Bodyguard, released in 2018, was very successful in Britain, and has been available on Netflix for US viewers for some time. It showed up in Netflix recommendations, and I am glad I watched it.
Giving a spoiler-free synopsis of a series that’s filled with twists and surprises is hard. So it’s best to keep it very short and introductory. The main protagonist is David Budd (Richard Madden, who played Robert Stark in the “Game Of Thrones”). David is a war veteran, now serving in the Police. As we have seen in numerous such series and movies, he is suffering from PTSD, which has affected his marriage. After an heroic effort in the opening sequence, he is assigned to protect the home secretary, Julia Montague (played brilliantly by Keeley Hawes). The home secretary’s views are extremely hawkish and it’s clear to us that David doesn’t appreciate them at all. From here the situation gets very complex and dangerous, and I won’t mention further as I don’t want to give anything away
This 6 episode series feels like a movie because it goes by so fast. Except the last episode, in which one sequence felt dragged to me. This is definitely an edge of your seat thriller that grips you right from the opening sequence. And the series does that by constantly surprising the viewer. It does take liberties with believability, but those are less common. Now twists and turns are very common in the thriller genre and can get tiresome. The reason it works here is, there are so many cross currents, that the series manages to create an air of suspicion around almost every character, including David.
The credit goes first to the writer and creator Jed Mercurio for crafting this tale. With any successful series, the cast matters, and I was impressed by most of the large ensemble. I admit that, even though I found Richard Madden’s portrayal of David Budd satisfying, some may find it inconsistent. In addition to Keeley Hawes (who plays the Home Secretary) I must highlight Sophie Rundle who plays Vicky Budd, the wife of David Budd.
This is a very bingeable series and I highly recommend it to those looking for pure entertainment. It’s correctly rated TV-MA.
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