Miniseries The Bodyguard BBC1

[Barbara Fan]

Is anyone watching this?? I have always loved Line of Duty and its by the same writer Jed Mecurio. It even stars DCI Lyndsey Denton and wonderful Keeley Hawes.

Its shaping up very nicely, could do without the F word but hey ho and has had good ratings and reviews
I have no idea what will happen next!!

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/t...-how-many-episodes-are-in-Bodyguard-cast-plot

How many episodes are in Bodyguard on BBC One?
There are six episodes in Bodyguard, each an hour long.

Episode one airs tonight at 9pm and episode two will air tomorrow evening at 9pm on BBC One.

The remaining four episodes will air every Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.

Here is the synopsis for tonight's episode: “After distinguishing himself by courageously neutralising a terrorist threat, troubled war veteran Police Sergeant David Budd of the Metropolitan Police's Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch (RaSP) is assigned as a principal protection officer to the home secretary, the Rt Hon Julia Montague MP.

“Julia is a controversial politician intent on pushing a new counterterrorism bill through Parliament which would give the security service enhanced surveillance powers. Her political ambitions make Julia a high-profile target. Dedicated to his job but concealing deep resentment of politicians following his traumas in Helmand, David's divided loyalties might make him Julia's greatest threat.”

BODYGUARD RELEASE DATE, CAST, TRAILER, PLOT

Bodyguard starts tonight on BBC One at 9pm (Image: BBC)
What is Bodyguard on BBC One about?
Bodyguard is a BBC thriller - not a TV adaption of the Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston 1992 film, The Bodyguard.

Bodyguard is a six-part drama from the creator of Line of Duty and Bodies, Jed Mercurio.

The official BBC synopsis reads: “Set in and around the corridors of power, Bodyguard tells the fictional story of David Budd (played by Richard Madden), a heroic but volatile war veteran now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch (RaSP) of London’s Metropolitan Police Service.

“When he is assigned to protect the ambitious and powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs. Responsible for her safety, could he become her biggest threat?”

There are six episodes in Bodyguard (Image: NETFLIX)
Who stars in Bodyguard on BBC One?
Games of Thrones star Richard Madden plays the lead character, David Budd, a war veteran and Specialist Protection Officer of the MET Police who is assigned to be the Home Secretary’s bodyguard.

Madden said of his character: “I was fascinated with David being a series of different characters within himself. He has a sense of duty and also a political history because he’s a former soldier who’s been in Afghanistan and has been in Iraq.

“He has the scars to prove it - both physical and mental. David’s a man adjusting to civilian life and dealing with some of his own mental health issues.”

Keeley Hawes plays fictional controversial Home Secretary Julia Montague. Hawes is best recognised for her roles in Line of Duty and The Durrells.

Bodyguard stars Richard Madden and Kelley Hawes (Image: NETFLIX)
Other notable cast members include Line of Duty star Gina Mckee as Anne Simpson and Peaky Blinders favourite Sophie Rundle as Vicky Budd.

Andrew Marr also makes a cameo appearance in Bodyguard, interviewing Julia about her foreign policy in the Middle East.

Joining the cast are Vincent Franklin, Stuart Bowman Nina Toussaint-white and Pippa Haywood.

Bodyguard starts tonight on BBC One at 9pm


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-45321255

The BBC's latest drama, Bodyguard, has debuted with largely positive reviews from the critics.

Richard Madden plays David Budd, a troubled war veteran who is assigned to protect a controversial politician.

The Daily Telegraph's Michael Hogan said it was "riveting" and he "had to remind myself to breathe".

"Starting with a suicide bomb attack and only becoming more breathless, this was edge-of-the-seat, shush-the-family fare."

Daily Express critic Molli Mitchell also recalled the "intense" opening scene and compared it to "something like a Jason Bourne film".

She wrote: "The opening scene of Bodyguard was all too real and the message all too familiar for a country whose terror level threat is currently at severe.

"Yet, the authenticity of the show is what makes it a truly terrorising thriller."

The Guardian's Lucy Mangan gave it five stars and wrote: "The first 20 minutes of Bodyguard would be pure James Bond if it were not for the fear and doubt that convulse Budd when he is preparing to do his flinging or his saving.

"By the end of last night's opening episode, it was clear he has created something as dark and moreish as ever."

