Soldier Soldier

Soldier Soldier is a British television drama series. The title comes from a traditional song of the same name.

Produced by Central Television and broadcast on the ITV network, it ran for a total of seven series and 82 episodes from 1991 to 1997. It featured the daily lives of a group of soldiers in 'B' Company, 1st Battalion The King's Fusiliers, a fictional British Army infantry regiment. Set in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, it is regarded as an accurate depiction of army life in the early to mid 1990s, when the British Army was undergoing significant change. This is perhaps best demonstrated during the third series, around 1994, when a significant number of real regiments were forced into amalgamations with each other due to downsizing of the army. In the world of Soldier Soldier, the King's Fusiliers are also forced to amalgamate with another fictional regiment, becoming the King's Own Fusiliers. At the time Soldier Soldier was broadcast, the fatality rate was low with most casualties due to training accidents and suicides. The military as a whole was reduced to performing more peacekeeping missions than actually doing any fighting. As a consequence, the show served well to portray the army, despite the domestic problems that could occur, in a fairly good light.

Although many well known and not so well known actors appeared in Soldier Soldier over the period it was broadcast, perhaps the best known are Robson Green and Jerome Flynn, who portrayed Fusilier Dave Tucker and Sergeant Paddy Garvey respectively. It was their performance of "Unchained Melody" in an episode of the series that propelled them to stardom, giving them several number one songs and a best selling album. Both actors left the series in 1995, following which viewing figures began to decline, leading to the series being cancelled in 1997.

TV presenter Chris Kelly wrote and produced some episodes of the series.[1]

Contents

Cast

Episodes

Series 1

  1. "All the King's Men" (10 June 1991)
  2. "Fun and Games" (17 June 1991)
  3. "Dirty Work" (24 June 1991)
  4. "Fighting Spirit" (1 July 1991)
  5. "Battlefields" (8 July 1991)
  6. "Loyal to the Corps" (15 July 1991)
  7. "Flying Colours" (22 July 1991)

Series 2

  1. "A Man's Life" (21 September 1992)
  2. "Something Old, Something New" (28 September 1992)
  3. "A Touch of the Sun" (5 October 1992)
  4. "Lifelines" (12 October 1992)
  5. "Saving Face" (19 October 1992)
  6. "Lost and Found" (26 October 1992)
  7. "The Last Post" (2 November 1992)

Series 3

  1. "Shifting Sands" (7 September 1993)
  2. "Live Fire" (14 September 1993)
  3. "Base Details" (21 September 1993)
  4. "Fall Out" (28 September 1993)
  5. "Disintegration" (5 October 1993)
  6. "Hide and Seek" (12 October 1993)
  7. "Trouble and Strife" (19 October 1993)
  8. "Hard Knocks" (26 October 1993)
  9. "Camouflage" (2 November 1993)
  10. "Staying Together" (9 November 1993)
  11. "Dutch Courage" (16 November 1993)
  12. "Stand By Me" (23 November 1993)
  13. "Learning" (30 November 1993)

Series 4

  1. "Stormy Weather" (20 September 1994)
  2. "Away Games" (27 September 1994)
  3. "Damage" (4 October 1994)
  4. "Second Sight" (11 October 1994)
  5. "Over The Top" (18 October 1994)
  6. "Proud Man" (25 October 1994)
  7. "Further Education" (1 November 1994)
  8. "Baby Love" (8 November 1994)
  9. "Band of Gold" (15 November 1994)
  10. "Going Back" (22 November 1994)
  11. "Poles Apart" (29 November 1994)
  12. "Bombshell" (6 December 1994)
  13. "Changing The Guard" (13 December 1994)

Series 5

  1. "For Better, For Worse" (5 September 1995)
  2. "Second Chances" (12 September 1995)
  3. "Love Not Money" (19 September 1995)
  4. "Bushed" (26 September 1995)
  5. "Far Away" (3 October 1995)
  6. "Ill Wind" (10 October 1995)
  7. "Sweet Revenge" (17 October 1995)
  8. "The Army Game" (24 October 1995)
  9. "Love and War" (31 October 1995)
  10. "Leaving" (7 November 1995)
  11. "Hard Lessons" (14 November 1995)
  12. "Stick Together" (21 November 1995)
  13. "Under The Sun" (28 November 1995)
  14. "Baptism of Fire" (5 December 1995)
  15. "Twist of Fate" (12 December 1995)

