The Guardians: Part 2 - Pursuit

The cliffhanger at the end of part 1 of the series was that there was an attempted assassination of the Prime Minister. This episode opens with the cabinet secretary telling the PM an outright lie that the assassin has died from a weak heart while at the headquarters of the Guardians (or the 'G's). This, and the PM's succeeding ethical discussions with an old friend in his club, are juxtaposed with footage of the Gs torturing the assassin, who actually dies from a drug overdose administered by the Guardians. One of the Gs later lies to Mrs Weston about what her husband is doing and why he has disappeared.

The theme of telling or withholding the truth, and a rather philosophical discussion on the part of the PM, rather dominates this episode. It is striking that such debate society material would be played on prime time television.

We are also given the nod that there is something going on within the ranks of the Guardians; it is mentioned that the assassin was a Guardian, and the Guardian called Tom Weston, who with his wife provided much of the human interest in part 1, has gone missing. We see him on the phone to a contact trying to get out of the country, and the contact arranges to contact him again in Disraeli Road.

Of course this road was perceptively chosen, because Benjamin Disraeli (Prime Minister February to December 1868 and 1874 to 1880) is a signifcant figure in British political history. I think the association intended in a show depicting secrecy, duplicity and fascism, is that by contrast Disraeli is remembered as the creator of old-style 'One Nation' Conservatism, which was paternalistic but still based on the best interests of everyone in the nation, and the idea that the privileged should pass on their benefits. This is the sort of Conservatism which was replaced by the current sort which emphasises the benefit of the 'elite' and business classes only: in the show this is indicative that government in the interests of the populace has been replaced by government in the interests of the shadowy 'General' and the suggested shadowy forces behind the puppet Prime Minister. You can tell that this is some serious television when I tell you that it is the only thing which has ever made me have any sympathy for One Nation Conservatism.

On a completely personal level this episode reminds me of how my own mother was what is called a 'shy Tory', one of those ones who mess up the opinion polls before every election because they won't admit to it. She was so obsessed with keeping it secret that even as a very small child when I would have had no understanding of what it meant, she would take me to the polling station which was my school and make me wait outside the booth while she marked the paper. I thought of this when I happily put my cross in the Green Party box earlier this month (I've jumped ship), and think that she would be so disappointed and can't help laughing a bit. Incidentally I know she must have voted Conservative because of the opinions she expressed over various things, and she was definitely an old-style one.

I have no way of knowing whether this was the intention but I'm finding one of the effects of this show is to make you take sides: with the right side, of course, and in fact reflection on what would make people side with the General and Guardians is one of the things mentioned in the Prime Minister's discussion. Among these things are personal and economic motivations as well as political ones, naturally. The show gives both sides of the censorship discussion quite evenly, and it may only be my own political orientation which makes me think you could only possibly side with the resistance in this show.

If you want a criticism of the show it is that I think its quite heavy political and ethical references and attempts to give human interests with Mr and Mrs Weston, may mean that it is attempting to please all of the people all of the time. If you approach this as either Yes, Prime Minister, or as an Open University lecture, you will be disappointed.

As a fictional show which still makes people think about politics and ethical issues, I don't think this could be bettered.

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