EH, WHAT'S UP DOC?

Bugs is back. The hi-tech adventure series which used to have a rule that only building built after 1990 were allowed to be used in filming. All that has changed for the third series. An extra degree of realism has entered the show, along with two new female starts - Lesley Ash and Jan Harvey. "We wanted out characters to be developed and the writers really came through," says Jaye Griffiths, alias Ros. "There are still lots of explosions and chases, but we all thought that there should be a bit more to the series than that. You can't just keep blowing things up, great fun though that is. It's not enough." Leslie Ash appears in the first two episodes, playing a leather-clad villain, a kind of Damien Hirst figure, whose flaming cars and metal junk. "It's my first ever villain," says Leslie. "And it was great to play around with a part like that. I've always wanted to play the wicked witch. Bugs is like a modern Avengers, and I always fancied Honor Blackman's part in that".

One-time Howard's Way star Jan Harvey also admits that spending many weeks being "bombed and bazooka-ed" was "great fun" but she adds: "I sometimes wondered if my body was going to stand up to this punishment". She becomes a regular in this series, playing a mysterious government figure who sets out to control the free-enterprise trio Ed (Craig McLachlan), Beckett (Jess Birdsall) and Ros (Jaye Griffiths).

One of the sweet things about Bugs is that it's a series that looks as if it was fun to make. It looks as if the actors are enjoying themselves. Jaye understands. "I shared with Jan on the set and let me tell you, she's a hooligan. She just makes me die laughing and the problem is that she kept doing it on set. In one scene we had to really shout angrily at each other and it took 11 takes before we stopped laughing and got it together. She's a terrible woman".