''Bodyguards'' is a British

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

series, broadcast on ITV, that focuses on the cases of a specialized

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects an very important person, important person or group of people, such as high-ranking public offic ...

unit, the ''Close Protection Group'', in service of the British government. The series starred

Louise Lombard Louise Lombard (born Louise Marie Perkins; 13 September 1970) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Evangeline Eliott in the BBC drama series ''The House of Eliott'' (1991–94), Sofia Curtis in the CBS drama series '' CSI: Cri ...

and

Sean Pertwee Sean Carl Roland Pertwee (born 4 June 1964) is an English actor, narrator and producer. His credits include ''Chancer'' (1990), '' Leon the Pig Farmer'' (1992), '' Cadfael'' (1994), ''Bodyguards'' (1997), ''Event Horizon'' (1997), '' Stiff Upp ...

as protagonists Ian Worrell and Liz Shaw. The series was the brainchild of

Jeffrey Caine Jeffrey Caine (born 1944) is a British screenwriter. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2005 for '' The Constant Gardener''. He was educated at the University of Sussex and the University of Leeds The Uni ...

, known as the creator of '' The Chief'' and script editor of the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

movie ''

GoldenEye ''GoldenEye'' is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent James Bond (lit ...

''. A total of seven episodes were broadcast: a feature-length pilot which aired in 1996, which guest starred

Josette Simon Josette Patricia Simon, OBE (born 1959 or 1960) is a British actor who played the part of Dayna Mellanby in the third and fourth series of the television sci-fi series ''Blake's 7'' from 1980 to 1981. She trained at the Central School of Spee ...

as a visiting dignitary, followed by a single series of six episodes in 1997. The series has never been released on VHS or DVD, but was uploaded in full to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

in March 2016 by a member of the original production crew. The series was also broadcast by GBC TV (

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

) as part of its relaunch in early 1999. The series aired on Monday evenings at 9:30pm, and the series received a full repeat run later on in the year.

Cast

as Liz Shaw *

as Ian Worrell *

John Shrapnel John Morley Shrapnel (27 April 1942 – 14 February 2020) was an English actor. He is known mainly for his stage work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in the United Kingdom and for his many television appearances. On ...

as Commander Alan MacIntyre *

Pip Torrens Philip D'Oyly TorrensThe Cambridge University List of Members up to 31 July 1998, University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 793 (born 2 June 1960) is an English actor. Torrens portrayed courtier Tommy Lascelles in the Netfl ...

as Robert Ferguson *

Geoffrey Beevers Geoffrey Beevers (born 9 January 1941) is a British actor who has appeared in many stage and screen roles. Early life and education Only son of D. Beevers, Geoffrey Beevers was educated at Tonbridge School and Wadham College, Oxford, where he ...

as DAC James Henty * Robert Horwell as DC Fitton

Episodes

Pilot (1996)

Series 1 (1997)

Critical reception

Thomas Sutcliffe of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' said of the series; "When you start this job, you never think you're going to get bored," said one of the lumpy-jacketed characters in ''Bodyguards''. It was a remark that might have been designed to extract a moan of sympathy from television reviewers, coming, as it did, halfway through this dim and derivative thriller, one of those professionals-with-guns series that give a distinguished theatrical actor the opportunity to look steely and say "shit". In this case, the man in question is

, taking the role of the sternly parental head of a police protection unit. His charges are played by

and

, as well as disposable cannon-fodder who can be dispatched relatively early in the story to demonstrate that theirs is not just a nine-to-five job. In last night's episode, they were assigned to protect a businessman, back in England to give evidence before a select committee about a dodgy arms deal. Cue tough jargon ("Red One. Position set. Principal landed. 11.04") and a pretty standard plot involving conspiracy in high places."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodyguards (Tv Series) 1996 British television series debuts 1997 British television series endings 1990s British drama television series Carlton Television British English-language television shows ITV television dramas Television series by ITV Studios Television shows set in London Works about bodyguards