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Bodyguards

1997

Seasons & Episodes

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EP1 Bodyguards May 01, 1997

An attack upon a VIP makes Commander MacIntyre suggest a close-protection unit, and he is promptly asked to head it. Among the new recruits is Ian Worrell, a former pilot and police officer. The hard training almost breaks Ian, but he shows some talent, and at a big conference, his first duty shift takes place. But when the conference starts, experienced bodyguard Liz Shaw discovers a plot to kill her protectee. When Ian tries to help, things become really complicated.

EP2 A Choice of Evils May 08, 1997

New bodyguard Ian is paired with professional Liz again, as the anniversary of war veterans comes up. Soon after, Ian's wife and daughter are taken hostages, and Ian is blackmailed to allow the killing of one of the veterans to take place. But when Liz finds out about the situation, her duty seems clear.

EP3 Out of the Mouths of Babes May 15, 1997

A young boy witnesses the killing of a priest, and is therefore placed under protection by Liz and Ian. But threats against the family, including the kidnapping of the boy's little brother, forces Liz and Ian to take the boy to a safe house. However, security is breached, and the killers attacks the safe house.

EP4 Know Thine Enemy May 22, 1997

During the visit of a high profile US citizen, Liz finds her competence questioned by the American bodyguards, and the whole unit becomes under scrutiny when security in the garage is compromised. But they have larger problems - a protester who has been making threats against the VIP, and someone else, with diplomatic contacts.

EP5 Target May 29, 1997

A British businessman is on the hitlist of some European hitmen, and Liz and Ian are assigned to protect him while he's in the UK. But when Liz and Ian leave the safe house for the night watch, the house is attacked, and only a coincidence prevented the businessman from being killed. It seems that whoever was behind the attack, had information from the inside.

EP6 Stand Off Jun 05, 1997

Commander MacIntyre isn't particularly pleased when his old mentor, who defected to Russia several years ago, wants to come back to the UK to visit his daughter's grave. But his duty is clear. The problem is that the bodyguard unit soon finds evidence of a mole somewhere inside her Majesty's secret service, someone who desperately wants the defector dead.

EP7 The Killing Ground Jun 05, 1997

Liz and Ian are assigned to protect a Salman Rushdie-like writer who is hated by fundamentalist Muslems. But the first attack comes before they have even got to the safe place in the highlands, still in their car, on top of a bridge. They jump from the bridge and flee into the woods, but the writer is badly hurt in the fall, and the fundamentalists are not far behind them.
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Synopsis

Bodyguards is a British television series that focuses on the cases of a specialized bodyguard unit called the Close Protection Group in service of the UK government. The lead cast members were Sean Pertwee as Ian Worrell and Louise Lombard as Liz Shaw. Sean Pertwee's Father, Jon Pertwee, also starred next to a character called Liz Shaw in one of the television shows he is best known for - Dr. Elizabeth Shaw was his first companion when he played the Third Doctor in Doctor Who. A pilot episode, featuring Josette Simon as a visiting dignitary, was broadcast in 1996. One series of six episodes followed, in 1997.

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Reviews

Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!
Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
mufdivtwo I watched 2 and a half episodes last night from a video tape I got many years ago. if I'm honest I found them rather predictable. because it is based around people who protect politicians and the like, therefore the scriptwriters do what I consider as "predictable" i.e. they invent a plot that inevitably leads to a politician being the target of a hit-man. but because the script writers know that to simply write a script which ends with a politician being shot, would be boring. so they decide to invent a plot which involves the bodyguard and his wife and young daughter, being held captive by a foreign couple who then attempt to manipulate the bodyguard by saying that unless he cooperates and leads the politician into a situation where he can be shot, the bodyguard's wife and daughter will be shot. the body guard then "predictably" feels stressed but decides to cooperate. there after things become even more predictable i.e. "the commander" decides that they should try to find and if necessary kill the hit man before he can kill the politician. that was obviously designed to create a feeling of "tension" but in my opinion it doesn't work and by this point it is difficult to take it seriously. anyway the plot ends with the wife of the bodyguard being shot. and before the episode ends we get to see the bodyguard "going through the motions" but again its too predictable and just lacks "realism" and feels rushed because don't forget that each episode lasts for 60 minutes, therefore everything feels rushed. it doesn't work in my opinion. this was a good opportunity to set a new standard because up till 1996 most British "cop shows" didn't focus on bodyguards who protect members of state. and so when "bodyguards" was created it was fresh and new. but the plot, script, and directing let down what could and should have been a good series. therefore its not surprising it only ran from 1996 to 1997.
Jack Yan It's very easy to figure out why The New Professionals was a dud, at least in New Zealand: it didn't just follow in the footsteps of the original, it followed Bodyguards, which out-Professionaled the show considerably with its boss-and-two-agents formula. Cmdr McIntyre was a latter-day George Cowley: tough on his team, but one who would defend them to the death against others. The shadow the show cast was huge.Well, not as huge as it should have been in the UK. Here, it was networked in prime-time. It was even marketed in the promos as, 'They are the professionals.' Someone else obviously noticed the difference. We were fortunate enough not to have this show released in different regions at different time slots.It was the high production values that sealed the deal for me. As other reviewers have noted, it followed the great British tradition of the one-hour actioner, but blended in personal elements at the same time. There's a slight undercurrent of something developing between Liz and Ian, though that never distracted one from the real plot. Most episodes were based around inflammatory diplomatic incidents, the sort of thing that helps Spooks along from time to time.Unlike many 2000s shows, the plot was not sacrificed at the expense of fancy-pants photography or over-stylish direction. Directors like Christopher Young kept the pace up and did their job. They made use of good locations, making Bodyguards slicker than if it had been shot on back roads and alleyways. It was contemporary, it would still stand up beautifully today, and it was one of the better examples of the British actioner in the 1990s, showing that the UK can still do them better than anyone else.Maybe except for the Germans and their Cobra 11.
Nick Miskin Without doubt a great all round show that if shown today would attract a huge following.Bodyguards was only 6 episodes and a trailer,but deserved a few more series to really bring it up-to speed.With outstanding performances from the highly talented and versatile Sean Pertwee and the dynamic Louise Lombard,it really did put it up with the likes of the Proffesionals,The Sweeney and Thief Takers.The story lines are based on the Diplomatic Protection Services and with great filming and story lines and scene locations,it stood out from some of the junk that gets churned by other TV production companies.I do not think that it has been shown on terrestrial TV either,such as Sky or Freeview,witch is a shame as if it were to be shown nowadays,i am sure it would get a large viewing audience.So i hope one day the guys at Carlton TV decide to release it on DVD,cheers,Nick.
Steve Gough This short-lived quality action drama series deserved a better fate, but sadly suffered for being either 10 years too early or 15 years too late. Its heritage is the classic UK commercial TV action shows of the 1970s and early 1980s, like the Avengers or the Professionals, cross-bred with the classic espionage world of Deighton and le Carre and updated for the touchy-feely mid-1990s. The result was a show with gun-toting super-cops tumbling away from exploding cars, who still worried about missing their daughter's birthday, while thin-lipped middle-aged men made tough decisions, compromised their principles, and regretted necessary betrayals. Too late to surf the original wave of home-grown action classics and over before it could enjoy the current curious renewed popularity of the slick spy caper, it's my sad duty to report Bodyguards was a better show than many of them. It might suffer now because it relies quite heavily on the tensions and narrative conventions of cold war spy fiction, but somewhere there's a pilot movie and six 50 minute episodes of a more intelligent than average TV show which deserves a DVD release.