Morgan Jeffrey from Digital Spy also saw a bit of Bond in Budd and wrote: "Commanding and powerful when the job requires it, but also painfully vulnerable behind the confident facade, Madden's Budd is no Superman: despite the sidearm and suit, there's very little of James Bond in this nuanced portrayal of a deeply troubled war veteran."

Metro's Sarah Deen suggested that the drama came "at just the right time" and wrote: "What makes Bodyguard so unsettling is that it's grounded in reality - events that take place could happen. Have happened."

And she also had praise for the series' writer, Jed Mercurio: "It's typical of Mercurio - long takes, close-ups of frantic expressions, silences saying more than words.

"And the horror, although it is averted, takes place on something as mundane as a train journey, something millions of us do every single day."

BuzzFeed UK's Scott Bryan also complimented Mercurio's ability to "take it to the absolute maximum it can go - slowly turning the screw, really building up the tension and never becoming unbelievable and never jumping the shark".

Line of Duty's Keeley Hawes plays opposite Madden, as Home Secretary Julia Montague, who has very different views on war compared with Budd.

In the first episode we come to find that she consistently voted in favour of military action in the Middle East.

However Heat Magazine's Boyd Hilton points out that the show is "not making any political point".

"It's just set in that world of politics and this very interesting relationship between someone who has been in wars that politicians allow to happen and this particular politician herself."

The show's creator and writer Jed Mercurio said the idea for Bodyguard started out as a desire to set something within the political world.

"With my experience on Line of Duty I was aware of the different specialisations within the police, so the idea of the specialist protection unit, which looks after politicians, diplomats and royalty, felt like a really good area in which to set the story."

The six-part drama debuted on BBC One on Sunday night attracting an audience of 6.7 million viewers - peaking at 6.9 million viewers - making it one of the biggest TV drama launches of the year.

 

[Barbara Fan]

Its so exciting!! Loving this show although i can do without seeing the Home secretary and her bodyguard at it in bed!!!

Im none the wiser to who are the good guys and who arent. But its shaping up very nicely x

 

[Barbara Fan]

from Digital spy


Bodyguard episode 3 review: BBC One's cat-and-mouse game blows away the competition

Halfway through its debut series, Jed Mercurio's latest continues to subvert and surprise.

Launching across two nights with a hugely arresting opener and a follow-up that, if anything, raised the stakes and upped the tension, can BBC One thriller Bodyguard possibly keep up the pace in its third outing?

The answer is yes, and no. For most of its running time, the latest chapter eschews the outrageous action sequences that were the highlights of the first two episodes. Instead, we get a less spectacular but equally gripping first 45 minutes that builds on the conspiracy at the heart of the show, and on the cat-and-mouse dynamic being played out between its two leads (even if it's still not entirely clear who's the cat and who's the mouse).

© BBC/World Productions/Sophie Mutevelian
Related: Bodyguard episode 3: Who's behind the bombing and 9 more HUGE questions

The decision to have Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes) and her minder David Budd (Richard Madden) end up in bed together drew a mixed reception from viewers, and early scenes of them giggling under the bed sheets, sharing pillow talk and nipping off to the loo for a quick snog during business hours might further irk the cynics.

But it becomes abundantly clear, very quickly, that there's more at play here: not only is Budd spying on Julia, but he's not reporting the whole truth about her dealings with MI5 to his police handlers, further calling his motivations into question.

Bodyguard gives us our most explicit look yet at Budd's PTSD here, as he's stirred suddenly from his sleep by Julia and, in a dead-eyed state, tries to throttle his lover. What's most telling, though, is how in the aftermath he seems genuinely upset by the prospect of being replaced as her protector.

Right now, we have no clue how David Budd really feels about Julia Montague, and we're not convinced he does either.

© BBC/World Productions/Sophie Mutevelian
Related: Bodyguard writer hits out at "sexist Neanderthals" who criticised BBC show for its prominent female characters

Then there's the question of how she feels about him. Series creator / writer Jed Mercurio has hinted that there might be a "manipulative" angle to Julia's actions, that "maybe it's in her interest" to have seduced Budd, and certainly hints that she might be using sex as a weapon, particularly in a sequence where she slips her hand down her trousers, luring David back into bed after a small tiff.

