Brawn in the USA!
Alan Ritchson stars as muscled military veteran Jack Reacher as he’s arrested for murder…
Reacher
Available: Friday 4 February Genre: Action thriller Season: 1 Eps: 8 (released weekly) Runs: 60min
As played by Tom Cruise in two action movies, Jack Reacher was physically rather different from the hulking 6ft 5in military veteran described in author Lee Child’s novels. But the incarnation of the drifter in new series Reacher will be more familiar to fans of the books, as muscle-bound, square-jawed 6ft 2in Alan Ritchson takes on the role.
‘Reacher is a retired military police officer who is huge, violent, highly intelligent and an incredible detective,’ says Alan, who played Aquaman in Smallville and Hawk in
Titans. ‘He just sort of wanders the country and trouble seems to find him. He’s that knight in shining armour who cleans up the streets for us!’
Wanted man
The series starts with Reacher arriving in the small Georgia town of Margrave, with nothing but a passport, some cash and an old military medal. As he sits down in a local diner, he’s suddenly surrounded by cops.
‘Within minutes of him arriving, he’s arrested for murder,’ says Alan. ‘He basically has to solve the case to prove his innocence.’
The cast includes Willa Fitzgerald (BBC1’S Little Women) as local police officer Roscoe Conklin, plus former Corrie star Matthew Marsden as
Jack Reacher’s dad Stan, shown in flashbacks. As a physically imposing actor, Alan says he found Reacher fascinating to play.
‘You expect somebody who looks like that to be a bit of a brute,’ he says. ‘But Reacher’s so sharp that he’s one step ahead of everybody. He’s a mental gymnast, but the size of an ox!’