Writer hints Bodyguard may go on and on after 11m watch finale
THE final episode of Bodyguard, the BBC’S hit political thriller, pulled in 11million viewers as the show’s writer hinted that its success meant there could be several more series.
The nail-biting, feature-length finale drew an average of 10.4million and a peak of 11 million, making it the biggest television drama since Downton Abbey.
It was the most-watched BBC drama since the Christmas Day 2008 episode of Doctor Who, which drew 11.7million.
As fans absorbed the many final twists that revealed who had killed Julia Montague, the Home Secretary, played by Keeley Hawes, writer Jed Mercurio suggested that Bodyguard could well become a regular fixture.
He has already revealed that talks with the BBC about a second series have begun, but he told The Sun: “It’s probably fair to say we would probably approach any thoughts of a second series with the idea that it would create an opportunity for a third or fourth. To adopt a sporting phrase, we kind of decided to leave everything on the field for series one.
“If the ratings hadn’t been quite so high, then possibly everybody involved including the BBC would have said, ‘Well that was a nice little series but we’re just going to leave it at that and there won’t be any more’. So you are a hostage to fortune in that sense.
“And we do feel very privileged and fortunate that there’s been such a response that it gives us that opportunity to at least think about doing more.”
He said he was busy working on the fifth series of Line of Duty, the police drama, until well into next year, meaning that work on a second series would not begin until mid-2019 at the earliest.
The finale garnered mixed reactions from critics and viewers. Many expressed scepticism about the speed at which those responsible for the complex murder plot confessed all.
Alan Johnson, the former home secretary, weighed in by claiming he had spotted a “glaring” error in the scene in which Montague had dinner with a colleague in a restaurant while Sgt David Budd, her bodyguard, and a fellow officer, sat nearby with no food or drinks.
He told ITV’S This Morning: “That wouldn’t happen because big signals are going off, ‘We are bodyguards’.”