Year: 1971
Movie
/ TV: The Guardians
Director:
Others in the Cast: Gwyneth Powell, Cyril Luckham, David Burke, Derek Smith, Lynn Farleigh, John Collin
Plot
summary: A drama set in a declining England of the future - the UK has broken
up, and England is ruled by a fascist military force called 'The
Guardians'.
Extract from the synopsis of the episode "Head of State": After a somewhat tetchy evening with his father, the Prime Minister's son,
Chris, takes a late night walk. By the Thames, he meets Clare Weston, an unhappy
young woman. He offers her a sympathetic ear and, eventually, she invites him
home, where she explains that she has had a miscarriage and that her husband, a
Guardian officer, is missing, probably dead. He was also, she says, a Communist.
Chris is initially sceptical, but finally promises to
investigate. - Screenonline
Also see Wikipedia
Short guides to each episode here
Peth’s
role: Christopher Hobson, the PM's son.
Reviews:
The first episode sees a Britain viewers don’t relate to. Sure, you
have the unions protesting and the workers out on strike – a common
enough sight in the early 1970s – but their refusal to work is met with
brutal military force from a squadron of black-uniformed Guardians, who
bear more than a passing resemblance to the SS. With the Allies’
wartime victory assured only twenty-five years earlier, The Guardians
perhaps offers a glimpse of a Britain that nearly was, a terrifying
nightmare that nearly came true, had the Nazis proved victorious. - Entertainment Focus
Britain has broken up. There is public dissent and social disorder. The government introduce 'emergency measures' in order to ensure the 'rule of law'. One of those measures is the construction of a new police force called The Guardians. They are a sort of cross between America's national guard and the Nazis' gestapo. Very quickly, they become almost a law unto themselves. A group of intellectuals and media-types see what is happening and attempt to excite public attention and improve their accountability. They find themselves being victimised in lots of insidious ways, eventually uniting as a clandestine organisation under the name 'Quarmby'. A more militant splinter group begin taking direct action and simply earn for themselves the definition of terrorist.
Official website:
IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066666/
Related
links: DVD released recently
Gallery:
