Bugs (1995)
Bugs was a British television drama series which ran for four series from April 1995 to August 1999. The programme, a mixture of action/adventure and science-fiction, involved a team of specialist independent crime-fighting technology experts, who faced a variety of threats based around computers and other modern technology. It was originally broadcast on Saturday evenings on BBC One, and was produced for the BBC by the independent production company Carnival Films.
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Episode 1 - Blaze of Glory
Release Date: 1997-07-19First of a two parter to start off Series 3. A man called Mc-hage's business is desperately trying to be sabotaged, and he calls in Ros, Ed and Beckett to investigate. It turns out that just recently, Mc-Hage's son, Christopher, committed suicide and Ed goes to see Mc-Hage's daughter, Kitty Mc-Hage, to find out more about the business. Kitty decides to blow up half of London, using a chemical weapon that is under the ‘family' business. Beckett goes to The Bureau of Weapons Technology (the place where Roland used to work), where he meets Jan and Alex. Jan manages to con him into working at the Bureau, because of his financial problems and the fact that she catches him and Alex looking at Code: Red files. The team manage to stop the chemical weapon going off, just in time, but Ed realises that there is another bomb in the ‘Battle wagon' (an invention of Kitty's). Ed ends up getting blown up with the ‘wagon'
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Episode 2 - The Revenge Effect
Release Date: 1997-07-26The second part, where Ed is still in hospital and feeling a bit depressed at the fact that his injuries mean that he will be in and out of hospital for a while. He has, however, agreed to join the Bureau, where as Ros ‘doesn't want to give up her independence.' Outside, in the hospital corridors, Ros admits that she is worried about Ed and gets all emotional. Beckett tells her that everything will be OK, but sounds more unsure than she is. Kitty tries to change her identity, to drop out of sight, and chooses the Duchess of Forteza. But her unloyal associate changes the password to her new bank account, and gives it to Ed. So, Kitty kidnaps Ed to get it. There is soon a race against time for the team to find the code name for the account, as they know the password, not the name, and for Kitty, to get the password, as she knows the access name. Alex manages to get the code name, by pretending to be Ros, and going to the bank.
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Episode 3 - The Price of Peace
Release Date: 1997-08-02A new engine killer wepaon is stolen whilst Ed and Alex are testing it. Beckett escorts a statsman, Van Straaten to a peace conference, their vehicle is stopped using the engine killer, and they are held hostage by Virghiz nationals, who do not want the peace treaty to go ahead. They want Beckett's secret codes for Prject Darkling, so they can attack their enemies in Virghiz. Beckett escapes, but Van Straaten is left behind.
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Episode 4 - Hollow Man
Release Date: 1997-08-09A man creates a holo-imager which is used on the new £100 notes. Another guy, North, who helped design the holo-imager and who is also supposedly dead, turns up alive, and is trying to make fake £100 notes to ‘up' his bank balance. Ros goes to dinner with the man who created the holo-imager and he ends up being told to shoot her, but he lets her go.
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Episode 5 - Nuclear Family
Release Date: 1997-08-16A foreign president is critically ill and everyone thinks he is dying, and there is no cure for his disease. Then, an English doctor discovers a way of saving his life, but he has to wait to undergo the operation. It is then found out that there is a traitor within the embassy, and the finger is instantly pointed at his much younger wife. All of Bureau Two believe her to be the traitor, except Beckett, who won't believe it (does he ever?) and thinks that the security guard is responsible. He and Nataliar (the wife) are then kidnapped by the people the traitor is working for, and one woman sets up a bomb next to them, with green pressure pad to detonate it. Ros, of course sets this off.
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Episode 6 - Fugitive
Release Date: 1997-08-23Ros is set up and sent into custody. Even Jan seems to believe that she is guilty, but Beckett loyally stays beside her and tries to get her out. Ros eventually manages to escape and runs into the comforting arms of Channing. Ros realises that the ‘mole' is actually at the SSD (where she was sent into custody) and finds out who it is. The problem is that all the SSD people still think its her, and she is wanted for theft and murder, neither of which she did. She finally manages to make them see who it is. When things have pretty much got back to normal, Channing then tells Ros he is merging worth an American company and is moving to California, and that he wants her to go with him...
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Episode 7 - Happy Ever After?
Release Date: 1997-08-30The team are investigating about the mysterious disapearence of a woman called Julia, kidnapped at her own wedding. Ros and Beckett go to the location she is being kept at, and Ros is shot whilst trying to escape. She is taken to hospital and is OK, but Channing tellls her that her job is just too dangerous and that she shoulddefinatly go to America with him, and Breckett also tells her that she should go. Ed is caught when he tries to rescue Julia, and they discobver that the person behind it all is Julia's husband, Mark. They are trapped underneath a bomb and find a narrow tunnel to escape through. Beckett has to dis-arm a bomb and Ros lets herself out of the Bureau and goes to the Bureau to help them.
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Episode 8 - Buried Treasure
Release Date: 1997-09-13A lot of convicts are conviently let out of prison a few years before they should by the mysterious ‘Athena'. THe Bugs team go to investigate about the third man to be let out of prison, a Mr Flood. However, after they confront him, he escapes and runs to the carpark, closly followed by Alex, who loses him. Suddenly, he runs at her, determined to throw her off the side of the parking lot and she finds herself throwing him iff instead (by accident, of course). So, they decide that Beckett will take his place and he is taken to a place where he has to make a bomb to get through a steel door. With Ros telling him exactly what to do and with the aid of a ‘neat' pair of glasses that enable Ros to see what he is doing, he makes it and finallly decides toi tell Ros who he feels, saying that he was jealous about her and Channing. But the communications go down and he realises that she didn't hear him. He is just talking to himself, saying that its probably a good thing that she doesn't know ho
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Episode 9 - Identity Crisis
Release Date: 1997-09-20JAN mysterially dissapears and is replaced by a new JAN at the bureau which causes friction between the team. But where has the other JAN gone and why did she leave without saying a word or telling them where she was going?
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Episode 10 - Renegades
Release Date: 1997-09-27Roland Blatty is still in hospital and a nurse explains to a new one that he will remain that way forever. However, once she has left the room, leaving the new nurse and Roland alone, he suddenly wakes up and attacks her, before walking out of the hospital. Beckett, Ed and Alex go to check on the other two members of the bureau, who are also in hospital. Ed and Alex find that the woman they were going to check on has also escaped from the hospital she was in, in the same circumstances as Roland. The woman Beckett checks on is, however, still unconscious, and he is explaining to the nurse what to look out for, when the woman wakes up, attacks Beckett and flees from the hospital before anyone can stop her. The team soon find out that the old bureau members are after the four discs that make up the remains of Cyberax. The virus was kept on four discs so that the next time something like that happened, they could use Cyberax to help them overcome it. Beckett is suddenly kidnapped by Rolan