Bodyguard is a BBC created political thriller and drama series written by Jed Mercurio and directed by Thomas Vincent and John Strickland. Richard Madden stars as Sergeant David Budd, alongside Keeley Hawes as Home Secretary Julia Montague.
Bodyguard, originally on the BBC and now on Netflix, focuses on Sergeant David Budd, an Afghanistan war veteran, now working as a Protection Command bodyguard to, well, protect, Julia Montague, the Conservative MP (Member of Parliament…you might have already known that but I had to look it up) for Thames West. Although incredibly good at his job, David suffers from PTSD. He is also facing a pretty intense inner conflict being the bodyguard of a woman who stands in favor of the policies that ruined his life; namely, being in favor of the war.
What a tense first episode. From beginning to end you’re on the edge of your seat. Seriously, it’s right off the bat we start with David talking a terrorist down from blowing up a train and then launch straight into his tense new position as the bodyguard of a not-very nice lady who I’m pretty sure he also wants to kill. Talk about a dilemma. The show does an amazing job of keeping you guessing about the possibility of danger, just like David has to. Even though we may end the scene with no threat in sight, you just spent 30 seconds waiting for someone to jump out with a knife or gun and you know in the next scene you’re going to feel that intensity all over again.
It’s not just the threat of violence against Julia, but the anticipation of David potentially snapping. There’s a moment where he calls his estranged wife, Vicky (Sophie Rundle), after a few drinks and when she hangs up on him you can see so much anguish in his face. You think “he’s going to do something dumb” and then he does little more than throw a beer bottle and shout. It’s this crazy roller coaster of getting nervous and then sighing in relief that nothing bad happened. Except for the times something bad does happen, obviously.
But speaking of David’s love life, why can’t detectives or sergeants or police chiefs or anyone in a related field be happy in these shows? I get that its a drama but like…can’t they just have a little bit of happiness? Yeah, David has his kids but I’ve seen the whole “estranged/divorced marriage but they still love each other and its complicated” story. Seriously, he goes through so much, just let the man go home to his wife. Instead, all I can hope for is that eventually he gets some kind of happy ending.
OVERALL SCORE: 9 / 10
Richard Madden was exemplary as Robb Stark in Games of Thrones, fabulous as Prince Kit in Cinderella (2015), but his performance as David Budd seriously blew me away. I wasn’t sure how much I would like the show, but I’m definitely hooked now.
why did the beer bottle not break and just bounce?