SWAT TEAM

The BUGS team are back with a bang for their second season

For ten weeks last year, Bugs burst onto our screens with a series of adventures the likes of which had never been seen before. Our heroes, Ed, Ros and Beckett are at the cutting edge of technology, using devices and facing problems that are only a step away from current experience. Here is a series that could truly be described as being set five minutes into the future. But it isn't just the technology that sets Bugs apart from the usual action-adventure fare. The whole style of the series is something that hasn't been seen on tv for years. In creating Bugs, producers Brian Eastman and Stuart Doughty steered clear of rounded characters, convoluted plots and social realism. Bugs is pared down to its most basic components: good guys, bad guys, and plenty of action. So different and refreshing was the series that it became a huge ratings-grab, and the BBC commissioned a second and third series. The second is now airing on Saturday nights on BBC1, and the third begins production in the autumn. Cult Times recently visited the set to talk to the producer and stars of the show. The production base for Bugs is a smattering of Portacabins bundled outside three London Dockland warehouses. These warehouses act as studios (today they house what the producer describes as the biggest set ever featured on Bugs; a particle accelerator), and the Portacabins are the offices. It was here, during the filming of the penultimate episode of the series, The Bureau of Weapons, that Stuart Doughty reminisced about the creation of Bugs. "Brian Eastman and I developed it at Carnival Films. Brian Clemens [famed for his work on The Avengers] was involved as well, as quite and early stage. From the very beginning the idea was from an electronic, high-tech series about three people - two men and a woman. Beckett, Ed and Ros were there from the very beginning, their names haven't changed and their characters have been much the same from the beginning too. Ros would be the expert in electronics and computing, and would also like fast cars; Beckett would have some kind of services or government employment background; and Ed was always the action man who climbed buildings. Surveillance and bugs and bugging were always part of the initial idea."

"We developed the idea, commissioned a script, showed it to the BBC and they liked it very much. They were looking for action-adventure material, they also realized that there was a gap in the market. Carnival also saw that gap. So, we developed it and the BBC really snapped it up very, very quickly indeed. They moved with remarkable and very commendable speed in commissioning the first series, and we went into production straight away."

If the Beeb's initial leap of faith in commissioning such a series, after a death of dearth of any such home-grown material for years, was surprising, then surely the fact that there is more Bugs to come must have been a shock? Stuart does not think so. "The programme was intended to be a popular, successful entertainment show and that is what it proved itself to be. It had very good rating, and it gave the BBC what they wanted. People liked it, and they thought, 'Yeah, let's have more of that.' Commissioning series is a very dicey area, you never know what's going to happen, but looking at the record of new drama series, very few have started out as successfully as Bugs did."

This success was down not only to the action and high-tech chicanery, but the three major characters. In the simple style of the series, the heroes' characters are pared down: there is none of the deep motivation or development that characterizes modern drama. Quite simply, Ros like computers and fast cars, Beckett is the expert at espionage, and Ed is the devil-may-care action man who isn't happy unless he's risked his life once a day - "twice on Sundays".

The first episode of Bugs, Out of the Hive, finds them all caught in the same web of intrigue. It was only a matter of time, fifty minutes to be exact, before the magic of television brought them together for a string of adventures. While this simplicity of character was carried through the whole of the first season, this year the producers intend to expand a little on the characters background. For example, in the second episode of the series, …Must Come Down, we learn that Beckett was once nearly married, and that the woman who was to be his wife resents him for breaking it off.

To take on the larger-than-life roles necessary to face such smooth villainy required some pretty fierce acting, and Bugs is blessed with three actors who slipped into such a larger-than-life series with ease. Jaye Griffiths, who plays Ros Henderson, was previously best known as DI Sally Johnson in The Bill. Jesse Birdsall, Nick Beckett, rose to infamy as the devious Marcus Tandy in the ill-fated BBC soap Eldorado. Fleshing out the threesome is Craig McLachlan as Ed. Craig had played Henry Ramsay in Neighbours, before coming t Britain to appear in the West End revival of Grease. These three actors were all recognizable faces and household names. Did they ever worry that joining a series with such an untested and unique format might turn out to be a mistake?

"No," states Jaye emphatically. "It wasn't like moving to another soap opera… not that The Bill was a soap opera. The risk was that this was an adventure, which is rare on television these days, but that's a good risk. That's not a negative thing. To be in something that you don't know the outcome of, you don't know whether anyone's going to watch it - that's exciting. I was, at the least, grateful of it."

Craig had a slightly different view: "I suppose every new thing is a risk, really. You get on the rollercoaster ride, and you worry about that later. I had always said to myself, if I was going to go back and do telly, I'd want to do something different, something that was unlike anything else. When they told me about Bugs, I thought, yeah, sounds cool. And here I am. It's funny, isn't it?" he muses. "I was never really too concerned… I thought that it would do OK, at the very worst. There was nothing like it on tv at the time. Bugs is kind of out there, let's face it. I must admit, I was delighted with how it rated. For me personally, I loved Sci-Fi , as such, there are enough elements in there that appeal to me. Beyond acting in it, it is the sort of thing that I'd watch." Craig recalls watching Lost in Space as a child and remembers wanting to be Will Robinson. With this in mind he regards his role in Bugs as "a dream come true".

