Keith Ford:

I always thought Keith was a cool character. As the SHADO communications chief he certainly had a lot of responsibility.

In “Identified”, Straker beats on him throughout the episode, starting with his “mistake” in using the wrong code for the message to Skydiver. As we all know with Ed, one oh sh*t erases ten atta boys!

Ford is portrayed in a very positive light in both “The Dalotek Affair” and “Close Up”, shown as an important member of the organization. He was not seen in the last eight episodes as was the same for Ellis, Freeman, and Harrington.

He held the rank of Lieutenant and I would assume that he would be a 1st Lieutenant. The series never specified 1st or 2nd Lieutenants just as they never differentiated between Colonel and Lt. Colonel. They did have Majors however. (Maj. Lou Graham in “Exposed and Maj. Joe Kelly in “Close Up”)

In my story “Expecting” Ford had been promoted to Captain, an event that takes place in my story “Lines of Communication” still under construction. He will be promoted to Major in “Distant Memories” for conduct above and beyond the call of duty.

In FanFiction he has been both down trodden as well as being portrayed as the hero (Collecting the Set and Last Post).

In my work I portray him as an intelligent hard working and loyal communications chief, and a family man, married with two children.
 

Keith to me was always a nonentity.  I do with him pretty much whatever the story calls for. 

In Wild Kingdom he has a really bad day!  And ends up eaten by a tiger! 

I gave him a love interest in my Conover Saga, but regretted it when he refused to propose to the girl!  I ended up having to do it 'off-screen' as it were. 

He had more fun in the Devilsgate Saga, where he was friends with the new commander and got promoted finally to Colonel.  :

But in all honesty, although he's an essential part of SHADO HQ, we know very little about him.  So he's available for our muse to kick him around as needed.  Sort of like Straker does! 

Have you considered that he might be a widower?

Claire Ford was pregnant when she was abducted...

Nasty aliens, pickin' on pregnant ladies ... grrrr.

who persuaded who?

Hmmm, I'm not sure that I'll delete his wife, but you are giving me ideas to fit into the current work ... Given Ford's background (somewhere I got investigative reporter ... it think it was the one where they revealed he hosted a paranormal show. Many shows of that sort are short on budget and the host is also the investigator ... well, in the US, anyway <G> I always presumed he figurted out something and SHADO decided he was worth hiring ... as a reporter, he probably knew about gadgets, cameras, electronic feeds, the sort of stuff Edison Carter would know ... LOL because he would have been operating on a shoestring instead of a big budget)

I've linked that to what's happening in the skulls universe, I think I may be able to link to the story I'm working on most now. I like Keith because he's the repository of odd information <g> even if he can't keep the codes straight. I'm thinking he hadn't been with SHADO long when that happened and therefore didn't get more than verbally chastised for the error. It always seemed that Straker saw him as more important than he came across. But then, Straker thought Paul was a good idea ... and Paul somehow has always come across as a jerk where Keith is concerned.

I seem to read a lot into things ... LOL. Always lookin' for a subtext. 

Thank you all for insights into the character.

Somebody wanna pick the next one to pry apart?

d