Sex and power are deeply, inextricably tangled up in this dynamic, and it's a right mess.

But any assumptions that this will be a comparatively calm episode of Bodyguard, a quieter outing that builds character in the absence of any major plot turns, are quite literally blown away by the final act.

Mercurio has merely been biding his time and, in the closing scenes, delivers the show's boldest, most brazen whammy yet, with Julia's speech at the RIPA '18 conference being devastated by another terrorist bombing, leaving the Home Secretary's survival uncertain.

While Line of Duty has made a great success of disguising the inherent silliness of its many twists and turns with lots of police terminology and 20-minute long interrogation scenes, Bodyguard seems less ashamed of being rapid-fire popcorn entertainment.

From a show about a man who might knock off the woman he's trying to protect, to a psycho-sexual thriller, to a mindblowing whodunnit (MI5 and the mysterious Longcross? Mike Travis and Julia's ex, Roger Penhaligon? David Budd?), its determination to keep changing things up also means it remains delightfully difficult to second guess.

Like the hired gun of its title, Bodyguard is volatile and unpredictable, and has done more than enough across the first half of its debut series to guarantee we'll ride this rollercoaster to wherever its final destination might be.
http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/feature/a865132/bodyguard-bbc-review-episode-3/

 

[Barbara Fan]

from BBC

Bodyguard overpowers Vanity Fair in Sunday night TV ratings

BBC One's thriller Bodyguard fought off ITV's new period drama Vanity Fair in Sunday's TV ratings, attracting more than twice as many people as its rival.

The shows went head-to-head at 21:00 BST.

The third episode of Bodyguard was seen by an average of 6.6 million viewers, according to overnight figures.

The launch of Vanity Fair averaged 2.9 million. It followed The X Factor, whose ratings fell from 5.7 million on Saturday to five million on Sunday.

Vanity Fair, based on William Makepeace Thackeray's 19th century novel, has been billed as the programme to fill the gap left by Downton Abbey on ITV.

It stars Olivia Cooke, who acted in Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One before playing Thackeray's ambitious protagonist Becky Sharp.

ITV's director of television Kevin Lygo recently said Vanity Fair came about partly because it's his mother's favourite book, and that he originally wanted a more famous actress to play the lead.

"I wanted Emma Watson or someone everyone would have known," he told the Edinburgh Television Festival last month.

"But Olivia will be known. She is absolutely brilliant in this and mesmerising and it's so flamboyantly directed. I think it's just fun and flashy and a huge budget for us, and I'm really excited."
Speaking about what ratings he would expect any drama on the channel to register, he said: "If they're only going to get 2.5 million viewers, that's not right for us. Our drama needs to be broad by definition, it needs to be impactful."

Vanity Fair is up against Bodyguard, which stars Richard Madden as an officer assigned to protect the home secretary, played by Keeley Hawes.

Its ratings have stayed flat - its first two episodes last Sunday and Monday attracted 6.7 and 6.4 million respectively in the overnight ratings.

 

[Barbara Fan]

BBC One's ratings giant Bodyguard surprised us all again this week. But this time, the real bombshell was the total absence of... well... a bombshell.

There were no explosions or shoot-outs in the fourth chapter of Jed Mercurio's thriller, which nonetheless still delivered plenty of intrigue and the game-changing announcement that Keeley Hawes' Home Secretary had succumbed to her injuries from the RIPA '18 attack.

But is everything as it appears? Here's what we're chewing over after the latest instalment.

1. Could Julia still be alive?

© BBC/World Productions/Sophie Mutevelian
The latest Bodyguard opens with Julia Montague "fighting for her life" – but shortly afterward, we're informed that the surgeons couldn't save her and that she's died in the operating theatre.

Now, we don't actually witness Julia's passing. In fact, last we saw her, she was lying unconscious in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, her prognosis uncertain. And while some of those caught up in the blast didn't make it (RIP Kim!), others like Budd escaped relatively unscathed.

Quite possibly Julia is gone for good. Advertising the series with Keeley Hawes as co-lead only to bump her off midway through is certainly a very Jed Mercurio thing to do. But then again, having Montague fake her death to fool her opponents and make a triumphant comeback in episode six would be every bit as devious.

If she is alive, Mercurio's playing the long game – there's no end-of-episode reveal confirming her survival as you might be expecting.

