''The Royal Bodyguard'' is a British television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

, written by Mark Bussell and Justin Sbresni, and starring

David Jason Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally by his stage name David Jason, is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the BBC sitcom '' Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector ...

Geoffrey Whitehead Geoffrey Whitehead (born 1 October 1939) is an English actor. He has appeared in a range of television, film and radio roles. In the theatre, he has played at Shakespeare's Globe, St Martin's Theatre and the Bristol Old Vic. Early life Whiteh ...

Timothy Bentinck Timothy Charles Robert Noel Bentinck, 12th Earl of Portland, Count Bentinck und Waldeck Limpurg, (born 1 June 1953), commonly known as Tim Bentinck, is an English actor and writer, known for his long-running role as David Archer in the BBC ...

and

Tim Downie Timothy Richard Downie (born 14 July 1977) is an English actor and writer. He is known for the television series '' Toast of London'', '' Outlander'' and ''Upstart Crow'', and the films '' Paddington'' and ''The King's Speech''. Downie was born i ...

. A series of six episodes began on 26 December 2011, concluding on 30 January 2012. The first episode picked up more than 8 million viewers but the series soon declined in ratings. The series was heavily criticised by viewers and critics.

Background

The series was written by Mark Bussell and Justin Sbresni following the success of their BBC sitcom '' The Worst Week of My Life''. The pair came up with the idea of a

Johnny English ''Johnny English'' is a 2003 spy comedy film directed by Peter Howitt and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and William Davies. It is a British-French venture produced by StudioCanal and Working Title Films, and distributed by Universal Pi ...

-type character who had to defend the royal family, but ended up doing so in a comic fashion. The pair immediately decided to make the programme family-orientated: at this stage, they did not envision Jason as the lead character. BBC comedy commissioner Cheryl Taylor lured Jason to the role, after initially offering him the job of executive producer. The series became the first for several years in which Jason had performed his own stunts. Filming on the series began in June 2011, and concluded in November. The first episode of the series was broadcast on 26 December 2011.

Critical reception

Just hours after its broadcast, the first episode was heavily criticised by fans of Jason and viewers alike. Jim Shelley wrote "''The Royal Bodyguard'' was, the BBC trumpeted, Sir David Jason's first Beeb comedy since ''

Only Fools & Horses ''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas ...

'' finished in 2002 – that was nine years ago. This fact alone should have alerted all involved to the fatal flaw at the heart of this debacle – namely that it was relying on the viewer's fondness for

Del Boy Derek Edward Trotter, more commonly known as Del Boy, is a fictional character from the BBC sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'' and one of the main characters of its spinoff series, '' Rock & Chips''. He was played by David Jason in the original s ...

. It was a classic example of blind faith in the production's star name. The prospect of seeing the 71-year-old star playing a former guardsman who had seen action in Northern Ireland and had now been appointed to the presumably prestigious position of royal bodyguard after saving

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

's life stretched this fondness to breaking point. After about two minutes. Never mind that the plot's entire premise was stupid – that he was the incompetent former head of security at Buckingham Palace car park. The standard of the comedy was excruciating. It was blatantly designed to cash in on the appeal of characters like

Inspector Clouseau Inspector Jacques Clouseau (), later granted the rank of Chief Inspector, is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' farcical '' The Pink Panther'' series. He is portrayed by Peter Sellers in the original series, and also by Alan Arkin in ...

and ''

''. But the idea that Jason could play a clown as well as

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

or Rowan Atkinson was the only funny thing about it."David Jason's The Royal Bodyguard slammed by fans – Mirror Online
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Characters

as Captain Guy Hubble – an ex-guardsman who has seen action in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, before becoming Head of Security at Buckingham Palace car park. He is appointed as Royal Bodyguard after saving the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's life in an apparent act of bravery on the day of the State Opening of Parliament. *

as Colonel Dennis Whittington – Whittington is Hubble's boss. The Colonel (frequently shown wearing an Intelligence Corps tie) quickly realises that Hubble is a weak link in the security service, but is unable to fire him because Hubble somehow manages to keep pleasing the Queen and appease Sir Edward Hastings. *

as Sir Edward Hastings – the top man in royal security. Colonel Whittington keeps approaching his boss with reports that Hubble is endangering royal security repeatedly and on a colossal scale, yet somehow Hubble comes out the other side of each disaster smelling of roses, meaning Sir Edward is unable to take any action. *

as Yates – young, efficient and dedicated Yates has been loyally serving in the Royal Household division for a number of years. He hoped to be promoted to the position of The Royal Bodyguard, but was pipped to the position by Hubble.

Episodes

DVD release

''The Royal Bodyguard'' was released on DVD on 12 November 2012.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Bodyguard, The 2011 British television series debuts 2012 British television series endings BBC high definition shows BBC television sitcoms Television series by Hat Trick Productions English-language television shows Television shows set in England