TV’s hunky Bodyguard who’s a heartbreaker in real life
He’s bewitched millions on Bodyguard. But a string of celebrity girlfriends – two of whom fell out over him – reveal . . .
HE IS THE brooding hunk at the centre of the biggest hit drama of the year, a blue-eyed Scot who is being hailed as its sweetest export since Irn-Bru.
Playing heroic David Budd, a former special ops soldier turned police protection officer in the BBC’s new thriller Bodyguard, Richard Madden’s molten chemistry with the woman he is assigned to protect — Home Secretary Julia Montague played by Keeley Hawes — has seen him attract a fervent new following.
Yes, he was already a pin-up for the younger generation after his role as Robb Stark in Game of Thrones, and has 1.3 million followers on Instagram who swoon over posts including one of him ‘ wild swimming’ in Devon. The shirtless image attracted more than 300,000 likes seven weeks ago.
But a few minutes after 9pm on Sunday when Bodyguard began its first episode, he won a few million more devotees.
By the time Keeley Hawes sighed: ‘ I’m not the Queen, you’re allowed to touch me,’ thus signalling the first, inevitable, love scene, Maddenmania was sweeping the nation.
So who is Richard Madden, a bristling beefcake who admits that he worries ‘all the ****ing time’ about his appearance’?
He grew up in ordinary, not to say humble circumstances far from the bright lights, in Renfrewshire.
His story begins in Elderslie, a village 12 miles from Glasgow. His mother Pat is a classroom assistant in the local school and his father, also Richard, has been a fireman for more than 30 years.
He describes them as ‘old hippies’ who found his career choice ‘ completely bizarre’, adding: ‘There’s no background of creativity in my family; there are no actors or musicians.’
Madden, 32, is now a leading figure in a party-hard, rather flashy crowd of young London-based actors and models. His celebrity girlfriends have included actress Jenna Coleman, model Suki Waterhouse and TV presenters Caroline Flack and Laura Whitmore.
He was recently seen with current posh girlfriend Ellie Bamber, who went to Wellington College, at a DJ friend’s birthday party in Ibiza along with various soap stars and models. The order of the day seems to have been cigarettes and selfies on the beach followed by partying hard with the beautiful people of the Balearics.
He seems to have fallen into acting almost by accident. He recalled in an interview: ‘I was a nervous kid, not great socially, and I was terrified at the prospect of going from primary school to a high school that I knew was rough.
‘I thought, how do I get confident? My best friend was really cool, and she went to a youth theatre in Paisley, so I thought, maybe that’s the way to do it. I went along, and I immediately found something I w a s passionate about and really enjoyed.’
He made his film debut, aged 11, in an adaptation of Iain Banks’s novel Complicity. ‘ My first scene saw me getting raped by a big 50year-old ginger Scotsman,’ he said.
THEnhe was cast with pop star turned actress Toyah Willcox in CBBC series Barmy Aunt Boomerang. He spent two years on set, surrounded by adults, and skipping school.
Then he had to return to reality. He said: ‘Then the show ends and you go back to class, and you’re all at sea, and there’s hatefulness from your peers because you’re now the guy from the telly.
‘I can see how child stars can be thrown off-kilter. It taught me a lot about being in the business and how to handle yourself when you have any sort of success.’
There was no drama department at school but he was one of four children taken twice a week to another school for drama lessons — the limit was set at four because the school could only afford one taxi.
He asked: ‘If I was at one of these private schools, how many more people would have been on a drama course? Undoubtedly there is a difference between people with money having access to the arts that people from working- class backgrounds don’t have, but it’s not their fault. I’m not taking anything away from these brilliant actors who are doing great stuff in Hollywood. A lot of them are my friends.’
next came the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where Madden enrolled at 18.
‘For the first time in my life I was surrounded by people my age, who loved this acting thing, and it was acceptable,’ he said.