Related: Bodyguard viewers think they know who's responsible for episode 3's bombing

2. Did Tahir Mahmood set off the bomb?

Tahir (Shubham Saraf) "died instantly" in the blast, but the departed PR adviser remains SO15's chief suspect, with "no CCTV of any of his backstage activity" existing to either absolve Mahmood or prove his guilt without question.

MI5's Stephen Hunter-Dunn (Stuart Bowman) insists that the evidence against Mahmood is "circumstantial" and that he had no obvious link to terrorism, having been "vetted thoroughly" prior to his hiring
But what if, as Budd (Richard Madden) implies, Tahir wasn't vetted correctly? What if somebody on the inside planted him as a mole?

More on Tahir, and his possible guilt, below.

3. Was the bomb in the briefcase?

Not actually the same question as "Was Tahir guilty?" – it's possible that he was an unwitting patsy, with no knowledge that he was carrying an explosive device.

The briefcase is originally assumed to be the source of the explosion, but when SO15 rewatch frame-by-frame footage of the bombing, it's impossible to determine the origin point of the blast and the latest Bodyguard ends without resolving the issue.

That said, if there was a bomb in the briefcase, why didn't Budd spot it? He looked inside and tells SO15 that the only contents were "Home Office documents", but is pulled up for not carrying out a more thorough inspection of the case, and for not searching Mahmood.

Was Budd simply careless, costing Julia her life?

Related: BBC confirms Bodyguard's dramatic series finale will be an extended episode

4. Was Budd involved in the bombing?

There is another possibility, of course. Perhaps, despite all the distractions, Bodyguard really is going down the path we all expected from the series opener: the story of an unstable veteran targeting the pro-war Home Secretary.

Maybe Budd saw what was inside Tahir's briefcase and allowed the attack to go ahead? SO15's DCI Sharma (Ash Tandon) certainly isn't ruling out Budd as a suspect, repeatedly pointing out that David was PPO – Personal Protection Officer – on both of the attacks on Julia. "Either you've got rotten luck," he sneers. "Or it's a coincidence."

But which is it? Budd's guilt at the news of Julia's death seems real enough, but what exactly is he feeling guilty about? His failure to protect her? Or the role he played in her demise?

5. Did Mike Travis and Rob Macdonald plan the bombing?

Julia's shifty special advisor Rob Macdonald (Paul Ready) was the one who delivered the briefcase to Tahir, with CCTV images of the exchange, plus phone records of a call taking place between the two men shortly before the bombing, being used by SO15 to haul Rob in for questioning.

He insists that the case was Tahir's all along and that he was simply returning it. But even if he's lying about that, that doesn't neccessarily mean that Rob handed Tahir a bomb: as established elsewhere in the episode, with no footage of Tahir's backstage activities, it's entirely possible that he inserted the explosive device later, or swapped the case out for a duplicate.

Related: Bodyguard series 2: Cast, release date, spoilers and everything you need to know

More damning though is an exchange between Rob and Mike Travis (Vincent Franklin), the acting Home Secretary. "It wasn't even my idea!" protests Rob, when he learns he's under suspicion. "They won't find anything," insists Mike. "There's a simple, plausible story for you to stick to – and you will stick to it."

Why are Mike and Rob lying? Is it telling that newly-promoted Mike – who displays a more menacing side to his character this week – immediately places responsibility for the terror investigation back into the hands of the police, undoing Julia's recent agreement with MI5?

6. What next for MI5?

MI5 had, it appears, struck a deal with Julia, providing her with damning evidence to oust the PM in return for her giving them increased powers once she took office.

Now that Montague's out of the picture, possibly executed by a force wanting to keep her out of 10 Downing Street, should Stephen Hunter-Dunn be worried that he's next on the list?

MI5 is now under fire from all sides, with a rogue Budd uncovering evidence that footage was excised from the CCTV in Julia's hotel, to allow the engimatic Richard Longcross (Michael Schaeffer) to pay a secret visit to her suite.

Will SO15 follow up on Budd's discovery and dig up more about Longcross and his conversations with Julia?

7. Who is the bomb-maker?

With no further arrests since Budd convinced Nadia (Anjli Mohindra) to give herself up on October 1, she remains the investigation's key witness, with SO15 allowing Budd to lead her questioning in the hopes of exploiting their connection.

