''The Guardians'' is a television political thriller series of 13 60-minute episodes made by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

and broadcast in the UK on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

network (with the exception of

Ulster Television UTV (formerly Ulster Television, branded on air as ITV1) is the ITV region covering Northern Ireland, ITV subsidiary and the former on-air name of the free-to-air public broadcast television channel serving the area. It is run by ITV plc an ...

) between 10 July 1971 and 2 October 1971.

Synopsis

''The Guardians'' is a

dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

political thriller set in the 1980s. Following economic chaos, democratic government has been overthrown in a bloodless coup, the Royal Family fled into self-imposed exile and the United Kingdom is ruled autocratically by Prime Minister Sir Timothy Hobson. Hobson is initially a pawn of 'the General'; a military officer by the name of Roger, who later becomes the Minister of Defence. Hobson subscribes to an outwardly benevolent paternalistic fascism, based on the principle that "democracy is a form of group suicide." Political opposition is suppressed by a uniformed paramilitary force recruited from former policemen, soldiers and security guards and called ''"The Guardians of the Realm"'' (known for short as ''"The Guardians"'' or simply ''"The Gs"''). Each episode begins with a column of Guardians marching through central London to a memorable theme tune composed by

Wilfred Josephs Wilfred Josephs (24 July 1927 – 17 November 1997) was an English composer. Life Born in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, the fourth and youngest son of Russian and South Shields Jewish parents, Wilfred Josephs had his first musical studies in Ne ...

. The government, nominally headed by Hobson, is opposed by a fragmented resistance movement collectively named "Quarmby." The dominant group within Quarmby favours a strategy of provoking increased oppression by the state through the use of assassination and other forms of terrorism. The series avoided black and white scenarios by portraying moderate and extreme factions jostling within both government and resistance. Hobson represents the liberal element within government, attempting to outmanoeuvre the seldom-seen General and the polished Cabinet Secretary Norman.

Cast

Episode list

Northern Ireland

The

Independent Television Authority The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" (ITV (TV network), ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ITA exi ...

decided that the series was unsuitable to be broadcast in Northern Ireland due to

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

activity there because of its political content such as depictions of terrorist activity from the terrorist's point of view.

DVD release

''The Guardians'' was released on DVD in the UK on 1 February 2010 by Network.Network DVD - The Guardians
/ref> The full 13-part series was released as a 4-disc set.

References

External links

*
''The Guardians''
at Screen Online
National Science and Media Museum (Bradford)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guardians (British TV series), The 1971 British television series debuts 1971 British television series endings 1970s British drama television series 1970s British science fiction television series British science fiction television shows Dystopian television series English-language television shows ITV television dramas London Weekend Television shows Television series by ITV Studios Television series set in the 1980s Television series set in the future