Bugs

I absolutely adored this series as a 14 year old child and still do as a 38 year old. Even back in the day I saw it for its many many flaws but at the same time it is just pure entertainment at its best. My main draw for this series was the wonderful Jaye Griffiths whom I had seen as the formidable D.I. Johnson in the Bill (when it was good) and I went on to become a life long fan of hers. I liked enjoyed Craig McLaughlin as the original Ed (loathed the 2nd incarnation) but was never a fan of Jesse Birdsall.The shows quality dropped even too low for me in the final 2 series with the introduction of Alex and Jan but it will always always hold a special place in my heart. The theme tune alone still gives me chills of joy to this very day.

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.

When I first started watching bugs when I was about 9, I through it was one of the best programs around. However as I got older the shows cracks started to show, the sometimes rather poor special effects and general things that did not make sense.

However, when Bugs was at its best it really did quite well, for example the "Cyberax" storyline really captured my imagination and when they did get round to doing the Special effects right, they did them well. I still enjoy watching the show on DVD and to me, it still has not lost its charm despite the noticeable errors.

It is my opinion that the show should be remembered well because of how fun it was. Bugs may not have lived up completely to the standards of cool gadgets and supper villains of James Bond or the Avengers, but it still packed some very interesting characters and organisations, i.e. "Jean Daniel" and "The Hive".

P.S Why did Craig McLachlan leave the show after series three???

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.

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.