The Guardians: The State of England
Content warning: political violence and Fascism
I seem to be getting into a run of blogging about single episodes of shows with longer plots and I see that some weeks ago I also wrote a general post about this show, both things I try not to do on the blog. All I can say is that blogging is perhaps one of the most reflexive human activities there is and revelatory of personality.
To recap briefly: The Guardians is a 1971 series set in the 1980s about an alternative England where an extended period of mass unemployment, chaos and failure of the state, order has been restored and the country is ruled by 'guardians'; personal privacy and liberties have been curtailed, justified by the need to maintain order. The Prime Minister, Timothy Hobson, is a pawn of 'the General', and the regime is essentially fascist. I made the connection in my original post about this show with the film The Bed-Sitting Room about another alternative England, set after a nuclear war where the population of the country has been reduced enough for the national grid to be powered by a man on a bicycle. I think probably I wanted to get the election out of the way before facing this show face on.
I think the essential theme of the episode is fear: everyone is frightened of everyone else, individually and politically. Strangely, it feels curiously modern in the complete polarisation (into them vs us) of everyone in the country, a polarisation actually created and promoted by the government. The fear is supported by extensive misdirection and threats.
What may be perennial is that the Prime Minister is clearly a con man (although he is depicted as a more complex character, compromised and questioning, as the episode progresses). He is depicted on the TV doing a remarkable sleight of hand in which he blames the unrest on people on the extreme right and left. Frankly it's a bit hard to see how you could be further right than his government and I think the black uniforms of the Guardians are probably intended to put us in mind of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists (pictured). He also tells an outright lie by saying that all state benefits and pensions will immediately be doubled (which is obviously impossible) and also that they will also not be paid to strikers. Of course this is a complete lie because you don't get state benefits for striking. We are being directed by the show to suspect the regime, but as a depiction of real party politics in Britain (or anywhere) it's masterly.
What is more of the time is the fear of 'Communism', particularly fear of Communists infiltrating the Guardians. It's mentioned in the PM's speech at the beginning, but comes out most clearly when the Cabinet secretary's nephew covertly joins the Guardians to investigate Communist infiltration and is interrogated by the recruitment officer who is convinced he is actually a Communist infiltrating the Guardians. Phew. To me personally the threat of Communism is always a red herring, whether in the US (where the orientation is always towards capitalism) and in the UK (where the orientation is towards small-c conservatism), since in reality there has never been a large Communist movement in either country. In fact there is actually a Communist Party of Britain, but in this year's election their national total of 2,622 votes even compares poorly with the Official Monster Raving Loony Party's 5,814! I'm doubtful that actual Communism would ever be a political force in Britain but it's a potent source of fear among conservatives, of course, exactly the way it is used in this show.
But I wouldn't want to give you the idea that this is a cold depiction of politics: it also has a lot of human interest, which centres mainly around a couple called Tom and Clare Weston. Tom is in the Guardians, but we see their relationship and Clare's trip to see a psychiatrist. It will come as no surprise that she spends some of the appointment describing how she is frightened and feeling that her husband is under some sort of pressure and has a secret from her. This scene is an excellent depiction of the effects of the sort of stress you would be under in these circumstances. These human parts of the show alternate quite shockingly with the insights behind the scenes into the fascistic Guardians and state.
One of the strange things for fans of British television of the era is that Clare Weston is played by Gwyneth Powell, perhaps best known for playing Mrs McCluskey in Grange Hill. It is very strange to see her doing things like smoking or having sex when I'm most used to her as a headmistress.
However completely contemporary and perhaps most shocking is that the episode closes with an attempted assassination of the Prime Minister. I think that this would have been far more shocking at the time than it is now, and I suspect in many ways the show would have represented an influx of the violence and instability that Britons tend to see as happening elsewhere.
I commented in my general post about this show, and will repeat, that the show made the right judgement in 1971 in not trying to make the sets overly futuristic, even though the show was set a decade in the future. What this means is that the settings of the show are wonderful sixties/seventies interiors, with an eye to the future but not overly futuristic. I like them hugely and it was definitely the right approach to take.
I'm intrigued by the way the show combines studio-bound scenes with extensive location shooting of protests and the assassination attempt. It doesn't give the impression of being shot on a shoe-string at all, mainly because of the protests. If I had to make some form of criticism it would probably be that the location footage gives an impression of no expense being spared but the sets don't give that impression, so perhaps they disproportionately spent the budget on the riots. I'm aware that this is a bit of a poor criticism and I think I should say that I've really has to wring this one out of myself, I think this is quality television and don't really have major criticism.
The show was released on a boxed set but now Network aren't around to protect their copyright, it's also on YouTube as well.
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