The Guardians

The Guardians tells the story of an ununitedd kingdom under fascist-populist rule. What so long didn't seem possible now looks all to much possibleith the rise of te populist politicians and a split country. Great drama, you have to see it

The brief introduction states that England is ruled by a fascist military force called The Guardians. In fact the political setup is rather more nuanced. The elderly Prime Minister Sir Timothy Hobson (Cyril Luckham) is pious, ponderous and paternalistic, more Malcolm Muggeridge than Mussolini. He has some authority but is beholden to a mysterious general whose opinions are conveyed by a go-between, the hard and ruthless Secretary to the Cabinet Dennis Norman (Derek Smith).

The first few episodes concern Government tensions and power struggles and are very good. The most thoughtful one is the second, dominated by a lengthy argument in a gentleman's club between Sir Timothy and a liberal minded old chum. Sadly it then appears to have run out of political ideas, the focus switching to less important and generally uninteresting characters. Sir Timothy fails to appear in four episodes, some of them little more than soap opera. The ending is dramatic, although far fetched.

Other reviewers have drawn parallels with various British governments so I'll feel free to add my tuppence worth. The only recent experience of authoritarian rule in Britain was during the pandemic and the imposition of draconian and often absurd decrees, and where Government was largely sub contracted to a group of medical panjandrums. In Parliament the only significant opposition came from a few liberty lovers on the Right of the Conservative Party.

I welcome the release, at last, of the series on DVD in February of 2010. When I first saw it on ITV in 1971 it struck me as a continuation of the tradition that included such as the novel and film 1984 and, albeit in a lighter vein, the later series House of Cards.

It paints a desolate picture of Britain at some point in an unspecified near future where dystopia is the new civilization, and resistance to it is apparently futile. Although I recall that the grim image looked unlikely to be resolved into a happy ending, I missed the final few episodes. So, like me, you will have to watch it to find out. Another good reason for buying the DVD set when it is released in Feb 2010.

Sadly, drama created in the USA seems incapable of reaching sufficiently deep to create such a powerful description of desperation and squalid futility.

Finally, comments prior to this one.... draw parallels between this work and the Labour Party's "unofficial' manifesto, whatever that might be. The suggestion of such a connection is partisan and ill-founded.

The series was aired in 1971, at which time Edward Heath was Prime Minister - leading the Conservative Party in its majority government.

No political party these days seems immune from allegations of manipulation and control that this series portrays.

It's likely that the public perception of politics is jaundiced, not only by Watergate, Iran-Contra, Patriot Act, and so on and so forth, but also by exposure to fictional drama such as this one.

In that, also, it is powerful.