Bodyguard Finale

BBC iplayer

Well, it’s all over. The most thrilling TV drama of the year so far bowed out on Sunday with an extended 75-minute episode in which we finally found out who was responsible for assassinating home secretary Julia Montague in a bomb attack, as well as the other terrorist incidents throughout the series. If for some reason you decided not to watch it “live” on BBC1, and you still haven’t caught up on iplayer, I’ll try to avoid major spoilers, like telling you who assassinated Julia in that bomb attack. Or even if she was really dead all that time. Suffice to say there were some gloriously jaw-dropping surprises, on top of a sequence of extraordinary suspense to rival the now famous opening train/ explosive set-piece. Our hero David Budd’s long walk through central London while he dealt with interventions from the police, the spooks and his estranged wife was a masterstroke of sustained tension, keeping viewers guessing throughout just whose side the various law-enforcers were on, and how the hell Budd was going to extract himself from a seemingly impossible situation. If, indeed, he did. No doubt the nitpickers who think they know better than writer Jed Mercurio and his advisors will find some alleged inaccuracy, but they’re missing the point. Jed’s method is to take characters and storylines to the very edge of what feels believable, always risking going OTT. If he didn’t stretch viewers’ credulity as far as he does, the drama wouldn’t be anywhere near as exhilarating. In the final act , he gave us one last characteristically startling twist. A final reminder that nobody does this stuff better than him.

IF YOU LIKED MID MORNING MATTERS WITH ALAN PARTRIDGE THEN TRY… WONDERDATE

Alan’s sidekick Simon is played by ace actor and writer Tim Key. Now, here he is with his own excellent short comedy, in which he plays a man who dazzles a woman with the perfect first date. BBC2, Thursday 27 Sep, 9.45pm