0/5

Airdate: Strike Back

Seven will screen US-UK action drama series, Strike Back, with a cast including Aussie Sullivan Stapleton.

Seven will screen US-UK action drama series, Strike Back, later this month.

It follows Richard Armitage as John Porter, a former British Special Forces soldier, who is drafted back into service by a fictional branch of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

But after the first season Armitage became unavailable due to the filming of The Hobbit. Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester then joined the series.

It has already been approved for a third season.

The high-octane, globe-spanning thriller mixes suspense, action and drama with storylines ripped from the headlines.

Screened as movie-length episodes, Strike Back follows stealth counter terrorism unit Section 20, an elite British military black ops unit that focuses on high-risk, top-priority targets. When one of their own is captured and held hostage, the group enlists the help of Damien Scott (Stapleton, Animal Kingdom, Gangster Squad, 300: Rise of an Empire), a former Delta Force operative who is familiar with the terrorists. Although he has good instincts and skills, his cocky style is often at odds with the more formal team, especially by-the-book Sergeant Michael Stonebridge (Philip Winchester, Crusoe). In a season-long arc, the pair criss-cross the globe on the trail of a deadly international terrorist named Latif, who is planning a major attack involving a cache of weapons of mass destruction.

The first season was shot in South Africa and Hungary for storyline locations ranging from England and Chechnya, to India and South Africa itself. The production works with a team of consultants who are in the field of counterterrorism and the military, contributing to the realistic tone of the show. In addition, the cast endured military training and tactics to prepare for the shoot.

Parade raved, “Move over James Bond. Gritty and action-packed, this series is a wild ride.” Los Angeles Times observed that the show “shoots high with plenty of action and thrills and a simmering bromance that’s fun to watch,” while the New York Daily News hailed Strike Back as “appointment television” and an “unapologetic, fist-pumping non-stop action thriller.” The Washington Post described the show as a “stylish and addictive new counterterrorism series,” Indiewire called it “first rate pulp TV, with enough unexpected heart and authenticity to guarantee that its thrills are never cheap” and the Huffington Post labelled Stapleton and Winchester as a “dynamic team.”

Strike Back is a HBO/Cinemax co-production with UK broadcaster Sky TV. The second season recently launched in the U.S.

Sunday, September 30 at 8.30pm on Seven.

11 Responses

  1. When did season one of Strike Back air in Australia?
    Just went to watch catch up episode on Plus7 and it says series 1 episode 1. But in fact it’s season 2.

  2. @Craig

    Seven are just looking for some content to fill holes for a few weeks. In this case some programming for males they can put up against Call The Midwife and Husbands to replace Mrs Browns Boys.

    The more they can hype them the better.

  3. David it’s worth noting not only has S3 been approved it’s already underway in the UK and US.

    Strike Back Vengeance (S3) started mid August in the US, a few weeks later in the UK.

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Strike_Back_episodes

  4. @Pertinax – Yeah I was just going through my video files and I recorded S1 off the ABC early in 2011. They showed it in double eps so over 3 weeks…

    So like Killing Time, are Seven trying to pass this off as a new series for Australia?

  5. @ph I’ve seen the first 2 eps and agree it’s a very different show from the first UK series with Richard Armitage. But that’s only to be expected with a joint US production for Cable and I still enjoyed it.
    I’m looking forward to the rest, although Stapleton’s character continually calling everyone Buddy grated a bit so I hope they’ve toned that down after the first few eps.

  6. Saw this along time ago. Enjoyed it very much. It is a very commercial show which does not shy away from being big on guns and sex. Its very different from the first series.

  7. Wow, this American cable show is getting a prime slot on the Seven network.

    Whatever happened to Killing Time? Weren’t they going to schedule that this year?

Leave a Reply