He graduated in 2007 and was cast as Romeo in a Globe Theatre production of Romeo And Juliet that toured the country. ( The Stage newspaper noted his ‘ gravelly Glaswegian’ take on the star-cross’d lover. He says his accent is so strong the Siri app on his phone cannot recognise what says to it. ‘I’m like, “What time’s the next train?” And Siri’s like: “Calling ex-girlfriend.” ’ he has grumbled.)
NExThe played singer Kirk Brandon in BBC’s 2010 Boy George biopic Worried About The Boy — and then, in 2011, came Game Of Thrones.
He was Robb Stark for three seasons, bringing him global recognition. His bloody end — in the notorious Red Wedding episode that also claimed the life of his mother and wife — was perhaps his highlight.
American TV host Conan O’Brien described the carnage as ‘the most stunning thing any of us have seen in television, maybe ever’.
In private Madden says he shed a lot of tears. He told an interviewer: ‘I’d spent more time with my onscreen mother, Michelle Fairley, over those years, than my real mother, so we were having to say goodbye as friends as well as colleagues, in the most violent and horrible way.’
By the time he was cast in Game of Thrones he was beginning his first high-profile, long-term relationship with petite actress Jenna Coleman. Coleman landed her role in Dr Who the following year, making them the premier couple of modern cult TV.
Rather sweetly he said he was more excited about her Dr Who role than she was. ‘ She was like, “I’ve never really watched it.” I’ve loved it since I was a kid!’
Later he said: ‘I can geek out about it, like when I go to set and see the Tardis. I was selfie-ing the s**t out of it, and sending it to my dad! “Look, it’s me in the Tardis!” I thought it was the coolest thing ever.’
In the spring of 2015, shortly after Madden had completed a round of publicity for Cinderella (he played Prince Charming, with Lily James in the title role), it was regretfully revealed that his three-year romance with Coleman had fizzled out under the pressure of them both becoming big stars. There was talk of his chemistry with actress Lily James
and they were both then cast by Kenneth Branagh in a West End production of Romeo And Juliet. Both said they were nothing more than friends.
Jenna was then linked to Prince Harry — the two of them were pictured in apparently intimate conversation at the polo in June, and the Prince apparently texted her asking for a date.
Soon afterwards, she and Richard were spotted on a date in London, having apparently rekindled their affair. But it clearly wasn’t to be, as at that point Coleman started working on the ITV drama Victoria with Tom Hughes, a friend she had known for years. They began a passionate romance.
Possibly smarting, in March 2016, Madden moved on to TV presenter Laura Whitmore. A source said: ‘ Richard immediately felt a connection. There’s real chemistry between them. He has done much of the wooing but they’re both very keen.’ However, by late summer that liaison had also fizzled out and Madden was linked to perennial singleton, TV presenter Caroline Flack.
The story was made rather complicated, though, due to the fact that Flack and Whitmore were good friends.
A source said: ‘ Caz [Caroline Flack] and Laura had a big bustup. Basically, Laura thinks Caroline broke the girl code, and Caz didn’t even tell her about Richard — Laura found out through mutual friends.’ By December, all of that was over too, and Madden began a fleeting romance with the model Suki Waterhouse.
In the summer of 2017 he started dating current girlfriend Ellie Bamber, 21. The happy pair attended the super trendy Serpentine Gallery party this summer and they appear to be going strong.
Female viewers would do well to enjoy Madden’s current incarnation. His next project is starring as Elton John’s manager and lover, John Reid in a biopic. ‘I like to try to change things up a bit,’ he said. ‘I’ve done a few oldstyle romantic leads now. I’d really like to shave my hair off and get a bit more hard-edged.’
And, it seems, veer away from characters required to take off their shirts within 15 minutes of appearing on screen.
‘I try to take jobs where the nudity is relevant,’ he has said.
‘But if it’s just a gratuitous: “And now we’ll have a scene of him in the shower”, then that’s pointless.’