Nadia does open up to Budd, revealing that her bomb vest wasn't constructed by her husband, but was "a gift" from an unidentified third party. Nadia's husband once took her to a car park, where he meet the bomb-maker – an Asian man, according to Nadia, though apparently not Tahir Mahmood, since she fails to pick him out of a photo line-up.

SO15 suspect that the various terrorist incidents we've witnessed across Bodyguard's four episodes so far "could be connected under a single conspiracy" – but who is the still-at-large bomb-maker, and is he "the mastermind behind it all"?

Bodyguard continues next Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/feature/a865749/bodyguard-episode-4-theories-questions-spoilers/

 

[Barbara Fan]

This drama is so exciting and I am itching to see the next episode
It certainly keeps you guessing and is the BBCs most watched drama for a long time x

 

[Barbara Fan]

It ends tomorrow, im hooked and I have NO IDEA!!

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/enter...uard-whodunnit-key-suspects-profiled-13288369

Bodyguard whodunnit: Key suspects profiled as hit BBC thriller comes to climax

We’re one day away from finding out who killed Julia Montague in the BBC ’s hit thriller Bodyguard.

The drama has pulled in a record 10million viewers an episode over five weeks, each one revealing more twists and suspects for killing the Home Secretary.
But is Julia Montague, played by Keeley Hawes, even dead?

Ex-Met detective inspector turned author Matt Johnson, 61, investigates the prime suspects...

The Home Secretary Julia Montague played by actress Keeley Hawes (Image: BBC)
The Home Secretary
It’s the question on everyone’s lips: Is Julia Montague really dead? Known as a target from episode one, could her “death” be a cover-up?

We never saw her in hospital and her death was announced via a subdued conversation between the doctors and her ex-husband and mother. Her funeral was never shown, either.

Matt says it’s an unlikely theory, and it’s more realistic that Budd was the target and Julia, played by Keeley Hawes, was accidentally killed in the process.

“If we take away the assumption that Julia was the target, it was actually a ruse,” he said.

Murderer mark: 1/10

The Spy
We know Richard Longcross is a covert operative. But why’s he been spying on Budd’s family?

Longcross, played by Michael Shaeffer, also passed on dirt on the Prime Minister to Julia. Did the secret service hope to install her as PM?

Why did the relationship go “sour”, according to David? Why did Nadia identify him as the man who gave her husband the train bomb?

Richard Longcross, played by Michael Shaeffer, passed on dirt about the PM to the Home Secretary (Image: BBC)
Some fans think he could be Budd’s ex-wife’s boyfriend. Matt said he is a “real suspect” but: “What’s his motive?”

Murderer mark: 7/10

The PM
John Vosler, played by David Westhead, was allegedly being blackmailed by Montague for his sins. So did he have her murdered?

“I’ve just got a feeling he might be up to something,” Matt said.

“Julia had access to that tablet with damning details against him and MI5 felt betrayed.

John Vosler, played by David Westhead, was allegedly being blackmailed by the Home Secretary (Image: BBC)
“A conspiracy in which the PM and Chanel have teamed up isn’t behind the realms of possibility.”

Murderer mark: 5/10

The Sacked PA
Ever since Chanel Dyson was fired by the Home Secretary, fans have been wondering if she had something to do with her murder.

Eagle-eyed viewers recognised the man driving her as a member of the veterans’ group David Budd attended. He is crime boss Luke Aitkens.

Chanel, played by Stephanie Hyman, asked for Budd’s number at a cafe, before getting picked up by Luke.

Chanel Dyson was sensationally sacked by Julia Montague (Image: BBC)
She is the most credible suspect, especially if she is working with Luke.

“She has a clear motive,” Matt said. “She was in a perfect position to leak Julia’s itinerary. And there is something quite sinister about her.”

Murderer mark: 8/10

The Ex-Wife
Could Budd’s estranged wife, Vicky, be in on things?

We know she is seeing a new man but we’ve yet to spot him.

Vicky, played by Sophie Rundle, seems fairly calm considering the danger her family may be in. Is this because she’s at the heart of it?

She has admitted Longcross questioned her at the hospital.

