Major Robert Ross
Ross is a career military man. He feels he could run things in a much more effective way than Philip, if he were in charge of the colony and if this were treated more as a prison than the start of a community. His priority is his men; they have signed up for a certain amount of time and he will get them home alive. He resents the sharing of meagre resources between convicts and soldiers, whether it's food or women. He starts a relationship with Kitty, initially for sex, but he gradually falls in love with her, counter to everything he believes about convicts.
Joseph Millson on Major Ross
To him, these convicts are not human beingsJoseph Millson
"Major Ross takes pride in his job, he’s exceptionally good at it and his sense of duty is absolute. He is a very experienced major in the British marines, who’s clearly fought here, there and everywhere. Jimmy McGovern gave me the best advice about his character, which is that 90% of the people around him disgust him and the other 10% are his interiors. He’s able to do his job and maintain tight discipline because, to him, these convicts are not human beings, they’re rats. It’s like he’s in his gentlemen’s club – he’s totally relaxed. He’s so confident in his superiority, he’s got nothing to prove to anyone in the colony."
About Joseph Millson
Joseph Millson is an English actor and singer who has acted across television, film and thetre. Born in Berkshire, after he finished school he trained at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Sidcup, Kent.
Millson has starred in number of televison programmes which include those of Peak Practice, EastEnders, Holby City and Doctors. Hi film credits include the 2013 zombie horror film The Dead 2: India and I Give it a Year. Millson also starred in 2006 Bond film Casino Royale, the twenty-first film in the series opposite Daniel Craig to which he plays a MI6 agent who accompanies Bond to Madagascar.
In 2006 Millson starred in a production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing as Bendick for the RSC to which he gained much critical praise for from the British press.
