Bodyguard (2018) Review: Paranoia at Close Range

Is Bodyguard worth watching?

Yes. Bodyguard is one of the most gripping British thrillers of recent years, a six-hour pressure cooker that keeps its audience on edge from its opening minutes to its final act. Jed Mercurio’s plotting is ruthless and Richard Madden’s performance as a damaged protection officer gives the tension a human core. The reservation is plausibility: in its second half, the conspiracy grows more convoluted and the twists more contrived, and sceptical viewers may notice the machinery.

What is Bodyguard about?

David Budd (Richard Madden) is a British Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and now works as a specialist protection officer in the Metropolitan Police. He is also struggling: he shows signs of trauma, is estranged from his wife, Vicky (Sophie Rundle), and keeps his distress hidden from his superiors. After he helps to prevent a terror attack on a train, Budd is assigned to protect Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), the ambitious Home Secretary who is championing sweeping new surveillance powers. Her politics are everything Budd distrusts, and she may be the target of a plot. As he gets closer to her and to the secrets around her, his loyalty is tested from every direction.

Bodyguard was created and written by Jed Mercurio. It is a British production in English, first shown on the BBC. This review covers the complete series: six episodes of about an hour each, and the story has ended.

An opening that sets the standard

Bodyguard’s first episode opens with an extended sequence on a train that is a masterclass in escalating tension. It establishes Budd’s competence, his compassion and his fragility all at once, and it signals the show’s method: long scenes played in near real time, with the audience as uncertain as the characters about what will happen next.

Mercurio, who created Line of Duty, is a specialist in that kind of sustained suspense. He structures episodes around set pieces, interrogations and sudden reversals, and he is unafraid to shake up the story in ways that keep viewers off balance. The show’s reputation for refusing to let anyone feel safe is well earned.

Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes

Madden is excellent as Budd, a man whose professional calm barely covers his distress. He conveys a great deal through stillness and small physical tells, and his performance earned him a Golden Globe. The show takes his trauma seriously, even if it sometimes uses it as a plot device.

Keeley Hawes gives Julia Montague a steely intelligence and a charisma that makes it easy to see why she is so dangerous and so compelling. The scenes between Budd and Montague crackle with tension, as mutual distrust gives way to something more complicated. Gina McKee and Pippa Haywood add authority as senior officials with competing agendas.

Where the thriller strains

The show’s weaknesses emerge as the conspiracy widens. The plot relies on coincidences, convenient revelations and characters making choices that serve the next twist rather than their own logic. The politics, too, are sketched in broad strokes: the surveillance debate provides motive and texture but is rarely explored in depth. By the final episode, the melodrama is pushed to the limit, and viewers will either be swept along or start laughing at the excess.

Who should watch Bodyguard?

It suits fans of political thrillers, police procedurals and British suspense drama, and it is ideal for a weekend binge. At six episodes, it is a short commitment, and while it first aired on the BBC, it has been widely available internationally on Netflix. Expect scenes of terrorism, gun violence, explosions and depictions of post-traumatic stress, along with some sexual content, so it suits adult viewers.

If it hooks you, try these next:

• Line of Duty, Mercurio’s police corruption saga, built on the same high-pressure interrogations and twists.
• Happy Valley, for a British crime drama with deeper characters and a more grounded sense of danger.
• Luther, for another dark, heightened London thriller led by a haunted protagonist.

The verdict

Bodyguard is a thrilling piece of popular television: tense, propulsive and anchored by strong performances. Its plotting becomes overwrought, and its politics are thin, but as a six-hour exercise in suspense it delivers more than most.

Rating: 4/5