Episode #1

Debut date: FRIDAY, OCT. 25 (10:00-10:50 p.m. ET/PT)

Other CINEMAX playdates: Oct. 25 (11:00 p.m.), 26 (9:10 p.m., 12:15 a.m.), 27 (noon, 11:00 p.m.), 28 (noon, 11:45 p.m.), 29 (12:10 p.m., 12:30 a.m.), 30 (8:00 p.m.) and 31 (9:00 p.m.)

British Special Forces attempt a risky rescue mission in Iraq on the eve of the 2003 invasion by allied forces. Led by SAS's John Porter (Richard Armitage) and joined by intelligence specialist Hugh Collinson (Andrew Lincoln), the team looks to rescue an executive of a British arms manufacturer who is being held by fundamentalists. While the mission is a success, several team members are killed. Porter is held responsible for their deaths due to a snap judgment call he made during the rescue.

Porter's career does not recover from the controversial mission. Now, in 2010, his personal life is also in shambles, and he has a strained relationship with his ex-wife and daughter.

After seeing the news that journalist Katie Dartmouth (Orla Brady) was kidnapped in Iraq, Porter realizes there is a connection to his 2003 operation. He seeks to join the rescue mission being run by the British government counterterrorism unit Section 20, which is headed up by Collinson. Although Collinson and his team members Thompson (Jodhi May) and Prendiville (Shelley Conn) have doubts, he assigns Porter to the mission.

In Iraq, things quickly go awry and Porter goes rogue to find the journalist, linking pieces of his previous mission to the new one.

Written by Jed Mercurio; directed by Daniel Percival.