The Worst Episodes of Bugs
Every episode of Bugs ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Bugs!
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.
Lowest Rated Episodes Summary
The worst episode of "Bugs" is "Down Among the Dead Men", rated 6.9/10 from 28 user votes. It was directed by Andrew Grieve and written by Stephen Gallagher. "Down Among the Dead Men" aired on 4/22/1995 and is rated 0.1 point(s) lower than the second lowest rated, "Shotgun Wedding".
6.9/10 28 votes#1 - Down Among the Dead Men
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 4/22/1995
Ed and Beckett go 'under cover' and end up on board a submarine. They are, however, found out to be fakes and, whilst Ed escapes, Beckett is left on the submarine with a money hungry man, eager to gain access to a bank and steal some diamonds a long the way. Beckett ends up getting trapped on the submarine, as it slowly fills with water. The man, meanwhile, has got his associate to steal these diamonds, but their plan is foiled when Ros enters the scene. Ed goes under the sea to search for the submarine and but will he find Beckett in time?
Director: Andrew Grieve
Writer: Stephen Gallagher
7.0/10 22 votes#2 - Shotgun Wedding
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 4/29/1995
Ros, Ed and Beckett are called in to protect Anna Fabrizi, a visiting Italian politician who has vowed to fight political corruption in her country. Ed takes on the role of the man hired to kill Anna and he finds himself in a situation where he has to decide between Anna's life and his own...
Director: Ken Grieve
Writer: Colin Brake
7.0/10 9 votes#3 - The Two Becketts
Season 4 Episode 4 - Aired 8/1/1998
A man breaks into a building, and although he tries to escape, he is caught. He then asks for Beckett, saying that he will only talk to him, and no-one else, and although becket doesn't know who he is, he goes to meet him. Once he reaches the place and sees the man, he simply says ""You,"" and punches him. The man then reveals that he is Beckett's father. Beckett takes his Dad to his house, where he tries to exlpain why he ran out on Beckett 10 years ago, after his Mum's funeral. He then explains that he was trying to find out about the whereabouts of a man who is after the two witnesses that will send him to prison. Ed goes to check it out, only to see that the man has escaped. Both of the witnesses are kidnapped and Beckett's Dad finally reveals that he wants to see the man go down because he killed Beckett's Mum. So, Beckett and his Dad go to find the man, as well as the two witnesses and Alex, who got mixed up in the whole thing.
Director: Brian Grant
Writer: N/A
7.1/10 21 votes#4 - Manna From Heaven
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 5/20/1995
A new type of food called Phodex has been created and it is made from some sort of algae. Ros, Ed and Beckett are called to investigate about this stuff, and Ros ends up getting trapped in some room, with the oxygen levels slowly decreasing. However, Ed and Beckett realise all is not right when the creator of Phodex tells them that Ros has gone to the hairdressers. They find her just in time and she is OK. However, a short while later, the team find out the secret of Phodex, that it is toxic when exposed to ultra violet light, and Ros ends up eating some contaminated Phodex, and starts to die. There is soon a race against time for Ed and Beckett to save Ros and the other people who have eaten the toxic Phodex, and Ros' condition gradually begins to deteriorate, as her vision goes blurred and she keeps collapsing. However, she manages to save the day, by finding out what the code is to the place that has the antidote. She has to read an electronic organiser, but will she get the passwor
Director: Brian Farnham
Writer: Gregory Evans
7.2/10 39 votes#5 - Out of the Hive
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 4/1/1995
Ros and Beckett first meet, after Beckett is forced to leave The Hive when he is framed for leaking information. The real traitor turns out to be Beckett's boss, Cottrell, working alongside his lover, Elena Johnson. The pair are trying to steal SACROS, a device which jams satellite signals. Beckett, Ros and Ed race against time to save Beckett's job and SACROS, and to stop Cottrell and Elena.
Director: Brian Farnham
Writer: Duncan Gould
7.2/10 28 votes#6 - Assassins Inc
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 4/8/1995
Ros, Ed and Beckett's first customer appears in the form of Irene Campell, who turns out to have conned Beckett into helping her continue doing her business. Roland Blatty, a friend of Ros' who own the new Bureau of Weapons is trying to put a stop to the devices Irene sells, which have killed countless people. The team race against time to stop Irene and her legal adviser, Morasco and at the same time save Ed from a microbe that is killing him.
Director: Ken Grieve
Writer: Stephen Gallagher
7.2/10 23 votes#7 - Stealth
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 5/6/1995
An attempt to steal a revolutionary new car with an advanced guidance system is foiled by the Bugs team. The thieves then turn their attention to a millitary vehicle powered by a radioactive RTG, and Ros and Beckett have to cliumb onto the moving driverless vehicle, to stop the explosion from breaking the radioactive container and killing off most of the people in the country.
