It's been 6 years since Bodyguard aired and fans are still waiting on a 2nd series
It was a huge show for the BBC!
Bodyguard captivated audiences from the get-go. With its dramatic storyline, cliffhangers and, of course, the VERY handsome Richard Madden playing lead character David Budd, we couldn't get enough of the show!
The series finale of Bodyguard had a whopping 17 million people tune in, which everybody thought meant a second series would be basically guaranteed - however, six years on from the show airing, there's still been no follow-up!
When did Bodyguard air in the UK?
After weeks of teasers being shared online by the BBC, Bodyguard finally aired on BBC One in August 2018 where the first episode threw viewers into a nail-biting stand-off featuring former military man Budd and a potential suicide bomber.
The first episode aired on 26th August 2018.
Will there be a second series?
Following the success of series one, Jed Mercurio, who is also the mastermind behind Line Of Duty, seemed to pretty much confirm the news in various interviews.
Check out everything that's been said about a potential second series below:
November 2019:
Jed jokingly confirmed Bodyguard Series 2 with a tweet in November 2019, writing: 'What’s really holding up development of #Bodyguard Series 2 is the quest for any dramatically sympathetic reason not to kill off the cabinet minister in the first five minutes.' (sic)
Meanwhile Richard Madden said in an interview with Lorraine Kelly at the NTA's in 2019: "It is going to come back. I think we can safely say Bodyguard is coming back. He’s definitely going to be there."
May 2019:
In May 2019, actor Richard also told The Hollywood Reporter: "We've been talking about it and I spoke to Jed about a month after the show had finished airing over in the UK and we sat and decided, 'Let's give it at least a year while we work out how to do something better'.
"You cannot jump into it. David Budd definitely needs a vacation after that. He's not going to go back to work, is he? And also he's the most famous man in London because of what happens at the end of episode six. He couldn't just go straight back into work.
"When we did the show, it was just going to be a one-off, it's own thing, because Jed was still writing the show as we were doing it, but the show's engaged with so many people, and it's engaged with me, because I'm fascinated by that character. I'm fascinated by a man who's gone through so much, and I'm very keen to see what happens to him two years later.
"Where will this man be, in terms of his mental health, in terms of his wife and children, in terms of his career? He's not going to sit back and retire, and he's not going to pick a normal job. He's going to be engaged in something interesting. So I'm very keen to work with Jed and work out how to move on the next bit of the story. But we decided we're not going to rush it and shoot something this year.
"We're going to give it a breath and do it justice. If we come back to do another one, I want to do something as different as the first series was, and not just repeat the cycle, repeat the formula. I want to do something totally different and I'm excited to see what Jed comes up with in that way."
August 2020:
In August 2020, Jed replied to a tweet from fan of the show and singer Richard Marx who'd been asking about the future of the show.
Jed revealed that a second series of the show has not even been confirmed yet, saying: 'Hi, Richard, thanks for asking about #Bodyguard. We’d love to reward our amazing fans all over the world with a second season but no final decision has been made yet.' (sic)
Jed then addressed rumours again in 2020, telling The Guardian: "If you read the websites of certain major newspapers, there's some sort of announcement every week. But when you read the article, you realise they have no factual content whatsoever.
"There's a bit of a feeding frenzy around certain programmes. Having the opportunity to publicly correct misleading pieces is extremely helpful. If someone's made an honest mistake, that's fine. If someone's being a piece of s**t, then you need to just call them all out."
2023:
Asked about the show's return by extratv in late 2023, Richard said: "I don't know if there's a space for it, but we've always left the door open... I'm not really sure where I take that character, but as the years go by, I think that's what might make it interesting... to pick up with David Budd, you know maybe 6-7 years later and see what's happened in his life since."
2024:
Although there's still been no official confirmation of a second series, it's understood the BBC are keen and committed to making it happen at some point.
When is Bodyguard series 2 on TV?
We don't yet have a confirmation of a second season, or an air date.
How many episodes of the Bodyguard were there in season one?
There were six episodes in the first series.
Where was Bodyguard filmed?
It was mostly filmed on location in London, using the Whittington Estate in London as David's flat and Battersea for where Julia lived. The bomb scenes were reportedly shot at CityPoint near Moorgate and Woburn Square in Bloomsbury, with the train scenes taking place on the Mid-Norfolk Railway.
Climactic moments were filmed in public spaces throughout the capital. Southwark and Camden residents observed climactic scenes involving police patrol cars and armed police. In the show, Richard Madden’s character David lives on the Stoneleigh Terrace Estate in Camden. At one point in the series, with a bomb vest strapped to him, police escort David back to his flat. We bet that was SO exciting for residents to see!
With anxiety over the threat of terror attacks in the capital, the real Met police had to inform locals of the filming and be present at all times avoid any panic situations.
