The Security Men is a British television comedy pilot, written by BAFTA-award-winning comedian Caroline Aherne and Jeff Pope, that first broadcast on ITV on 12 April 2013. The pilot, written as a precursor to a planned four-part series, follows a group of night security guards working at the fictional Whittington shopping centre in Greater Manchester, who create an elaborate scheme to hide a robbery that has taken place on their watch. The pilot, which was filmed in 2011, remained shelved whilst writing on a planned four-part series, which promised to "follow the characters home to meet their friends and families", was written. Although the series did not materialise, for reasons undisclosed, the pilot was finally broadcast in 2013 as part of ITV's new "primetime comedy" season.[1]

The Security Men
GenreComedy
Developed byBryan Fuller
Written by
Directed byDavid Drury
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes1
Production
ProducerSaurabh Kakkar
Production locationSalford Shopping Centre
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time60 minutes
Production companyITV Studios
Original release
NetworkITV
Release12 April 2013 (2013-04-12)

Produced by ITV Studios, the pilot starred Brendan O'Carroll, Bobby Ball, Dean Andrews and Peter Wight as "security men" Jimmy, Duckers, Ray and Kenneth. Archie Kelly and Paddy McGuinness also starred as police constables Clarke and Greaves.[2] The pilot received an advance broadcast in Northern Ireland, being shown on 5 April 2011 prior to the broadcast of a new documentary series on RTÉ following the lives of real life "security men". The pilot was critically panned, with The Telegraph stating that it was "unfunny" and "full of rancid sexism."[3]

Cast

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References

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  1. ^ "Comedy star Caroline Aherne to be joined by Bobby Ball for new TV series The Security Men". Manchester Evening News. 8 April 2011.
  2. ^ http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week15/security-men [bare URL]
  3. ^ "The Security Men, ITV, review".
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