✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper


Sign up by Email or Facebook.

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we sent newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Turning tips into memories

Get started Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Kids
  • Benefits
  • Membership
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Benefits
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
TV

Bodyguard, BBC One review ★★★★★

26 Aug 18 – 31 Jan 19, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Could you protect the woman whose politics you hate? Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes star in this explosive BBC One drama

By Helena Kealey on 28/8/2018

7 CW readers are interested
Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes star in Bodyguard, BBC
Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes star in Bodyguard, BBC
Bodyguard, BBC One review 5 Bodyguard, BBC One review Helena Kealey
No one writes an opening scene quite like Jed Mercurio. His BBC police series Line of Duty liked to begin with a bang, but few openers can claim to be as instantaneously compelling as the first ten minutes of Bodyguard.


TRY CULTURE WHISPER
Receive free tickets & insider tips to unlock the best of London — direct to your inbox
Starting with nail-biting tension is a tricky thing to pull off. You still have to establish character and introduce the thrust of your new six-part series and, as every James Bond movie ever made has proved, no one cares about unknown faces and names being shot down or blown up. But this is why Mercurio is the master.


Culture Whisper talks to the stars of Bodyguard


Once you get past the breathless first few minutes (no spoilers here), we step into a world we can all recognise as our own. What with Trump in America and Brexit in the UK, politics is hotter and more thrusting, and opinions are more aggressively divided than many of us have seen before. And so it is in Bodyguard.




Keeley Hawes leaves her soft, matronly Mrs Durrell behind her as she becomes our Machiavellian Home Secretary (inspired to some degree by Amber Rudd), Julia Montague. Her new bodyguard is our troubled protagonist from the opening scene, David Budd. He's a traumatised war veteran turned civilian who works as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Metropolitan Police.


Budd is haunted by the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His mental health erodes the few, already strained, personal relationships he has in his life, and he battles with his internal daemons alone at night, with just the glow of an unanswered message on his phone screen for company.


Loneliness, trauma, tension... it's all beginning to sound a bit grim for a Sunday night drama. Trust us when we say there's also plenty of levity. In particular, 'I'm mixed race' in response to one MP instructing Montague to 'call off your monkey' is the kind of quick witted joke had us giggling at the screen.


Budd soon beings to appreciate that Montague stands for everything he hates, and finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs. The episode ends with a cliff hanger that proves opening scenes are not Mercurio's only forté. Bring on episode two.




Bodyguard airs Sunday nights 9pm


What Bodyguard, BBC One review
Where BBC One, BBC One | MAP
When 26 Aug 18 – 31 Jan 19, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Price £n/a
Website



Most popular

Culture to see you through the weekend
Things to do in London this weekend: 22 - 24 January
Olly Alexander in It's A Sin, Channel 4 (Photo: Channel 4)
It's A Sin, Channel 4 review
Johnny Flynn in The Dig, Netflix (Photo: Netflix)
What to watch on TV this week

Editor's Picks

Bodyguard, BBC One
Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden talk Bodyguard
Patrick Melrose, Sky Atlantic
The best TV shows of the year so far
Glow season two, Netflix
New to UK Netflix: June 2018
Vanity Fair, ITV
Reasons to stay in: best TV this summer
Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, Nicole Kidman, and Laura Dern in Big Little Lies season 2, Sky Atlantic
Big Little Lies season 2, Sky Atlantic review
Elizabeth Debicki to play Princess Diana in The Crown
Elizabeth Debicki to play Princess Diana in The Crown
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
7

TV

Keeley Hawes

BBC

Bodyguard

You might like

  • Keeping Faith, BBC One

    Keeping Faith arrives on BBC One

  • Picnic at Hanging Rock

    Picnic at Hanging Rock review ★★★★★

  • Jamie Dornan as Liam Ward in Death and Nightingales

    Death and Nightingales episode 1 review

  • A Very English Scandal, BBC One

    A Very English Scandal review BBC One

  • Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose, Sky Atlantic

    Patrick Melrose, Sky Atlantic review ★★★★★

  • Maniac, Netflix

    Maniac on Netflix: here's everything you need to know



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • What is Culture Whisper membership
  • Corporate membership
  • Give a gift membership
  • Retrieve a gift membership
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×