‘Bodyguard’ writer Jed Mercurio explains why the show killed off its leading character

‘I wanted to have this event mid-series that would completely alter the dynamic’

Bodyguard has been packed with twists and turns, but only one has left viewers truly reeling: the death of its leading character, Julia Montague.

Played by Keeley Hawes, the fictional home secretary was the casualty of a bomb explosion, with Richard Madden’s security guard unable to save her.

The series creator, Jed Mercurio, has since spoken about the decision to kill off the character, explaining to Radio Times 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 setup”.

“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.

Mercurio added how, while growing up, there seemed to be characters on TV who would just never die – a trend he wanted to break.

He continued: “Even though you’d just seen a completely crazed Mr Spock strangle Captain Kirk to death (in Star Trek), you’d know that a few minutes later there would be some bizarre twist involving the time-space continuum and Kirk would be alive on the Starship Enterprise.”

Speaking about actor Hawes – who also appeared in Mercurio’s series Line of Duty before being killed off – he said: “I think, hope, she’d take the view that it’s better to do a few episodes of something meaty than lots of episodes of something thin.”

The writer also addressed how the TV hit now faces the difficulty of continuing into season two with just Madden now that demand for the actor has increased.

“He’s the genuine article, a real leading man,” he said. “And I think this role has put him very much in the spotlight for bigger things.

“So the practicality may be that we have to work around his availability, if we are lucky enough to get him back.”

Bodyguard continues on Sunday night at 9pm on BBC1