Red Cap

I've been watching the television series "Red Cap", which is being broadcast on BBC Entertainment on Saturday nights. This is a series (two seasons) about the British Military Police, situated in Germany. Instead of the usual CID plainclothes policemen, the series shows SIB (Special Investigative Branch) plainclothes policemen; there's not much difference between the two.

Whilst the initial premise of the series is good - a detective series with a change of scenery and background - I think that there's no real follow-through on this. Each episode starts off promisingly, but soon the story starts following one track out of several possibilities, the endings always seem a bit forced and divorced from all that has gone before.

The fact that the series is set in Germany doesn't seem to count for much. Maybe there are no more British troops in Britain, but the Germany of this series seems remarkably British. The only 'advantage' is that the NCOs have a German liason officer instead of a British one. Most of the crimes investigated are not particularly military; the first episode was about the accidental killing of a soldier during a training exercise and promised much, but other episodes have been more civilian.

The last episode which I saw (episode 1.6, "Payback") showed the normal confused characteristics of this series. It begins with a senior officer arriving at the 'station', expecting to meet one of the detectives; it seems that someone has played a practical joke on this officer, for the detective he is to meet is in fact having his annual physical exam and is not on-site. Whilst this is being explained to the officer, his car is stolen. Another practical joke?

Then the story switches elsewhere to a scene in which our intrepid detectives discover a shipment of hashish in a chocolate box. The soldier for whom this shipment is intended reveals himself by coshing his superior officer (for no apparent reason, as he leaves the hash behind). Two detectives start tracing this soldier and discover that he frequents a certain night club. Despite being 'blown', the soldier turns up that evening at the night club where he is observed by the two detectives; they see him meet 'Mr Big' and transfer an envelope, which one of the detectives manages to attain.

The detective who was taking the physical exam talks with a fellow NCO who is about to be court-martialled for striking an officer whilst in Kosovo. The NCO has 22 years of service but would lose all his pension if indeed he would be court-martialled. Whilst the detective is trying to find a way to help the NCO, the latter shows no signs of remorse at his actions.

Cutting a long story short, this NCO stole the first officer's car; it is intended to be used as the getaway car for a bank robbery in which he is involved, along with the hash smuggling soldier and a few others. The envelope which was passed from hand to hand in the night club contains the codes for the bank vault. Two detectives (including the one from the physical exam) are in the bank enquiring about the codes when the robbery takes place; physical exam detective gets shot during the robbery.

The first set of detectives arrive on the scene and don't really do anything. One gets taken as a hostage by the NCO who decided to go it alone with the stolen money; the (female) hostage detective gets replaced by her partner. Then a police sniper shoots at the getaway car; I'm not sure who was driving, but anyway the car crashes. The NCO is killed, despite the car's airbag which blows up in his face (maybe he was shot) whereas the detective is merely stunned. Female detective embraces male detective, showing signs of relief than nothing had happened to her partner.

Why do I feel let down by all this? Apart from the unlikely events of the robbery, what about the hash smuggling soldier? What about Mr Big, who apparently is occupied with human trafficking? Why does the episode end with all of the detectives having their picture taken, whilst in uniform?

As usual, I seem to be in a minority. The few user reviews which appear on IMDB are heartily in favour: Following on from the successful pilot episode first broadcast in December 2001, Red Cap has now been made into a six-part TV series for the BBC. Initially, it seemed like a bit of a gamble turning a successful, one-off episode into a continuous series which could wear the premise thin and make the stories become predictable or silly. But, on the contrary, the stories in the Red Cap series really require you to use your brain, and [are] full of interesting and exciting twists and turns that sustain viewer interest right until the end.You have to pay attention to everything that is being said and inferred so that you don't lose track of the story, and this is always a great thing with thrillers. Tamzin Outhwaite is also extremely well cast as the heroine of the story and is very engaging to watch perform. Fine programming from the BBC.