JACK'S BACK!

Muscle-bound crime-fighter Reacher returns to face a formidable foe

- IAN MACEWAN

With his 6ft 3in frame and bulging biceps, TV tough guys don’t come more ripped than Jack Reacher. But as the former military police officer embarks on a third season of moody misadventures this week, is the hulking, taciturn drifter about to meet his match?

In episode one of the returning drama, Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is offered a job by businessman Zachary Beck (Anthony Michael Hall) after saving his son’s life. But overseeing security at Beck’s palatial home is 7ft 2in brute Paulie, who takes an immediate dislike to the new recruit.

‘Paulie is the most formidable opponent Reacher faces in Lee Child’s original books,’ reveals Ritchson, 42, whose character, inevitably, comes to blows with the bearded bodyguard.