macalwain)

Executive Producer
Brian True-May

Directors
Tim Leandro
Richard Holthouse
Jeremy Webb

Writers
Rob Heyland
Len Collin

Production details

Cast (series 2)
Staff Sergeant Henry 'Henno' Garvie (Red Troop leader) - Ross Kemp
Colonel Aidan Dempsey (Commanding Officer - 22 Regiment) - Miles Anderson
Corporal (Later Sergeant) Pete Twamley - Tony Curran
Corporal Jamie Dow - Jamie Draven
Corporal Ricky Mann - Danny Sapani
Sergeant Sean Smith (Blue Troop leader) - Derek Horne
Corporal Louis Hoffman - Christopher Fox
Captain Caroline Walshe - Alex Reid
Captain Ian Macalwain - Richard Armitage
Pru Banks (MI5 officer) - Lucy Akhurst
Mrs Twamley - Jackie Morrison

The dvds for the series may be purchased at:

Amazon.co.uk
(region 2)

For Ultimate Force they asked if I could play rugby, and whilst I'd played at school that was years ago. My friend is a brilliant player, and he taught me some moves. But when we got there the weather was bitter, and the ground was like concrete. They'd asked a proper rugby team to play against us, and I got a 'hospital pass' which left me winded and in pain. I regretted lying about that one, but it's on my showreel now - it cost me so much pain I had to include it! (Vivid Magazine, Spring 2005)

You put a gun in someone's hand, the testosterone levels go up! It's called 'berserking'. At drama school you learn to access that instant fight-or-flight mechanism. (Radio Times, October 1-7, 2005)

He's from a military family and is under pressure from his family to do well. He is very clean cut and quite conservative in the way that he dresses and views himself. Being vain doesn't come into his head - he's just efficient, efficient, effiicient. He goes by the book and doesn't have any improvisation skills, so when things go wrong he feels the rug is being pulled from underneath him. (Ultimate Force dvd, Richard Armitage Online, Ultimate Force, Playing Ian Macalwain)

Ultimate Force was weird - although we were shooting blank bullets, it did feel good to pull a trigger.
(Radio Times, October 7-10, 2005)