For a politician and a soldier love is a battlefield

BODYGUARD Sunday/Monday – BBC1, 9pm

When her PA refers to her as a sociopath, that’s probably the nicest thing anyone has said about her in years.

Enter Sergeant David Budd (Richard Madden), a special protection officer newly appointed to look after La Montague’s security. It would be fair to say that he is possibly both the best and worst man for the job.

On the plus side, he has a distinguished record of military service. Unfortunately, however, he also is also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and has an abiding hatred for those responsible for sending him to Afghanistan and Iraq.

As in gung-ho, warmongering politicians like, er, Julia Montague.

Still, what’s the worst that can happen when a deeply damaged ex-soldier with access to firearms is entrusted with the safety of a woman he clearly loathes? We’ll no doubt find out in the weeks ahead.

Just two episodes in and there has already been a spate of terror incidents.

After Budd and Montague were lucky to escape the last one, they ended up getting extremely well acquainted with each other.

Somehow, though, I don’t think this is going to end up as a great romance.

What’s more, all the signs so far suggest the fall-out will be far worse than from the typical ill-judged one-night stand.

Unlikely couple: David Budd (Richard Madden) and Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes) FORGIVE me if it is stating the bleeding obvious to say that Keeley Hawes has an impressive list of credits (Line of Duty, Spooks, Tipping the Velvet).But she really caught my eye in the second series of The Missing, where she played a mother whose 11-year-old daughter vanished and then apparently turned up more than a decade later. It was a subtle, low-key and brilliantly nuanced performance.Now she is portraying a far less sympathetic character in the shape of no-nonsense Tory MP Julia Montague, who also happens to be the British Home Secretary.Julia could actually be a composite character of all the most horrible female politicians you can think of.