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Red Troop
Henry Garvie
Staff Sergeant Henry 'Henno' Garvie
Played by: Ross Kemp
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Col. Dempsey is the Captain Smooth, while Henno fits the Sgt Rough trope to a T.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Col. Dempsey is the only one allowed to call him Henry.
- Don't Call Me "Sir": He reminds the newcomers in the 1st episode not to call an officer "Sir".
- A Father to His Men: He's a hard-ass, but he cares about the men under his troop and takes attacks on them personally (he gets majorly drunk at Sam's funeral, disobeys orders to rescue a kidnapped Jamie, risks his life to save a wounded Pete and murders Capt. Macalwain for having an affair with Pete's wife.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He has a tough attitude and may seem at first to be bullyish, but throughout the series he shows signs of humour and a friendly attitude indicating this not to be the case.
- The Leader: He commands the troop in a firm, but fair manner.
- Married to the Job: He's utterly dedicated to the regiment, at the cost of a family life.
- Off with His Head!: In "Never Go Back", Henno decapitates a man who was holding him hostage with a machete.Henno: A little less conversation.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: He casually tosses around phrases like "queer" and "towel-heads".
- Unfriendly Fire: In the series 2 finale, Henno clears a room with Captain Macalwain, picks up an enemy AK-47, and shoots half a clip into his back in retaliation for sleeping with the wife of one of his men. Afterwards he has a Coke.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He guns down Captain Macalwain at close range in Georgia during a rescue mission, covering it up by disguising it as a shootout between Georgian government-sponsored militants and Red Troop. The others didn't bother to figure it out (possibly since the captain's personality was disliked by most of them) and Colonel Dempsey treated him as a "hero", not bothering to ask any questions.
- Would Hit a Girl: In "The Killing House", he punches a hysterical woman in order to shut her up and in "Deadlier Than the Male", he punches Rebecca while interrogating/recruiting her.
Louis Hoffman
Corporal Louis Hoffman
Played by: Christopher Fox
- Ascended Extra: He was merely on of the many potential recruits in the first season. He becomes a permanent addition from season two.
- Breakout Character: Went from a random guest character to the third longest-serving character behind Henno and Dempsey.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's often cracking jokes, whether they're appropriate or not.
- Friend to All Children: "Never Go Back" gives him a major Pet the Dog moment when he befriends a little girl in Africa.
- The Gadfly: Full of his own self-importance and often excitable, he likes to stir up trouble.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's an irreverent, cocky arse, but he's loyal to his team.
Jamie Dow
Trooper Jamie Dow
Played by: Jamie Draven
- Abusive Parents: He grew up with an abusive, alcoholic father. He's not at all upset when he gets murdered.
- Audience Surrogate: In the first episode, his status as the new recruit allows him to be the audience's focal point into the world of the SAS.
- Cold Sniper: Henno's so impressed with his marksmanship that in "Just a Target", he's assigned to impersonate one.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He had a poor background, an unhappy home life, family troubles and a life of crime before joining the army.
- Delinquents: He spent his teenage years stealing cars as a way of escaping his unhappy situation. When arrested a final time, he chose the army over prison.
- Five-Token Band: The working-class northerner.
- Mr. Fanservice: One of the prettier members of Red Troop and was often shirtless.
- Oop North: He hails from Manchester.
- Reformed Criminal: He was a delinquent who spent his youth joyriding. His escape was either prison or the army.
- Supporting Protagonist: In the first season. In fact, the series was meant to focus on his growth from rookie to seasoned trooper.
- Trading Bars for Stripes: When he got arrested for joyriding one too many times, he chose the army over a prison sentence as a way out of his lot.
Pete Twamley
Corporal/Sergeant Pete Twamley
Played by: Tony Curran
- Family Man: He's the only member of the troop with a wife and children.
- Five-Token Band: The ginger Scot.
- Not Enough to Bury: According to Henno, Pete had to have sandbags in his coffin, "because there wasn't enough to fill a mess tin".
- Post-Injury Desk Job: Following his near-death experience at the end of the first season, the second season sees Henno assign him to a desk job, much to his displeasure. He eventually gets back into action.
- Rank Up: He goes from Corporal to Sergeant in season two.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: In season two, he develops post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his near-death experience at the end of the first season which causes his marriage to suffer.
- Shoot the Television: Pete shoots a TV set during a CQB exercise. When asked why he used his weapon it, he insisted that the program airing constituted "a threat" that justified lethal force.
- Violent Glaswegian: A short-tempered Scot with army training.
Ricky Mann
Corporal Ricky Mann
Played by: Danny Sapani
- Black Dude Dies First: Averted, he dies off-screen.
- Catchphrase: "They love it" and variations thereof.
- Cunning Linguist: He's fluent in Swedish.
- Five-Token Band: The big black man.
- Happily Married: In "Natural Selection", he tells Jamie that he's faithful to his wife, despite her being on the other side of the world.
- Scary Black Man: He's a big, intimidating guy who happens to be an S.A.S operative.
- Team Chef: In the first episode, he cooks the team a gourmet steak dinner before the mission.
Becca Gallagher
Trooper Becca Gallagher
Played by: Heather Peace
- Chickification: Happens a little bit, she goes from staunch tomboy at first to dressing in more noticeably feminine ways out of uniform by the end of the run.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her first scene has her stark naked with other potentials and she showers with her male teammates (which nobody comments on).
