The Royal Bodyguard

The guys behind this dog's dinner also created The Worst Week of my Life, which was absolutely brilliant. Well written, well acted and very, very funny.

How then is it possible for them to come up with this absolute mess? The Royal Bodyguard is so bad that it defies description. Remembering David Jason's excellent performances in Open all Hours, The Darling Buds of May, Only Fools and Horses and A Touch of Frost, just to name a few, this is totally inexplicable. Why did he say yes to this? He must have made a quid or two over the years, enough to be able to turn down such a stinker.

Avoid this like the plague!

I sat through two episodes of this as I though maybe I was being unfair by loathing it after just ten minutes, but I wasn't. And I also think I am being generous giving it one star as this is beyond awful it has got to be the worst thing I have ever seen passed off as comedy in all my 50 plus years. It's dreadfully trite, screamingly unfunny and so badly written it's embarrassing. How on earth David Jason was persuaded to put his name and prodigious comedy acting talent to this heap of nonsense is beyond me. If anyone from the BBC is reading this, get it off and don't make any more please. And if you are planning to watch it for the first time, don't bother, visit your dentist or clean the drains instead, it'll be more fun.

Watching David Jason on The One Show recently, he was congratulated on his ability to spot a great script; one that produced a character the British public would take to their hearts such as Del Boy, Granville, Pop Larkin, Frost and the like. When asked if The Royal Bodyguard would follow suit he seemed almost embarrassed and gave a rather mumbling response inferring that he hoped so.

Clearly he knew what has become clear to all after just two episodes. This is quite possibly the lamest, least funny, most predictable and generally cringe-worthy "comedy" i have ever had the misfortune to suffer. The first episode was dire. More out of curiosity than anything else we gave the second episode a viewing; if anything it was even worse than the first. The thought of another four episodes is sheer purgatory and they will be avoided at all costs.

It is so very sad that one of our most cherished and respected actors in the fields of both comedy and drama finds himself as the central figure in such banal rubbish. I sincerely hope that he finds another, more suitable vehicle to banish all memories of The Royal Bodyguard to the scrapheap...............and soon. It would be a terrible shame for this shambles to to be remembered as his final offering.

The oft repeated Fools and Horses episodes never looked so good. Mind you, On The Buses looks good compared to this tripe!

Guy Hubble saves the Queen from a runaway carriage, a faux Pas of his own making, promoted to Royal Bodyguard, he's less than competent.

When this first aired, I switched it off after ten minutes or so, having a weekend in bed unwell, I figured it was time to give it another try, and form a balanced opinion.

I can spot a comedy from Bussell and Sbresni a mile off, sometimes they nail it, sometimes they get it horribly wrong, this sadly is the latter.

I watched every episode, and must confess my laughter equipment had less than half a workout, painfully unfunny jokes, some wooden acting, and poor Sir David Jason looking like he was set adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in just a rowing boat.

Positives, Geoffrey Whitehead, he's the one shining light, when he's given half decent lines, he delivers with his usual brand of caustic, sarcastic wit. I have to admit to rather enjoying the fifth episode, where Guy goes undercover at Number ten, totally over the top and silly, but it broke the mould of every other formulaic episode, and Jason seemed to have fun as Sandra.

It's unsurprising that it was axed after just a single series, it really didn't work, I am surprised it made it to BBC 1.

4/10.

Big mistake. Woefully unfunny. Absolutely no story. David Jason trying to be a cross between Johnny English and (I suspect) Inspector Clouseau and failing dismally. Came across as a very embarrassing old man, wearing an awful hairpiece, and trying to re-live his youth. In his younger days Jason starred in a God awful LWT series called "The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs". This is a pale imitation of that show. How can such a fine comic/character actor get roped into something like this. I am a great fan of David Jason, his fabulous performances of Grenville, Del Boy, Blanco and Jack Frost made me forget some of his earlier stinkers. I am afraid that this has reminded me of the struggle he had in getting through what a comic talent he was/is. Give up on this one David. "Go on my son, you know it makes sense"