TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

Jed MeRCURIO, creator of the BBC’s gripping new drama, must have had a field day researching the characters for Bodyguard.

The plot has echoes of a reallife drama that had serious political ramifications in 2010 when it was revealed the wife of Home Secretary Alan Johnson (right) had been having an affair with his bodyguard, Paul Rice (top left).

The illicit affair of Laura Johnson (top right) with the Scotland Yard close protection officer assigned to Johnson lasted between June 2009 and May 2010. It was later alleged Rice was also having an affair with Johnson’s constituency assistant, Tracy Windle, 50, at the same time. Rice had been assigned to protect Johnson after his own marriage broke down and he later divorced wife Michelle with whom he has a son. The affair was exposed in 2011 when Johnson resigned, citing ‘personal issues in my private life’. That November Rice, then 45, was sacked after a twoday misconduct hearing. ex-postman Johnson and his wife, who had been married for nearly 20 years, later divorced. In december 2015, Johnson married Carolyn Burgess, his partner of four years.