Jesse was the only one to express anything approaching trepidation. "I think when I became involved in this project I was a little bit unsure about what I was walking into. I certainly wasn't aware of exactly what they were going for and I didn't quite picture it as it is. Now, it doesn't worry me at all. I mean, this is escapist tv, not to be taken too seriously, and I have tremendous fun doing it. I learnt a few things and I've enjoyed it very much." How did Jesse feel about coming from his role on Eldorado to the very different part of Beckett? "I never really thought of it as a risk: it's a completely different character to the one I played in Eldorado. That was a bad guy, and in this I'm playing a sort of hero. If anything, I saw it as the correct way to go, a positive move."

Bugs trademark is its scale: the huge plots, the characters painted with thick brush-strokes, the death-defying action. Every week, our heroes face impossible odds and ever more high technology. Do the actors ever come across something that makes them stop dead in disbelief?

"Only every day!" laughs Jaye. "Of course! We read it thinking, 'I'm not saying that, I'm sorry.' And you go, Stuart!"

Craig has an almost identical response: "Only every episode. I remember last year, one of the guest artist - who I won't name but he was quite and established actor - came up to me and said, 'Craig, you say this stuff with such utter conviction. How do you do it?' I said, 'You just say it.' Say like you believe it, and the rest will follow. Even though I'm guilty of saying certain things with a fair bit of tongue in cheek, I pick those moments; the rest of it you say like you believe it. Every script you get, you look at it and you go, 'Dream on!" But you can't think that way, because as soon as it creeps into your delivery, people stop believing in it. You know what it's like when you're watching great Sci-Fi. I could be the tackiest thing out, but when everyone's performing with such conviction, you're wrapped up in it."

Stuart Doughty makes an interesting point about Bugs's believability. "We sometimes come up with a story and think it's a bit farfetched, but think it sounds possible in theory. And the week before we go into production, we see something in the papers that is exactly out story." He gives the episode Newton's Run as an example. The Newton of the title is a dog with electronic implants (another in the telefantasy tradition of bionic dogs) who is designed to be able to help disabled people. Stuart goes on to point out how similar implants are now helping a paralysed woman to walk.

If Bugs occasionally brushes close to reality, it is certainly not intentional. The series' writers' guide forbids any character motivation or background. They are as far from the overwrought characters in the tv dramas of Linda LaPlante or Jimmy McGovern as you can get. Even for Sci-Fi, they are remarkably unformed characters. Jaye explains what it is like to play a role like this. "It's easy to play Chekov or Shakespeare because it's high definition, your parameters are clear. What's head is when you have this completely open playing field, and you must decided whether you've got a limp or your can only see out of one eye, or you like oranges instead of apples. It's exciting," she enthuses, "you define it as you go along."

"There are strict plot parameters." Jaye begins to make clear the level of detail that makes Bugs the unique series it is. "There's no paper on Bugs, there's no grass and no trees, no buses. This is set in a time zone and a place that could be anywhere. So should your character be, and yet they should be human and fallible. And be completely superhuman and perfect, on the other hand." Stuart interjects at this point: "I think acting in Bugs is much, much harder than anyone can imagine. It's something that most British actors are not trained to do." "It's very hard to talk rubbish convincingly," continues Jaye. "It's hard to say, 'If I don't do this, millions of people will die!' without appearing foolish or stupid. It can never seem ridiculous, never tongue in cheek." The physical nature of the series poses problems for the actors, too. When a character has to swim underwater while an oil depot explodes around them, or drive an HGV trailer through the foyer of a building, what do the actors do? Gareth Milne, Stunt Coordinator and Second Unit Director, explains his role in the programme: "We get a brief from the director, and I put my stunt hat on and work out how it can be achieved." He describes it plainly, but the job is an important one. In the studio that morning, the first scene to be filmed was an explosion in the particle accelerator control room. Jesse Birdsall was handcuffed to the set, and Beth Goddard, playing Cassandra, stood over him with a gun. From behind them, a 'woofer' - a device that blasts compressed air through a tube - was to fling a pile of polystyrene debris through the air. Along with the debris came a large piece of metal that shattered an expensive prop, just a few feet away from Jesse and Cassandra. It is this kind of potential danger that Gareth has to look out for. "We've had a 100% safety record on Bugs," he explains. "Nobody's had a scratch." He describes that morning's event as "the exception to the rule."

So, when it comes to stunts, does Gareth find many of the actors want to be personally involved? "A good proportion of the artists do their own stunts." He qualifies this by adding, "If there's anything I feel I need to double them for, then I always ask them first to see what they think. Craig does the majority of his own stunts, and I think that's important."

Craig agrees with this. "Doing stunts completes the whole experience; you feel like you are the character. As opposed to doing something leading up to the stunt and then - right, I'll just be sitting over there. I like to try and do as much of the stuff as I can get away with, but it gets to the point where they say no. My sense of adventure, my bravado, is up for just about anything, sometimes you do have to let the expert get in there and do it. There's a terrific team of stunt guys here and if I can spend time with them setting it up, then I feel confident. Sure, hoist me up, throw me across!"

That bravado is reflected throughout that cast and crew. Nobody here does things by halves, and that shows on screen. The second series of Bugs has just started on BBC1, with a trip into space, and the third will be due this time next year. The ideas are still flowing thick and fast, and if anything they're more outlandish this year than last. As filming ends, everyone begins to think about the third series. As the sun goes down on Docklands, the cast begin to read through the final episode of this series, and Jesse sums up everyone's feeling on the hard work that is finally coming to an end: "Beyond this, I want six months off! It's a lot of work this, so I'm looking forward to the time off."