In the world of close protection the stakes are always high. On a good day, the bodyguard will get the bullet first. On a bad day, they will fail to live up to their motto "never survive the person you are protecting."
They mix in the glamorous world of powerful politicians, celebrities and even royalty, constantly assessing any threat, always ready for action.
Louise Lombard, Sean Pertwee and John Shrapnel are the stars of BODYGUARDS. Shrapnel plays Commander MacIntyre who is given the task of setting up the Close Protection Group, an organisation specifically tasked with protecting everyone from members of the Royal Family and foreign diplomats to key witnesses to crime.
Two of MacIntyre's first recruits to his CPG are Elizabeth Shaw (Louise Lombard), a former Special Branch close protection officer, and Ian Worrell (Sean Pertwee), an ex-fighter pilot turned CID officer.
Their first task is a baptism of fire - to provide security for a high level governmental conference by rival candidates for the presidency of an African country, who are under threat of assassination. The CPG's assignments include a Bosnian Serb diplomat, with a potentially murderous past, a 13-year old eye-witness to the vicious murder of a priest, a controversial American Senator, a prominent businessman due to give evidence in an arms enquiry, a cold war defector returning to Britain for the funeral of his granddaughter and an author whose allegedly blasphemous book against Islam has earned him a fatwa. Their work takes them from a council house in the East End of London, through the elegant residences and luxury hotels of the wealthy and powerful, to the wilds of the Scottish highlands.
This Carlton ITV production was created by Jeffrey Caine, who wrote the successful James Bond movie, Goldeneye, and is written by Caine, Julian Jones and Steve Griffiths. Technical consultants for the series were an SAS historian and Gulf veteran, as well as the person responsible for guarding Salman Rushdie, and Britain's No 1 woman protection officer whose charges have included Lady Thatcher and who passed on her knowledge to Louise Lombard in a one-on-one training session.
Supplied as a 2 DVD set, recorded from original broadcast onto VHS then to DVD, the quality compared to a retail DVD is 6/10, (watchable).
DISC ONE
Pilot Episode
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.
Episode 1 - A Choice Of Evils
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.
Episode 2 - Out of the Mouths of Babes
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.
Episode 3 - Know Thine Enemy
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.
DISC TWO
Episode 4 - Target
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.
Episode 5 - Stand Off
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.
Episode 6 - The Killing Ground
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.
