Harry's Game

Harry's Game (1982)

Nice, but where's the trigger? This article or section is incomplete. You can help IMFDB by expanding it.

Harry's Game is a three-part British TV mini-series that ran on ITV in 1982. It stars Ray Lonnen as the titular character, Captain Harry Brown, a special operator sent to Belfast, Northern Ireland to hunt down a Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) assassin named Billy Downes (Derek Thompson) responsible for killing a British cabinet minister. The series is probably best known today for its theme song, sung by Clannad (which was later re-used in the film Patriot Games).

The following weapons were used in the television series Harry's Game:

Type 56-1

A Type 56-1 is used by the PIRA assassin Billy Downes (Derek Thompson) when he kills a British cabinet minister outside his home in London. The weapon's folding stock makes it easy for him to conceal it beneath his raincoat while he is waiting for his target to appear. After completing his mission and evading capture, Downes ditches the Type 56 in a bathroom stall at a train station before boarding a bus to Heathrow Airport.

(It should be pointed out that while the PIRA did use AKs in real life, they were mostly Romanian and East German versions supplied to them by Libya and the Soviet Union, not Chinese versions.)

Type 56-1 - 7.62x39mm

Billy Downes (Derek Thompson) aims his Type 56-1 assault rifle in a publicity still (this photo was used to create the DVD cover above).

Downes loading a magazine into his rifle after sighting his target.

Downes' finger on the trigger of his Type 56-1 (this image is also seen in the music video for Clannad's song "Theme From Harry's Game").

ArmaLite AR-18

Another weapon which the IRA assassin Billy Downes (Derek Thompson) uses throughout the miniseries is the ArmaLite AR-18 (it is likely that this is the British-made Sterling version, since the series was filmed in England). In real life, the AR-18 was a favorite weapon of the Provisional IRA in the 1970s and 1980s due to its light weight, reliability, and folding stock - Downes takes advantage of the latter characteristic by concealing his AR-18 beneath his winter jacket. He uses the weapon on several missions - first to kill a British soldier patrolling the Falls Road in Belfast, and later to hold the wife of a Royal Ulster Constabulary officer hostage in her own home.

ArmaLite AR-18 - 5.56x45mm

Billy Downes aims his ArmaLite AR-18 at a British soldier from the attic of a building.

Downes points his AR-18 at a Protestant family he is holding hostage.

Another view of Downes with his AR-18 during the hostage-taking mission.

Smith & Wesson Mk II Hand Ejector

It appears that Capt. Harry Brown (Ray Lonnen) uses a Smith & Wesson Mk II Hand Ejector in .455 Ely at one point in the story.

S&W Mk II Hand Ejector - .455 Ely