BBC One - The Royal Bodyguard

MORE than a million people turned off Sir David Jason’s new sitcom The Royal Bodyguard on Boxing Day – with thousands of his fans saying it made him look like a right plonker,complete tv series on dvd.

The debut episode of the slapstick comedy left an army of viewers feeling so royally disappointed they vented their spleen on Twitter.

Thousands criticised the BBC1 show with many people saying Sir David, 71, had been let down badly by the script.

Viewers said the sitcom was a bad joke, especially compared with Sir David’s previous comedy series for the Beeb when he played Del Boy Trotter in the classic Only Fools and Horses which finished in 1991.

One tweet said The Royal Bodyguard was “about as funny as a bad case of the Trotters”.

Another viewer, Shaun Taylor, said on Twitter: “This has to be the worst programme on TV this Christmas,cheapest cd s.”

Tina Hawkins added: “Contrived and predictable. Shame David Jason’s great name used for a poor script.”

And Susie Roberts said: “The Royal Bodyguard may return next Monday but I doubt any viewers will.”

The show had been scheduled to debut on Christmas Day but worried BBC bosses moved it to avoid a clash with Downton Abbey on ITV.

Eight million people were watching The Royal Bodyguard at the peak but there were 1.5 million fewer viewers by the end of the 30-minute episode.

Sir David plays blundering Captain Guy Hubble, an ex-guardsman who is promoted from head of security at Buckingham Palace car park to being the Queen’s bodyguard.

Even the normally pro-BBC magazine Radio Times admitted the six-part series got off to a bad start, saying: “Oh dear, we are not getting many complimentary tweets about The Royal Bodyguard. Can’t remember the last time we had a Twitter reaction like this.”

Much of the show’s comedy relied on visual gags – such as Captain Hubble hanging from a balcony in his underwear – but viewers say they have already seen enough.

Ray Ridley said on the Digital Spy website: “I think the BBC knew they had a stinker on their hands and premiered this when we are going to be more uncritical, p***ed, or a combination of the two.”

Andy23 said: “If it wasn’t for David Jason I’d expect this to be shown on CBBC. Were the Chuckle Brothers busy?”

While promoting the sitcom, Sir David said it was “a lovely piece of fun” but admitted that it was a “safe” comedy.

Daily Mirror TV critic Jim Shelley says:

The Royal Bodyguard was, the BBC trumpeted, Sir David Jason’s first Beeb comedy since Only Fools & Horses in 1991. That’s 20 YEARS.

This fact alone should have alerted all involved to the fatal flaw at the heart of this debacle – namely that it was relying on the viewer’s fondness for Del Boy. It was a classic example of blind faith in the production’s star name.

The prospect of seeing the 71-year-old star playing (we were asked to believe) a former guardsman who had seen action in Northern Ireland and had now been appointed to the presumably prestigious position of royal bodyguard after saving the Queen’s life stretched this fondness to breaking point. After about two minutes.

Never mind that the plot’s entire premise was stupid – that he was the incompetent former head of security at Buckingham Palace car park. The standard of the comedy was excruciating.

It was blatantly designed to cash in on the appeal of characters like Inspector Clouseau and Johnny English. But the idea that Jason could play a clown as well as Peter Sellers or Rowan Atkinson was the only funny thing about it.