| Chris Ryan's Strike Back | |
|---|---|
 Blu-ray cover for the series. | |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Sky1 |
| Original release | 5 May – 19 May 2010 |
| Season chronology | |
Chris Ryan's Strike Back, also known as Strike Back: Origins on Cinemax, is a six-part British television series based on the novel of the same name written by best-selling author and former soldier of the Special Air Service, Chris Ryan, and is the first series of Strike Back. It was produced by Left Bank Pictures for Sky1. The cast of Strike Back is led by Richard Armitage and Andrew Lincoln, also starring Orla Brady, Shelley Conn, Colin Salmon and Jodhi May, including a variety of guest appearances including Toby Stephens, Ewen Bremner, Dhaffer L'Abidine, Shaun Parkes and Alexander Siddig. The series follows John Porter (Armitage), a former British Special Forces soldier, who is drafted back into service by Section 20, a fictional branch of the Defence Intelligence (DI) of the Ministry of Defence.
The series ran on a multi-million pound budget, and was filmed on location in South Africa, particularly in Gauteng. Ryan became a series consultant. Strike Back commenced airing on 5 May 2010 with two episodes showing a week. The first episode received unofficial overnight ratings of almost 400,000 viewers in the United Kingdom, which increased to just over one million according to the more highly regarded Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. It was met with generally positive reviews; comments of the series ranged from a positive "British action series that packs a Die Hard-style thrill around every corner," to a more negative "pathetic male fantasy". It was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on 7 June 2010.
A 10-part second series, known as Strike Back: Project Dawn, a co-production between Sky and the American network Cinemax, was first broadcast in August 2011. A third series of Strike Back, also consisting of 10 parts, was released in August 2012.[1]
Following success of the second through fourth series, Cinemax began airing the six-part series starting 25 October 2013 in the United States.[2][3] It is airing as a prequel in the U.S. since Cinemax aired Strike Back: Project Dawn, Strike Back: Vengeance, and Strike Back: Shadow Warfare prior to the first season.
- ^ Seidman, Robert (6 October 2011). "'Strike Back' Renewed by Cinemax for a Second Season". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
- ^ Hale, Mike (24 October 2013). "Filling in the Blanks in the Tale of a Death". New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- ^ Ryan, Maureen (5 September 2013). "'Strike Back: Origins': Prequel Series Features 'Walking Dead' And 'Hobbit' Stars". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 October 2013.