Vicky remains calm considering the danger her family could be in (Image: BBC)
But Matt thinks Vicky is just a “distraction”. “She doesn’t have the means or opportunity,” he said

Murderer mark: 2/10

The Ex-Husband
It was clear from episode one that there was no love lost between Julia and her ex-husband, MP Roger Penhaligon.

The chief whip, played by Nicholas Gleaves, hates her on a personal and professional level for her ambition.

Could killing her be his way of thwarting her plans to be PM?

There is no love lost between MP Roger Penhaligon and ex-wife Julia (Image: BBC)
Matt thinks he’s an unlikely suspect.

“It’s very unlikely he’d choose such an extreme way of getting back at her – he could have found other ways, revenge or political embarrassment,” he said.

Murderer mark: 1/10

The Top Cop
Head of counterterrorism at the Met Anne Sampson, played by Gina McKee, is furious at being cut out of the train attack probe.

Did she leak the travel schedule to Apsted, the sniper? And why did she get Budd to spy on Montague?

Anne Sampson was furious about being cut out of the train attack probe (Image: BBC)
“She may be motivated to discredit, but I don’t think she’d be driven to murder,” Matt said.

Murderer mark: 1/10

The Aide
Tahir Mamood has been chief suspect for most of the series. But is Montague’s aide behind the bomb?

The device wasn’t in his briefcase but planted under the stage.

Tahir Mamood has been one of the main suspects throughout the series (Image: BBC)
Was Tahir, played by Shubham Saraf, framed? Or is he resentful working for a hard-line Home Secretary? Matt said he’s an “innocent pawn in a game being played by Julia’s ex-husband”.

Murderer mark: 1/10

The Bodyguard
Despite their affair, Julia stands for everything Sgt David Budd hates.

The former soldier, played by Richard Madden, has been left with PTSD after serving in Helmand and is distrusting of politicians, especially those who voted in favour of the conflict.

Torn between his beliefs and his duty to protect, Budd has been forced to decide where his loyalties lie.

Combine that with the fact he was asked to spy on his lover by his Met boss, Anne Sampson, and that he saw his Army pal Andy Apsted, played by Tom Brooke, attempt to kill Julia, it’s no wonder he isn’t stable.

Matt says any credible suspect will have means, motive and opportunity.

Budd has all three. But Matt thinks the real twist will be that Budd was meant to be the target after all.

“Budd is the key,” he said. “He was very close to being killed on the train. Then if we move on to the bomb scene when Julia is killed, a device is triggered by someone stepping on to the bomb – a place Budd was very likely to go.”

David Budd has been left with PTSD after serving in Helmand and is distrusting of politicians (Image: PA)
According to bodyguard protocol, Budd should have been there – not in front of the stage.

“He’s been the target,” speculates Matt. But even if he wasn’t, Matt still thinks he’s a credible suspect.

He could want revenge for his friend Apsted killing himself, or blame Julia for the scars he bears. He also met an ex-military contact to buy a Romanian military rifle of the kind Andy used in his assassination attempt.

He could also have gone from hero to killer because Julia failed to tell him his children’s school was a terrorism target.

Or could Budd be working with the terrorists? Matt said any of the theories are possible.

Murderer mark: 7/10

 

[Ome]

We did the series over the weekend and I'm glad because every episode was really tense and I don't think I would have remembered everything had I watched it weekly.

One of the best BBC dramas in a long time and in a way I hope they don't have another series because it begins to thin out the more they try and create that compelling drama.

 

[Barbara Fan]

By Morgan Jeffery
23 September 2018

Across its six-week run on BBC One, Bodyguard has never delivered quite what we expect – at least not in the way we expect it.

So it shouldn't really come as a surprise that the concluding episode of the first series doesn't play out at all how any of us were predicting. Most obviously, Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes) doesn't return from the grave – but also, writer Jed Mercurio doesn't spend 75 minutes slowly unravelling the tangled web he's woven over the past five weeks.

Instead, in possibly his ballsiest move yet, much of Bodyguard's finale is devoted to an enormous set-piece, a 40-minute face-off that takes up the lion's share of the extended running time. (Those who've grumbled about the lack of action in the last two episodes compared to the barnstorming early instalments certainly won't have any cause to complain.)

Related: Bodyguard episode 6 explained: Julia's killer revealed

We've barely got under way before David Budd (Richard Madden) is jumped by goons working for crime lord Luke Aitkens (Matt Stokoe) and strapped up in a booby-trapped bomb vest, Mercurio setting up the central peril of the episode with admirable efficiency.