Series 6

  1. "River Deep" (3 September 1996)
  2. "Divided Loyalties" (10 September 1996)
  3. "All For One" (17 September 1996)
  4. "Walking On Air" (24 September 1996)
  5. "Under The Gooseberry Bush" (1 October 1996)
  6. "Flash Point" (8 October 1996)
  7. "Money For Nothing" (15 October 1996)
  8. "Dear Joe" (22 October 1996)
  9. "Asking For It" (29 October 1996)
  10. "Delayed Action" (5 November 1996)
  11. "Beast" (12 November 1996)
  12. "Fall For Love" (19 November 1996)
  13. "War Path" (26 November 1996)
  14. "Deliver Us From Evil" (3 December 1996)
  15. "Hell and High Water" (10 December 1996)

Series 7

  1. "Divided We Fall" (23 September 1997)
  2. "Things Can Only Get Better" (30 September 1997)
  3. "Line of Departure" (7 October 1997)
  4. "Under Fire" (14 October 1997)
  5. "Friends and Lovers" (21 October 1997)
  6. "How Was It For You?" (28 October 1997)
  7. "The Road to Damascus" (4 November 1997)
  8. "Out" (11 November 1997)
  9. "Fit to Explode" (18 November 1997)
  10. "Chain of Command" (25 November 1997)
  11. "Sounds of War" (2 December 1997)
  12. "No Pain, No Gain" (9 December 1997)

King's Own Fusiliers

The King's Own Fusiliers

Cap badge of the King's Own Fusiliers
Active 1993-
Country United Kingdom
Branch Army
Type Line Infantry
Role Air Assault Infantry
(at end of series)
Size One battalion
Part of King's Division
Garrison/HQ 1st Battalion - Aldershot
(at end of series)
Motto Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense (Evil to he Whom Evil Thinks)
Insignia
Hackle Blue over White
From King's Fusiliers

The King's Own Fusiliers is the infantry regiment portrayed in the series. Like all fusilier regiments, the King's Own Fusiliers wears a hackle in its head-dress; this is coloured dark blue over white. Initially, the regiment was called the "King's Fusiliers"; however in the third series of Soldier Soldier, which took place during the Options for Change military reforms, the King's Fusiliers was forced to amalgamate with another regiment, "The Cumbrians (Duke of Rutland's Own)"; although attempts were made by the Cumbrians to keep the new regiment as an ordinary infantry regiment, rather than a fusilier regiment, the regimental commander of the King's Fusiliers found in his research that, at some point during their history, the Cumbrians had served as fusiliers. As a result, the new regiment was named the "King's Own Fusiliers".

Regiment

Role

As an ordinary infantry battalion, the King's Fusiliers/King's Own Fusiliers was in the arms plot rotation, and thus participated in a number of different roles:

During its time in Windsor, in addition to other duties, the King's Own Fusiliers provided the guard at Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and Windsor Castle.

Recruiting area

As the King's Own Fusiliers has no geographical location in its name, it can only be speculated what recruiting area it represents. However, using Options for Change as a marker, it would be reasonable to assume that the regiment is from somewhere in the north of England, given that it is amalgamated with a regiment from Cumbria. In addition, the regiment's collar dogs are in the form of a stylised rose, suggesting the Red Rose of Lancashire. This suggests that the regiment is part of the King's Division.

Amalgamation

Although Soldier Soldier ended in 1997, it can be speculated that, had the series continued, the changing climate following the 1997 General Election with regards to the armed forces would have been addressed; the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq may have led to the regiment being deployed operationally, while the defence review of 2004 would probably have resulted in the King's Own Fusiliers, as a single battalion regiment, being forced to amalgamate again, this time as part of a large, multi-battalion regiment with another north-west regiment.

The cap badge of the King's Own Fusiliers features the lion surmounting the crown, which is the recognised symbol of the British Army, within the band of the Order of the Garter. Surmounting the garter band is the traditional flame that indicates a fusilier regiment. (Note - in Crush (Red Cap episode 1.2), the Royal Cambrian Fusiliers wore the same cap badge and hackle as the King's Own Fusiliers).

Commanding officers

Fictional Regiments featured in Soldier Soldier

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0446266/

External links