Bonnets v bombs and a bare bottom ...so who won the battle for Sunday night TV?
As Sunday TV dramas go head to head, Bodyguard hots up in the face of Vanity Fair challenge
OPULENCE was pitted against fire and flesh last night in the battle of the Sunday TV drama.
ITV’s lavish adaptation of Vanity Fair competed for viewers in n a head-to-head with the e BBC’s Bodyguard.
The Napoleonic- era series s features flirtatious social l climber Becky Sharp played by y Olivia Cooke, while the BBC’s s high octane political thriller r stars Keeley Hawes as a headstrong dHome Secretary targeted d by assassins.
Bodyguard drew 6.5million n viewers for its second adrenalinfuelled nepisode but yesterday’s ’s first instalment of Vanity Fair ir may have dented audience figures gws for the third – as both shows went out at 9pm.
Hoping to see off the competition, tihe Bodyguard ramped up the drama last night.
Scottish heartthrob Richard ard Madden, who plays David Budd, dd, protection officer to the Home me Secretary, bared his behind while hile sneaking out of bed to snoop on his boss. Madden, 32, has quickly kly become the BBC’s new hunk, filling fillght the boots left by The Night Manager’s Tom Hiddleston and Poldark’s Aidan Turner.
The episode saw Budd continue inue his relationship with Miss Hawes’s wes’s character Julie Montague in a series eries of steamy trysts.
However, at one point, the former army officer, suffering from PTSD following time in Afghanistan, attempts to strangle her after she wakes him in the night – before he realises who she is.
The sinister themes continued when the Home Secretary suffered another assassination attempt. She is delivering a speech about plans to increase surveillance powers when a bomb is detonated, causing her and Budd to be thrown into the air. He is seen crawling through debris to reach the minister, whose charred body appears lifeless.
Destined to become this autumn’s must-watch drama, Bodyguard was created by the BBC’s star writer, Jed Mercurio. He was also responsible for Line of Duty, which starred Miss Hawes, 42, as well as medical series Bodies.
It remains to be seen how ITV’s latest big hitter fares, but the competition may be stiff – the production company behind Vanity Fair is the same one that created favourites Poldark and Victoria.
‘Series of steamy trysts’