Director: Ken Grieve
Writer: Stephen Gallagher
7.3/10 26 votes#8 - All Under Control
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 4/15/1995
Ros, Ed and Beckett are called in to investigate the mysterious plane that went ‘out of control' for a while. However, while Ros is checking out the aeroplane, it suddenly decides to take off!!! Ros is left in the plane and it takes off, and Ed and Beckett discover that there is a man behind it all, controlling the plane like a remote control one. Ros starts to panic as the fuel gradually gets lower and lower, and Ed goes to find the man behind it, telling Ros that she might have to land the plane herself.
Director: Brian Farnham
Writer: Duncan Gould
7.4/10 19 votes#9 - Hot Metal
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 5/27/1995
R-6 is a new type of metal, and it has an explosive nature. A man called DaSilva decides to take advantage of this property of the metal and tries to steal it. The Bugs team are involved and try to stop DaSilva leaving the country with the metal to make it into deadly weapons.
Director: Ken Grieve
Writer: Alan Whiting
7.4/10 11 votes#10 - The Price of Peace
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 8/2/1997
A 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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.4/10 11 votes#11 - Hell and High Water
Season 4 Episode 5 - Aired 8/8/1998
The Bugs team are called in to investiagte why the crew on board the Searanger, an oil rig, have suddenly gone silent. After investigation, they discover that the team they are with on the oil rig are not the really crew, and they work with the last surviving member, Paul Grey, to stop a satellite falling onto the Earth. Ros finds beckett unconscious in a room, and they are forced to work closely when they are left to do, betrayed by Paul Grey.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.4/10 9 votes#12 - Jewel Control
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 8/29/1998
Ros' friend, Sorrel marries Richard Blenko, a two faced man with a silver tongue, who'd give anything to save his own life. He promises a gangster as many emeralds as he'd like in exchange foir his life, using Sorrel's own father, Mr Mandrake, to do so. Mandrake is kidnapped whilst staying at becket's place, who went off with Christa when he was supposed to be assuring Mandrake's safety. Sorrel and Ros are also kidnapped. The gangsters steal the emeralds and then leave a bomb in the bunker where Ros, Sorrel, Mr Madrake and Richard are. Beckett, Jan and a trainee, Melissa have to stop the bomb and the gansters, before it is too late.
Director: N/A
Writer: Colin Brake
7.5/10 9 votes#13 - Sacrifice to Science
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 7/18/1998
Ros is still missing, although now the others know that she is not actually dead. Ros decides to ring Beckett and ask him to meet her, and Beckett quickly rushes to where she is. They meet on a bridge and Beckett is demanding an explanation, but Ros is too upset to give an answer. they go to see the others (Terry, Chris and Morag) who voice their opinions on Bureau 2 becoming involved; they don't like it one bit, especially Terry, who ideally wants to pick up where he and Ros left off, but he realises that that is never going to happen, because Ros is together with Beckett. However, because Beckett's Jeep had a bug on it the people trying to stop Ros and Terry find out where they are, and Chris and Morag are killed. Then they decide to blow up the base where Ros, Terry and Beckett are. They presume they are dead, but they managed to escape just in time. Beckett and Ros are walking in the hospital garden together and Beckett asks for an explanation. Ros tells him exactly what happened t
Director: Brian Grant
Writer: Colin Brake
7.6/10 19 votes#14 - A Sporting Chance
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 6/3/1995
A special formula has been developed which enhances the performance of athletes. However, no-one has considered the after effects, which are that when the person's heart reaches a certain rate, the body can't cope and the person drops down dead. Ed comes to realise this when he is having a karate match with a person who has been injected with the stuff, and the man goes hyper, then falls down dead (whoops!). Ros eventually goes to find out more about the stuff, and ends up with another hyper person chasing her, then he suddenly collapses. however, Ros is still caught and taken away by the developer of the formula, to be his new guinea-pig.
Director: Ken Grieve
Writer: Colin Brake
7.6/10 14 votes#15 - Newton's Run
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 6/1/1996
Newton the dog is the new creation of a scientific lab. Newton is ‘a robot dog' who is just like any other dog, except that when a special controller is turned on, he is controlled by it. A group of ‘bad guys' want to use this technology, as they can use Newton to get to places they can't. Beckett decides to look after Newton and take him on a little ride on a train. Little does he know that the baddies are hot on his trail and he ends up losing Newton. The baddies find Newton and give him a little bomb, sending into a building that contains many different types of weapons that are for use in WW3. The team find this out and Beckett goes to find Newton.
Director: Brian Farnham
Writer: Calvin Clements Jr.