Is there a Bodyguard trailer?
The first trailer for Bodyguard season one was released back in June 2018 on Twitter from the official BBC One account along with the caption: 'The threat is closer than you think... Bodyguard. Coming soon to BBC One.'
Is Bodyguard based on a true story?
No, Bodyguard is a fictional story based on a very real 'political world'. However, the show is not based on any current British politics.
Bodyguard is based on the real specialist operations in the UK under the direction of London’s Metropolitan Police who have branches looking after politicians, diplomats and royalty.
The Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) provides protection to the Royal Family, government officials and diplomats whereas the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP) protects government buildings, estates and foreign missions. The titles of the characters are all legitimate titles that exist in the organisation.
Who are the creators of Bodyguard?
Bodyguard was created by none other than Jed Mercurio, who also was the mastermind behind the hit franchise Line Of Duty.
Jed Mercurio said to BBC's Newsnight: “It was just something that started out of the desire to do something that was set in the political world and find a different way into that and with my experience on Line of Duty I was kind of aware of the different specialisations within the police.”
Who is Richard Madden?
Scottish heartthrob Richard Madden burst back onto British screens as Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran David Budd in the BBC's hit show Bodyguard. Richard is perhaps best known for his role as Robb Stark in HBO's Game of Thrones series, where he was the eldest son in the Stark family.
He was a principle member of the cast in series one to three until he, his pregnant wife Talisa and mother Catelyn were murdered during the most shocking TV episode of 2013, 'The Red Wedding', which left viewers in shock for weeks.
Has Richard Madden starred in any films?
Richard's first film success came in 2015, where he starred alongside actress Lily James in the Disney live action remake of Cinderella, playing Prince Charming, Kit. He then went on to star in the 2016 drama film Bastille Day with Idris Elba and had other TV roles in Lady Chatterley's Lover, Medici: Masters of Florence and Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams.
In recent years, Richard has appeared in Rocketman and 1917.
Cast of the Bodyguard: Who played the bodyguard?
With Richard Madden cast as the war veteran David Budd and Keeley Hawes as Home Secretary Julia Montague in BBC One's Bodyguard, fans knew the show was going to be a hit.
Keeley's had her fair share of starring credits, notably the BBC's Ashes to Ashes alongside Philip Glenister where she played DI Alex Drake who mysteriously goes back in time to the 1980s after she's shot in the present day. She's also starred in the BBC's Line Of Duty, the same team who created Bodyguard, and ITV's The Durrells.
Other faces you might recognise from Bodyguard are Budd's wife Vicky, played by Sophie Rundle. She starred in the BBC's hit series Peaky Blinders as lead character Tommy Shelby's mischievous little sister Ada.
Budd's boss Lorraine Craddock (and "inside man' in the Met) is played by Pippa Haywood, known for starring in the Brittas Empire, Prisoners' Wives and Scott & Bailey.
Head of MI5 Stephen Hunter-Dunn was played by Stuart Bowman, who is also known for his portrayal of Alexandre Bontemps in the drama series Versailles which aired on the BBC in the UK.
Have a look at our gallery of the Bodyguard cast:
Richard Madden
Heartthrob Richard Madden starred as the Home Secretary's bodyguard David Budd. Sergeant David Budd serves as a Principal Protection Officer (PPO) in the Royal and Specialist Protection Command of London's Metropolitan Police (RaSP).
Keeley Hawes
Home Secretary Julia Montague was played by Keeley Hawes. Ambitious, smart and undaunted by opposition, Julia is pushing a controversial new counter-terrorism bill through parliament which would give the security services unprecedented powers of surveillance. Some of her colleagues believe Julia is on course to challenge the PM for party leadership.
Pippa Haywood
Pippa Haywood played Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock, David Budd's commanding officer at RaSP (Royalty and Specialist Protection).
She purposefully assigns David to protect the Home Secretary, Julia Montague, due to his military experience. Always on the side of her officers, Craddock backs David up when he comes under suspicion from other quarters. But we soon learn that she can't be trusted!
Sophie Rundle
Peaky Blinders star Sophie Rundle plays the wife of police officer PS David Budd, Vicky. They are separated due to his unpredictable moods and issues with PTSD since he returned from the Afghanistan war. While she still loves and cares for David, she also wants to move on with her life.
Ash Tandon
Ash Tandon played DCI Deepak Sharma - a senior detective in the Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Command (SO15). He leads the investigation into the recent spate of terror events and reports directly to the branch's Commander, Anne Sampson.
Nina Toussaint-White
Detective Sergeant Louise Rayburn was played by Nina Toussaint-White. Her character was a Counter Terrorism officer with SO15. Tenacious and sharp, she investigates the recent spate of bomb attacks.
