''The Last Post'' is a British television drama series first broadcast in the United Kingdom on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

from 1 October to 5 November 2017. It is set in the backdrop of the

Aden Emergency The Aden Emergency, also known as the Radfan Uprising (), was an armed rebellion by NLF and FLOSY during the Cold War against the Federation of South Arabia, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, which now forms part of Yemen. Partly inspire ...

and a unit of the

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations ...

depicting the conflict and the relationships of the men and their families together and with the local population. In May 2018, it was reported that a second series would not be commissioned.

Production

Conception

Executive producer of Bonafide Films' Margery Bone proposed a story about

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

life on an army base. She approached Peter Moffat who had a military family background. Moffat suggested setting the series in the 1960s at the end of the British Empire with military personnel posted with their wives to a strategically important place. This gave a way to explore twentieth century British attitudes through a tightly knit group of people.

Location

The producers needed a location similar to Aden with coast, mountains and desert and a colonial architectural influence, settling on

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. A disused British naval base overlooking Simon's Town bay provided a scale which is often difficult to achieve for television.

Cast and characters

Jessie Buckley Jessie Buckley (born 28 December 1989) is an Irish actress and singer. The recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and three BAFTA Awards, she was listed at number 38 on ''The Irish Times'' list of ...

as Honor Martin *

Stephen Campbell Moore Stephen Campbell Moore (born Stephen Moore Thorpe, 30 November 1979) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in Alan Bennett's play '' The History Boys'' and the film based on it. Since 2019, he has starred in the sci-fi television ...

as Lieutenant Ed Laithwaite *

Amanda Drew Amanda Drew (born 12 December 1969) is an English actress with extensive credits in theatre, television and film. Biography One of four children, Drew was born in Boston, Lincolnshire. Drew's mother was a nurse and her father was a vicar. When ...

as Mary Markham * Ben Miles as Major Harry Markham *

Jeremy Neumark Jones Jeremy Barrington Neumark Jones (born 1989 in Enfield) is an English actor who has taken lead roles on the BBC television series '' The Last Post'' (2017) and on the ITV drama series ''Belgravia'' (2020). His grandparents were German Jews who ...

as Captain Joe Martin *

Jessica Raine Jessica Raine (born Jessica Helen Lloyd; 20 May 1982) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Jenny Lee in the television series ''Call the Midwife'' (2012–2014) and Verity Lambert in the television film '' An Adventure in ...

as Alison Laithwaite * Ouidad Elma as Yusra Saeed *

Chris Reilly Christopher Francis Reilly (born in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish actor. Career Chris Reilly began acting in 2009 age 31, and studied at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with a Screen Academy Wales Bursary. Most Recent Work: *"Wrath of ...

as Sergeant Alex Baxter *

Tom Glynn-Carney Tom Glynn-Carney (born 7 February 1995) is an English actor and singer. He has appeared in Christopher Nolan's war film ''Dunkirk'' (2017), '' Tolkien'', '' The King'', and '' Rialto'' (2019), and as King Aegon II Targaryen in ''House of the ...

as Lance Corporal Tony Armstrong *

Louis Greatorex Louis Greatorex (born 30 December 1996) is a British actor from Duffield, Derbyshire. His television credits include the BBC1 drama series ''Last Tango in Halifax'', in which he has played Lawrence Elliot since 2012. Life and career Greatorex i ...

as Lance Corporal Paul Stoneham *

Richard Dillane Richard Dillane (born 1964) is a British actor. He appears in a lead role of the Netflix series ''Young Wallander'', based on the character Kurt Wallander created by novelist Henning Mankell. He played British intelligence agent Peter Nicholls i ...

as Harvey Tillbrook *Kevin Sutton as Corporal Israel Orchover *

Essie Davis Esther Davis (born 19 January 1970) is an Australian actress and singer, best known for her roles as Phryne Fisher in ''Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries'' and its film adaptation, '' Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears'', and as Amelia Vanek in '' T ...

as Martha Franklin * Toby Woolf as George Markham *Aymen Hamdouchi as Kadir Hakim (Starfish) *

Joseph Kennedy Joseph Patrick Kennedy (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Ken ...

as Captain Nick Page

Episode list

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Last Post (Tv Series), The 2017 British television series debuts 2017 British television series endings 2010s British drama television series 2010s British television miniseries BBC television dramas English-language television shows British military television series Television series set in the 1960s Television shows filmed in South Africa Television shows set in Yemen