7.7/10 19 votes#16 - Pulse
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 6/10/1995
Many small companies are being bought up by two mysterious men and Ros, Ed and Beckett are called to investigate. When the manager in another company is suddenly blown up, Beckett takes his place. The two suspicious people turn out to be Jean-Daniel and his brother, Patrick. They realise that Beckett is not the real manager and Jean-Daniel goes round to ‘Gizmos' (the place where Ros, Ed and Beckett were based in Series One) Beckett ends up being kidnapped. Ed's friend, Clare, has also got mixed up in the brothers' plans, and her daughter, Katie, has been held hostage until she gives them exactly what they want. Jean-Daniel's brother is killed. Beckett and Katie manage to escape and stop Jean-Daniel's plans, and reposition the missile that stops any type of computer generated items from working, to where they are.
Director: Brian Farnham
Writer: Stephen Gallagher
7.7/10 16 votes#17 - Bugged Wheat
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 4/20/1996
A special sort of wheat, being developed so that it is resistant to all known crop diseases is destroyed by intruders breaking into the European Agronomy Council and spray a viroid over the crop. Beckett goes undercover as a sceintist to invesitigate the viroid and dicovers that the plan is to spray the viroid over crops in the world and then deliver a special anti-viroid, which will save the world from starvation and make the makers of the anti-viroid very rich. Ros, however, has problems of her own, when her car is infested with killer wasps and the brakes won't work, and she can't open the doors...
Director: Sandy Johnson
Writer: Miles Millar, Alfred Gough
7.7/10 15 votes#18 - Gold Rush
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 5/11/1996
A room full of gold is infected with a new sort of virus that quite literally eats gold. It is up to Ros to make an antidote to return the gold to normal, and she doesn't have long- after some time, and once the gold has reached a certain temperature, it will be irreversible and the gold will be lost forever. Ed is trapped in the room with the gold and also two security things that continuously try to shoot him. Beckett decides to get Ed out of the room, as the antidote Ros creates is harmful to humans, but his only way to get to it is by going through a tunnel filled with toxic fumes.
Director: Andrew Grieve
Writer: Bruno Heller, Alison Leathart
7.7/10 11 votes#19 - Nuclear Family
Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 8/16/1997
A 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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/10 11 votes#20 - Identity Crisis
Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 9/20/1997
JAN 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?
Director: N/A
Writer: Colin Brake
7.7/10 9 votes#21 - Absent Friends
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 7/11/1998
Ros is missing and Beckett, Alex and Ed are desperately searching for her. However, they find her car a river with some of her blood in it, and presume that she is dead. Beckett won't accept this, and sobs his little heart out at Ros' house. He ends up quitting from the bureau, to devote his time to searching for Ros. Beckett goes to see Ros' Mum, her ex-fianceé, Terry and does everything he can to determine Ros' whereabouts. Ros is actually alive and well (naturally) and is working with Terry. Ed and Alex are given a job to transport what they think is something that saves lives- but they were given false information. Beckett is also where Alex and Ed are, still trying to find leads on what happened to Ros, and then Ros suddenly appears, steals the stuff that Alex and Ed are looking after, with Terry and two other people and runs to Terry's van As she starts the van, and starts to drive off, she sees Beckett, but is told by Terry to keep driving. She does as he says, leaving behind Be
Director: N/A
Writer: Colin Brake
7.7/10 11 votes#22 - Girl Power
Season 4 Episode 3 - Aired 7/25/1998
Carly, a 14 year old girl breaks into The Hive and for some reason Ros is put in charge of her, which she is not too happy about. Beckett is moving into a rather run-down flat which Alex found for him, and his friendship with Ros is rather ‘rocky'. Carly is taken off Ros' hands by a man who turns out to be a baddie after an ancient funeral mask that the Bureau are looking after. He manages to con Carly into stealing the mask and once she realises why they want it, she runs off and hides it. Soon, both Ros and Carly are held prisoner until Carly gives the whereabouts of the mask. They are trapped under a lift. Carly manages to get out and tell Alex and Ed where it is hidden, and they quickly find it.
Director: N/A
Writer: Colin Brake
7.8/10 10 votes#23 - Fugitive
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 8/23/1997
Ros 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...
Director: Matthew Evans
Writer: N/A
7.8/10 11 votes#24 - Buried Treasure
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 9/13/1997
A 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
Director: Matthew Evans
Writer: N/A
7.9/10 15 votes#25 - ... Must Come Down (2)
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 4/13/1996
Concluding Part from last week! Ed is put into training to go up in a space shuttle, mainly to find out who is trying to stop the launch of it, and not to actually go up in it. But, of course, he ends up having to go up with another woman pilot. However, the 'baddie' trying to stop the launch makes the shuttle 'breakdown' (so to speak) and they end up getting 'stuck in space.....'
Director: Brian Farnham
Writer: Colin Brake