‘I killed off the lead star in Bodyguard for the shock factor’
THE man behind the BBC hit show Bodyguard says he killed off leading lady Keeley Hawes because he knew viewers would never suspect such a shocking twist.
Viewers of the gripping drama were stunned on Sunday night when it was revealed that Home Secretary Julia Montague, played by Hawes, had not survived the bomb blast that ended the previous episode.
Her police protection officer and lover, Sgt David Budd, played by Richard Madden, has fallen under suspicion for her murder.
However, writer and director Jed Mercurio, who also created police corruption hit BBC drama Line of Duty, said he deliberately left the politician’s fate hanging in the balance, knowing that most viewers would assume she would survive.
“There’s a certain expectation with TV series that it will always orbit around an equilibrium, in which nothing much changes for the main stars, and there are no drastic changes to the setup, especially now things tend to run for several series.
“But, with my work, I like to try to do things that move the story on, and with Bodyguard I wanted to have this event mid-series that would completely alter the dynamic,” he told this week’s Radio Times.
“I remember watching TV as a kid and, whenever there was some sort of jeopardy involving the hero, I could reassure myself that they were what I’d call a ‘can’t-die’ character, so everything would be OK,” he said.
Mercurio has been nicknamed the “mid-serial” killer for his habit of killing off leading characters halfway through a series. Among them was Hawes’ character DI Lindsay Denton in Line of Duty who was killed in series three. “Yes, she did [comment on it],” he said.
“But she did it with good humour. I think, for her, it’s about the work as a whole, and the role. I think – hope – she’d take the view that it’s better to do a few episodes of something meaty than lots of episodes of something thin.”
Bodyguard has been widely praised but there have been some gripes from reallife close protection officers over the sexual relationship between the two leads as well as complaints that it was unrealistic to have so many major roles in the police and security services held by women.
However, Mercurio disagrees: “That’s just plain wrong,” he said.
Madden is now tipped to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond after his role as the protection officer in Bodyguard. “He’s the genuine article, a real leading man,” said Mercurio, who is planning a second series.
“The practicality may be we have to work around his availability, if we are lucky enough to get him back.”