Bodyguard season 2: Writer reveals temptation to kill off cabinet minister character following Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Grenfell comments

Jed Mercurio is working on a second series of the hit show starring Richard Madden

Bodyguard writer Jed Mercurio has joked about the real reason it is taking so long to make the second series of his hit show.

Mercurio’s BBC show, released in 2018, followed Keeley Hawes as a home secretary named Julia Montague and Richard Madden as her bodyguard.

It featured many fictional depictions of senior members of government, including David Westhead as prime minister and Nicholas Gleaves as the Conservative party chief whip.

Now, Mercurio has quipped that Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg’s recent controversial remarks about Grenfell tower are holding up the scriptwriting process of new episodes.

Rees-Mogg blamed Grenfell victims for not using their "common sense" and leaving the burning building during an interview with LBC earlier this week.

“What’s really holding up development of Bodyguard series 2 is the quest for any dramatically sympathetic reason not to kill off the cabinet minister in the first five minutes,” wrote Mercurio on Twitter.

Bodyguard’s series one finale was the most-watched episode of a TV drama since records began, with 17m viewers.

While the BBC has not yet officially renewed Bodyguard for a second series, Mercurio and Madden are keen for it to happen.

Speaking at Banff World Media Festival earlier this year, Mercurio said: “We’re in talks. We’re going through the logistics of it.”