Bodyguard fans are hoping their Romeo and Juliet theory is right

*MAJOR SPOILER WARNING*

Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden in 'Bodyguard' (BBC)

Fans of the BBC's hit drama Bodyguard are convinced that the plot is based on one of Shakespeare's most famous plays.

Richard Madden stars as former soldier David Budd, who is tasked with protecting controversial Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes).

The show has fast-become one of the BBC's most popular dramas, with an average of six million people tuning in each Sunday night.

*SPOILER ALERT*

In the latest episode, viewers were shocked when it was revealed that Montague was killed by a bomb that exploded during a key speech she was delivering.

Fans are convinced that writer and director Jed Mercurio wouldn't kill off one of his lead characters so soon into the series, coming up with a conspiracy theory that the series is a modern take on Romeo and Juliet.

It has been suggested that Home Secretary Montague (Julia sounding a lot like Juliet, and Montague being one of the rival families in the play) has actually faked her death, causing the devastated Budd ("bud" as in rose bud... "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet") to attempt to take his own life.

Even more fun is that fact that the series' own writer, Mercurio, has a very similar-sounding name to Romeo's best friend in the play, Mercutio.

Speaking of Mercurio, the director was rather vague when speaking about Montague's "death".

He told the RadioTimes how viewers expect a TV series to "always orbit around an equilibrium, in which nothing much changes for the main stars, and there are no drastic changes to the set up".

"I like to try to do things that move the story on and with Bodyguard I wanted to have this event mid-series that would completely alter the dynamic," he said.

Bodyguard continues on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One