Bugs (1995 - 1999)

Country of Origin: UK
Date(s) of Broadcast: 1 April 1995 - 28 August 1999
Number of Seasons: 4
Total Number of Episodes:
Average Episode Running Times: 50 mins
Format: colour
Sound:

Nick Beckett is an employee of the top secret Government intelligence agency known as The Hive. When he uncovers a conspiracy by his bosses, he is fired and hooks up with Gizmos, a team of freelance investigators who specialise in solving high-tech crimes.

What began as a rather silly hi-tech adventure series in which a Mission Impossible style operation employ all the latest hardware to investigate seemingly unsolvable cases, inexplicably found an eager audience and was given the chance to improve immeasurably by its third season. In a world etched in moral blacks and whites, with no ambiguity or room for philosophical debate, Bugs rattled through increasingly improbable capers with plenty of explosions, poorly written scripts and bad acting. Conceived by Brian Clemens, it was no wonder that Bugs looked suspciously like a cyberpunk remix of The Avengers, but without the wry, self-mocking humour. Indeed Bugs often took itself terribly seriously with stories that were, to begin with, frankly rather laughable. The premise revolves around a triumverate of special agents who, initially working freelance and armed to the teeth with all manner of gadgets and hi-tech toys, tackle increasingly outlandish adventures. Lightweight but, in its latter days, rather fun.

SEASON ONE (1995)
Out of the Hive (1 April 1995)
Assassins Inc (8 April 1995)
All Under Control (15 April 1995)
Down Among the Dead Men (22 April 1995)
Shotgun Wedding (29 April 1995)
Stealth (6 May 1995)
Manna From Heaven (20 May 1995)
Hot Metal (27 May 1995)
A Sporting Chance (3 June 1995)
Pulse (10 June 1995)

SEASON TWO (1996)
What Goes Up... (6 April 1996)
...Must Come Down (13th April 1996)
Bugged Wheat (20th April 1996)
Whirling Dervish (27th April 1996)
Blackout (4th May 1996)
Gold Rush (11th May 1996)
Shrodinger's Bomb (25th May 1996)
Newton's Run (1 June 1996)
The Bureau of Weapons
The Bureau of Weapons (8 June 1996)
A Cage for Satan (15 June 1996)

SEASON THREE (1997)
Blaze of Glory (19 July 1997)
The Revenge Effect (26 July 1997)
The Price of Peace (2 August 1997)
Hollow Man (9 August 1997)
Nuclear Family (16 August 1997)
Fugitive (23 August 1997)
Happy Ever After? (30 August 1997)
Buried Treasure (13 September 1997)
Identity Crisis (20 September 1997)
Renegades (27 September 1997)

SEASON FOUR (1998 - 1999)
Absent Friends (11 July 1998)
Sacrifice to Science (18 July 1998)
Girl Power (25 July 1998)
The Two Becketts (1 August 1998)
Hell and High Water (8 August 1998)
Pandora's Box (22 August 1998)
Jewel Control (29 August 1998)
Twin Geeks (14 August 1999)
Money Spiders (21 August 1999)
The Enemy Within (28 August 1999)

UK
Television Distributor: BBC

MAGAZINES

Cult TV no.7 p.4 (UK)
note

Thermal Lance no.25 pp.6-11 (UK)
illustrated review

technology, cyberpunk, conspiracies