Budd's fate, and his prolonged stand-off with the police, provides us with a neat bit of symmetry, and a clever reversal
Bodyguard started out with the audience suspecting that Budd would target Julia Montague, and it ends with the authorities all making the same mistake. The series opened too with Budd talking down would-be bomber Nadia, and now he's the one strapped to a vest.

Mercurio's always presented Budd as a morally ambiguous hero, but he takes, if anything, a larger risk here by not having him face down his looming demise with square-jawed stoicism. Instead, the tautly-directed sequence in which David breaks down allows Madden the opportunity to deliver his best, most emotive work on the series yet.

Madden's absolutely superb as, in quick order, Budd exudes desperation, pure relief as shifty MI5 type Longcross (Michael Shaeffer) is intercepted, and eventually heartbreak as he finally confesses the extent of his anxieties and mental trauma to estranged wife Vicky (Sophie Rundle).

(Less convincing, it has to be said, is DCI Deepak Sharma's sudden shift from Budd's biggest opponent to his understanding best pal – Budd now recognising Sharma as a "bloke whose word's his bond" feels like a significant leap, one which even Ash Tandon's sympathetic performance can't quite sell.)

Related: Bodyguard series 2: Cast, release date, spoilers and everything you need to know

Once this nail-biting incident eventually resolves itself, Mercurio leaves himself just 20 minutes to furnish us with those long-awaited answers, which means that when the big reveals do arrive, they come thick and fast... and they're mostly satisfying.

Luke Aitkens being confirmed as the mastermind behind everything works fine – the possibility had already been presented to us, so it's not a frustrating last-minute rug-pull. The second major twist is even more effective, with Lorraine Craddock's (Pippa Haywood) guilt emerging as a genuine surprise without feeling like a cheat.

It's only with its third unmasking that Bodyguard stumbles – Anjli Mohindra's good enough that she can convince as both cowed victim and hate-filled terrorist, but the narrative of Nadia as super-villain doesn't quite track.

Are we supposed to believe that she was planted on that train on October 1 on the assumption that Budd's suspicions would be raised, that he'd intervene in the attack, all to guarantee his promotion and place him at Julia Montague's side? Bit of a stretch, even for this show.


It's to Mercurio's credit, though, that once he's revealed his secrets, he resists the temptation to subvert everything with one final twist. Budd's not a secret villain. His reunion with his wife and kids isn't rocked by a surprise explosion. And, most crucially of all, Julia doesn't emerge from a black cab with a wry smile, having faked her demise. Thank goodness.

Having built and built a complex conspiracy across the series, Mercurio just about pulls everything together in this final instalment, even if a few of the final twists stretch credulity to near-breaking point. But whatever slight reservations we might have about Bodyguard's climax, there's no denying that the series has been a dramatic tour-de-force like no other – far more heightened and way more outrageous than the same writer's Line of Duty, but at its best, every bit as gripping.

This big, bold and brazen finale leaves us wondering how Mercurio can possibly go bigger and better in the inevitable follow-up. You might suspect he'd struggle… but then it's probably foolish to second-guess the man who's wrong-footed us all, over and over again.

 

[Barbara Fan]

BBC One has finally given us the Bodyguard and Line of Duty crossover we've been waiting for.

Both dramas are written by Jed Mercurio and have proven to be massively popular, so it's only natural that fans should want to see both shows collide, or perhaps even be teased that they exist in the same universe.

Well, the BBC might not have gone that far, but they have edited together a rather amusing clip, featuring Bodyguard's David Budd (Richard Madden) meeting Line of Duty's Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar).

"Wondering whodunnit in Bodyguard? Don't worry, Line of Duty's Ted Hastings is on the case," BBC One's official Twitter account posted, with the crudely edited video showing Ted interrogating David.

Of course, the video went down incredibly well with fans of both shows, with many now calling for an actual crossover.

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1040623707129970689

 

[Rove]

Finished binge watching this series yesterday as it was released on Netflix Australia at 6pm on Wednesday last week. I kept hearing good things about this series so avoided reading anything Bodyguard related. Hands down one of the best series I've watched. More please.

 

[Ome]

This is brilliant and hilarious!