Bugs

Bugs was way ahead of its time. When it hit the screens in 1995 on the BBC, nobody had seen anything quite like it. Quirky characters and multitudes of gizmos, gadgets, weaponry, bombs, explosions and not to mention baddies! The show pivoted around its three main characters, Ros, Ed and Beckett, the gadget making one, the daredevil and the team leader. Together they stormed their way through devious plots and baddies, all trying (unsuccessfully) to kill them. The highest point of Bugs for me has always been series two (the plots with the vengeful criminal mastermind Jean-Daniel, thrown in prison by the Bugs team at the end of series one), and, of course, most people's favourite, the end of series 3 'Renegades', when the will they-won't they storyline between Ros and Becket, which had been hinted at since series 2, was finally resolved. Unfortunately, when Craig McLachlan decided not to rejoin the cast for series four, the makers of Bugs sought a replacement and found one in Steven Houghton...well, I suppose there were some similarities...they both had blonde hair. Any others? Uh...no. Steven Houghton was so far off the mark with his portrayal of a once fantastic character that viewers who loved the show turned it off (and the BBC made the unforgivable decision of airing it at 6pm), and so, when series four came to a close with a whopper of a cliffhanger (intending to carry on with the show and not leave it hanging with such an ungraceful ending), suddenly, it was decided to leave the series as it was...and so, the story will never be finished. People might be interested to learn that Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films) appears (albeit briefly) in a series four episode.

The first series, apart from the epsiode "Assasins Inc." I thought was very good. For the first time in many years the BBC had applied a proper budget to a drama programme and added an element of SF/fantasy. Brian Celmins (who helped devise The Avengers) was a story consultant and the whole thing worked well.

After that things tended to go downhill, with the scripts getting less believable even though today, some years on, the idea of a computer virus attempting to take over the world through the internet isn't quite as far-fetched as we thought!

There were some entertaining episodes in later years but the ratings dropped from an excellent 9-10 million in the first series to more like 6 million I believe, and the BBC pulled the plug after four series.

I used to be a devotee of this show; every Saturday night without fail was spent watching BBC 1's finest Saturday night show (admittedly there wasn't much competition). I loved it; the bangs, the fires, the fights, the hi-tec gadgetry.

And then I stopped.

What happened?

Steve Houghton. There is NO WAY he should ever have been brought into the show; Craig McLachlan was infinitely better as Ed, bringing some humour into the role and convincing viewers that he was a vaulable member of the team. Steve seems to convey the impression of being there just to make up the numbers. Sorry Steve fans out there, but he just isn't right for this show, and it was highly unsurprising that the show was axed. And a shame too, because it was once a great show.

I revisted Bugs by accident.

I had been discussing old TV shows with a friend when Bugs sprung to mind. I couldn't recall much about it but i remember i enjoyed the theme music when i watched it as a kid so i used a popular Internet video-based site to look up the theme. In doing this i found all 4 series available to watch so began binging.

In the beginning, it looked modern with its use of shooting locations, most notably the (then) recently redeveloped London Docklands.

Unfortunately the stories seem a bit far fetched and the action falls short in places as its clearly trying to keep up more edgy US shows and movies.

It shows its age today but i have thoroughly enjoyed the rewatch. I watch it alone as it can be very cheesey and cringy at times and anyone sitting with you would be well justified in asking, "why on Earth are you watching this?"

But it had good intentions and clearly the budget to back it up with decent FX, ever changing musical score and some set designs that put some other shows to shame.

If you're in the mood for a cheesey, 90s looking, not quite polished in the writing department show, then definitely give Bugs a watch.

the premise of this series is very good and the original cast of Jaye Griffiths,Jesse Birdsall and Craig Mclachlan are charismatic. The show has a very distinctive look and yet somehow the episodes are tepid and uninvolving.It is not just the reliance on technobabble or the poorly-staged action and stunts.The series is simply less than the sum of its parts.The problem was compounded in later years as changes to the format meant that the number of recurring characters was almost doubled and the already thin plotlines were spread pretty thinly between them. The final straw came when Craig Mclachlan left and was replaced by Steven Houghton as the same character.He was simply a dull wet piece of wood and enjoyed none of the rapport with his colleagues which had come naturally to his predecessor. The audience turned away in droves and the BBC stopped transmitting halfway through the series.