Stuart Bowman
Stuart Bowman played Director General of the Security Service (MI-5) Stephen Hunter-Dunn. His private meetings with Home Secretary Julia Montague start to raise suspicions within Julia's team.
Gina McKee
Gina McKee played Commander Anna Sampson, a woman of seemingly unimpeachable professional standards. Sampson is horrified when Julia threatens to move the investigation into recent terror events over to the Security Service. Caught between policing and politics, Sampson must find a way to cut through the machinations of those around her and get to the truth.
Nicholas Gleaves
Nicholas played the Rt. Hon. Roger Penhaligon, MP is the Government Chief Whip and former husband of Julia Montague.
Tom Brooke
Like PS David Budd, Andy Apsted is another veteran of the Afghanistan war with the scars to prove it.
Anjli Mohindra
Anjli plays Islamic State terrorist Nadia who befriends David Budd in order to draw the suspicion away from her. She later reveals to detectives that she is the mastermind behind the Home Secretary's death, having manufactured the bomb that killed her.
How did Keeley Hawes' character Julia Montague die in Bodyguard?
Home Secretary Julia Montague was giving a speech in an auditorium, which bodyguard David Budd said was safe to do despite the threat to her being raised to critical. During the speech, Budd noticed a suspicious person backstage and pursued, but found nothing in the man's suitcase. When he emerged back into the auditorium, he realised he'd been set up and a bomb was detonated in the audience, wiping out half of the attendees.
Julia was blown from her podium despite Budd running through the venue trying to warn her of the danger, and she was rushed to hospital where she later died.
Is Julia Montague really dead?
In episode three of the show, viewers saw David Budd being told the Home Secretary had been killed but he was not allowed to see her body. As a result, many viewers were convinced that Julia Montague was still alive and would make a shock return.
Convinced he was being framed for Julia’s death and shut out of the investigation, he headed to the Home Secretary’s home where he found a tablet which contains information about the Prime Minister which could put him in a compromising position.
However, the tablet’s hidden location could have been part of a plan put in place by the Home Secretary. Fans remembered that in a previous instalment, David could be seen looking at the image with Julia, where she told him, “That was us plotting the death star.”
Later, when Julia went for a secret meeting about the information on the tablet, she told David: “If I don’t come back, go to the death star.” The “death star” Julia is referring to was revealed to be the photograph she hid the tablet behind.
Is this confirmation that Julia is really dead and she knew she was a target once she learned the Prime Minister’s secrets? We'll have to wait and see!
What happened in the season finale of Bodyguard?
At the beginning of the finale, it started to look like the Met Police’s Counter Terrorism boss Anne Sampson (Gina McKee) was Luke Aitkin's (the mysterious crime lord) “inside man” who had been protecting him from criminal charges all these years. She certainly wasn’t keen for DCI Deepak Sharma (Ash Tandon) to investigate Luke as a possible suspect and seemed super shifty about the whole thing.
But no! While Anne’s weird relationship with Luke was never properly explained, the actual “inside man” in this case was… David’s SO15 boss Lorraine Craddock!
It turned out that Nadia (the scared woman who backed out of setting off her suicide vest at the start of the series), Luke (the criminal) and Lorraine (David's boss) were involved in the death of Home Secretary Julia Montague. Nadia still managed a lot of damage without having to blow herself up.
Before she was imprisoned, she built a bunch of explosive devices, including the one used in the school truck attack, the bomb planted at St Matthew’s College, and – last but not least – David Budd’s suicide vest in the final episode.
After a tense standoff with David in his suicide vest, he was able to prove he was telling the truth by “revealing” where he had hidden the tablet as bait for Richard Longcross, leading the security service man to his flat and setting off the booby trap which proved Longcross’s involvement in Julia's murder.
Despite proving his innocence, the police were still going to kill David (with encouragement of Lorraine of course), but his wife Vicky ran to his side to protect him, as she knew they wouldn't shoot him and risk killing her.
Unbelievably, David was allowed to walk all the way across London to his flat, where Vicky helped him dig up the tablet and the blanks which he’d stashed in the nearby cemetery. Having earned the trust of the police, our troubled hero then disabled his own suicide vest under the instruction of the bomb disposal expert. Go David!
But that wasn’t all. David bolted across the capital to prove his innocence once again, broke into Chanel’s flat, used her to get to Luke, and then identified Lorraine Craddock as the “inside woman” by confronting her at her own home. All in a day’s work!
How can I re-watch season one of Bodyguard?
If you can't get enough of the hit show and need to watch it again, you can watch all six episodes of series one on BBC iPlayer.
Is Bodyguard on Netflix?
In an attempt to rock the boat across the Atlantic, the BBC struck up a deal with the online streaming service Netflix in the hopes of Bodyguard - so if you've got a subscription, you can watch it.
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