- One of the Boys: The only difference between her and her teammates is the gender.
- The Squadette: To some one of the contributing reasons to the vault over the shark.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Caroline. The real difference is that instead of a Captain, she's a Trooper.
- Tomboy: She confesses to loving guns ever since childhood, while her sister played with Barbie.
Dave Woolston
Corporal Dave Woolston
Played by: Louis Decosta Johnson
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He filled Ricky's role as the big black guy on the team.
Jem Poynton
Lance Corporal Jem Poynton
Played by: Elliot Cowan
- Friendly Sniper: A cheery guy who's one of the best marksmen in the troop.
- Nice Guy: The most personable member of Red Troop - jovial, friendly and easy-going.
- Sacrificial Lion: Is killed off in the first episode of season two.
Alex Leonard
Trooper Alex Leonard
Played by: Sendhil Ramamurthy
- Five-Token Band: The middle-class British-Asian.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Conceited and uptight, he antagonises Jamie, from mocking his accent to having too much fun kicking while disguised as riot police. In "The Killing of a One-Eyed Bookie", Ricky confronts about his attitude and he admits that he feels guilty about Jamie getting captured. They do eventually part ways on good terms.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: He comes from a privileged background and dislikes the working class Jamie.
- Put on a Bus: Leaves after the first season partially due to the death of his brother in the first episode.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Alex guns down a Russian-British scientist named Sergei after he was holding a flask in a top-secret disease research center. Jamie uses this on Alex that the two slugged it out against each other. Granted that Sergei was not armed and was under heavy stress when one of his relatives was with a pro-Chechen extremist group that attacked the center that it initially raised a lot of suspicion, but he was cleared of not being a terrorist. Still you wonder if his relatives would press charges against the British military for wounding/killing Sergei?
Ed Dwyer
Corporal Ed Dwyer
Played by: Liam Garrigan
- Killed Offscreen: The fourth season opens with his funeral.
Finn Younger
Corporal Finn Younger
Played by: Jamie Michie
Officers
Aidan Dempsey
Colonel Aidan Dempsey
Played by: Miles Anderson
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Col. Dempsey is the Captain Smooth, while Henno fits the Sgt Rough trope to a T.
- Colonel Badass: Cool in a crisis and no slouch when things get hairy.
- A Father to His Men: Very much so.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: He reliably kicks a lot of arse when called upon, most notably in "Dead Is Forever", "Never Go Back" and - particularly - "Charlie Bravo". In the latter, he strides through a gunfight, casually taking one-handed potshots at rebels, while exhorting his local counterpart to "Pretend you're an officer and get your men in order!"
- Reasonable Authority Figure: A sensible man who seems to understand the troop's annoyances and gets on well with all them.
- Stiff Upper Lip: He speaks in an RP accent and believes in winning a battle, then going home for tea and medals.
Caroline Walshe
Captain Caroline Walshe
Played by: Alex Reid
- Dude Magnet: Henno, Jamie, Alex and Dotsy all have the hots for her at various points.
- One of the Boys: Can keep up with Red Troop just fine.
- Put on a Bus: She gets this treatment at the beginning of Series 3, after being a major character in the first two series. She doesn't return.
Dennis Doheny
Captain Dennis "Dotsy" Doheny
Played by: Jamie Bamber
- Alliterative Name: Dennis Doheny.
- Five-Token Band: The public-schoolboy Captain.
- Put on a Bus: Resigns in the second season following the disaster on the frigate, due to Bamber wanting out of the series.
Ian Macalwain
Captain Ian Macalwain
Played by: Richard Armitage
- The Neidermeyer: Captain Macalwain showed many tendencies toward this.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: He takes over Red Troop when Dotsy resigns. His first act is to have them play rugby. Like Dotsy, he's a public-school type, but the team (especially Henno) show him little-to-no respect.
Patrick Fleming
Captain Patrick Fleming
Played by: Sam Callis
Attache
Box 500
Pru Banks
Pru Banks
Played by: Lucy Akhurst
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She's a regular in series 2 and ends the series romantically involved with Henno and disappears without explanation before the beginning of series 3.
Kathy Crampton
Kathy Crampton
Played by: Hannah Yelland
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After Series 3, although she featured less often.
Minor characters
Johnny Bell
Staff Sergeant Johnny Bell
Played by: Chris Ryan
- Creator Cameo: Chris Ryan shows up as the commander of Blue Troop.
Sean Smith
Sergeant Sean Smith
Played by: Derek Horne
- Alliterative Name: Sean Smith.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He was head of Blue Troop for two seasons and had been on enough missions for his absence to be noticeable.
Sam Leonard
Trooper Sam Leonard
Played by: Anthony Howell
- Mauve Shirt: He's introduced as Alex's brother and it seems like he'll be a main character. And then he's killed.
- Sacrifial Lion: Killed off in the first episode.
Mick Sharp
Corporal Mick Sharp
Played by: Laurence Fox
Laura Twamley
Laura Twamley
Played by: Jackie Morrison
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Vanishes without trace after season two, with her affair with Captain Macalwain going completely unresolved. This coincides with Pete's hasty death.
