The Fixer (TV series)

The Fixer
The Fixer intertitle
Genre	Drama
Created by	Ben Richards
Starring	Andrew Buchan Tamzin Outhwaite Jody Latham Liz White Peter Mullan
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	12 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	45 min.
Production company(s)	Kudos Film and Television
Release
Original network	ITV, STV, UTV
Original release	10 March 2008 – 6 October 2009
External links
Website

The Fixer is a British drama television series, produced by Kudos for ITV. Set in modern Britain, it follows the life of John Mercer, an ex-British Special Forces soldier, arrested by police for killing his aunt and uncle following his discovery of their abuse of his sister, Jess Mercer. John Mercer is released early from prison to serve in a covert state security squad as a government-backed assassin responsible for eliminating criminals and renegade police officers that the law cannot apprehend.

Main cast

• Andrew Buchan as John Mercer
• Peter Mullan as Lenny Douglas
• Tamzin Outhwaite as Rose Chamberlain
• Jody Latham as Calum McKenzie
• Elisa Terren as Manuela
• Liz White as Jess Mercer (Series One only)
• Elliot Cowan as Matthew Symmonds (Series Two only)

Episodes

Filming locations

In Episode 1 of series 1, the production team visited Kent briefly in 2007 to shoot scenes at Botany Bay in Thanet.^[1]

Reception

The first episode received an audience of 6.65 million viewers, a 26.5% share, and episode two dropped 1.4m viewers, drawing 5.23 million, a 21.3% share of the audience. The next three episodes managed ratings of 4.75 million, 4.81 million and 4.80 million respectively. The last episode of the first series only managed 3.84 million (13.3% share), due to the episode competing against the start of a new run of Waking the Dead on BBC One which achieved double the share of that time slot.

Series One of The Fixer received a Royal Television Society award for Best Series.^[2]

Due to the critical acclaim and good ratings that the first series received, a second series was commissioned, which launched to 4.22 million viewers in September 2009.^[3] Series Two had disappointing ratings, dropping to as low as 2.82 million viewers by the season's end, and the show wasn't renewed for a third series.

Ratings

Series One Date Episode Viewers (millions)[4] 10 March 2008 1 6.65 17 March 2008 2 5.23 24 March 2008 3 4.75 31 March 2008 4 4.81 7 April 2008 5 4.80 14 April 2008 6 3.84

Series Two Date Episode Viewers (millions)[4] 1 September 2009 1 4.22 8 September 2009 2 3.88 15 September 2009 3 3.39 22 September 2009 4 3.31 29 September 2009 5 3.21 6 October 2009 6 2.82

DVD releases

Series One was released on DVD in the UK on 21 April 2008.^[5][6] It contains all six episodes and a behind-the-scenes documentary. Series Two was released on 12 October 2009.^[7]

References

1. Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office The Fixer Film Focus".
2. "Homepage - National Film and Television School". nftsfilm-tv.ac.uk.
3. "Lisa's BB eviction seen by 2.5 million". Digital Spy.
4. "Most Viewed". Broadcast Audience Research Board.
5. "Fixer, The - Season One (2008)". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
6. "Amazon UK's Official The Fixer DVD Page". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
7. "The Fixer - Series 2 [DVD]". amazon.co.uk.

External links

• The Fixer at itv.com
• The Fixer at the Internet Movie Database