Bodyguard, episode 3: BBC One has turned positively pornographic – and who planted the bomb?

BBC One’s gripping political thriller Bodyguard began with impressive ratings of 6.7 million, the highest overnight audience for a drama launch this year. But now, it's found itself scheduled against ITV’s heavily hyped new period drama Vanity Fair. Could Keeley Hawes see off Becky Sharp? 

The six-parter certainly reached its midway point with a bang. Here’s all the talking points from episode three…

Is the Home Secretary still alive?

“I know you’ll never let anything bad happen to me,” murmured Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes) to her lover and protection officer Sgt David Budd (Richard Madden) – words that could come back to haunt them both.

In another of writer Jed Mercurio’s signature set pieces, this episode climaxed with a nerve-shredding, slow-burning 16-minute scene as Montague went ahead with her keynote speech at St Matthew’s College, despite security concerns in the wake of the recent attacks. There were protests about her new snooper’s charter (“RIPA one-eight, it’s a police state!”) and comestible missiles were thrown. 

“The shouting’s no problem,” said no-nonsense PC Kim Knowles (Claire-Louise Cordwell), who is rapidly becoming a cult heroine. “It’s the eggs that are getting on my tits.” 

Budd’s team were on full alert. They ejected a civil liberties flashmob. Budd frisked lurking aide Tahir Mahmood (Shubham Saraf). Suddenly everyone looked suspicious, while Montague stood in front of a blue backdrop bearing the slogan “Protecting our future”. Fortunately no letters fell off, as happened during Theresa May’s Tory conference speech last year.

When Tahir appeared in the wings with a briefcase, Cordwell spotted something, sprinted towards the stage and Budd followed suit. And then, boom! A bomb exploded. Viewers were left almost as disorientated as Budd, staggering through the dust cloud and detritus, ears ringing, searching for “the principal”. Montague was down but seemed to be breathing.

In the aftermath, snippets of news reports were heard: “a number of deaths but no confirmed figures”, “casualties in critical condition”, “no official confirmation that Montague was hurt”, “her injuries are believed to be severe”. Line Of Duty creator Mercurio has form for shockingly killing off major characters mid-series. He wouldn’t do it here… would he?

BBC One has turned positively pornographic

“Sex with the Home Secretary? It’s a heinous crime.” So joked Montague as her affair with Budd continued to steam up our screens.

They giggled and wriggled beneath the bedsheets. They snuck away from their entourage for a snog in the hotel loo. But the scene that will get everyone talking was when Montague opened the door to their adjoining suites, then stood staring provocatively at Budd while she touched herself.

With Wanderlust – the raunchy mid-life drama in which actress Toni Collette claims to have the channel’s first ever on-screen female orgasm – starting just two nights later on Tuesday, BBC One is rapidly becoming the sauciest station on-air. What will the Beeb-bashers say? 

Budd duly followed his boss into the bedroom and ensured gender balance by giving viewers a lingering look at his bare backside. Sex aside, though, is there a genuine connection between the leading couple? It certainly seemed so during that sweetly intimate opening scene between the sheets, discussing Budd’s battle scars and his boyhood ambition to be a doctor – which Montague later referenced in her speech.

Yet there were also tensions between them. Budd spied on her, although he was selective in what he reported back to his police superiors, and remained sceptical over what she knew about the attack on his children’s school. He bristled at her saying, “I’ll give you a knock”, snapping “Like I’m room service?” She later pleaded: “Please don’t turn out to be yet another bloke who can’t handle a woman having more power.”

Montague is a minxy operator who makes a habit of workplace affairs: see her exes Roger Penhaligon (Nicholas Gleaves) and Rob Macdonald (Paul Ready). But before the explosion, Montague seemed to confirm her feelings for Budd, reaching for his hand as she told him: “I want you right beside me, not because it’s your job but because it’s our choice.” Love, lust or manipulative self-preservation? You decide.

Montague blackmailed PM with MI5 file

Now we saw why the Home Secretary has been siding with MI5 boss Stephen Hunter-Dunn (Stuart Bowman), having clandestine meetings and muttering darkly about their “arrangement”. The intelligence agency have been doing Montague’s dirty work and in return, claimed  counter-terror minister Mike Travis (Vincent Franklin), she's been “doing some business off-book for the security services”. 

The MI5 spook going under the false name of Richard Longcross (Michael Shaeffer) gave her a tablet containing encrypted files: material that mentioned “alcohol dependence, 50 units per week” (more than three times the recommended intake), “cocaine use” and a “serious sexual assault” against someone called “Charlotte Foxfield". 

At first, we wondered if it was an intel report on troubled Budd. When Montague covertly took the dirty dossier to Chequers (“If I don’t come back, go to the Death Star,” she quipped to Budd), it transpired that the intel was on the Prime Minister himself (W1A’s David Westhead). She duly used it as leverage to secure his backing and help get her Regulatory & Investigatory Powers Act 18 through the Commons.

Blackmailing the PM. Manoeuvring into pole position for his job (note how she replaced “party unity” with “party leadership” in her speech). This is (or was) a ruthlessly ambitious politician.

Who planted the bomb? And how?

“What the hell happened?” barked Penhaligon at the shell-shocked Budd. “I hear there were security breaches from the word go.” Budd bristled, squaring up to the Chief Whip as he insisted: “The search team swept the auditorium twice. Everything was clear.” 

Suspicion will doubtless fall on Tahir and that metallic briefcase, but Budd had checked it. Did he overlook something, possibly even deliberately? Did Tahir pick up a pre-planted device backstage and put it in the briefcase? Or is the briefcase a red herring? It appeared to me that the explosion originated from the front left of the stage, not the wings.

As for possible culprits, well, Montague has been making enemies everywhere. She got on the wrong side of the police last week. Now she double-crossed MI5, who vowed to “put a plan in place”. She ruffled feathers inside her own party, with Penhaligon telling Travis: “Julia’s snatching the key to Number 10. We need to do something fast.” And then there’s the small matter of the terrorist cell behind the train bombing and school attack. 

Someone has been leaking Montague’s itinerary, with the finger currently pointing in Tahir’s direction. A second assassination attempt surely confirms the fact that there’s a conspiracy against her.

Budd’s links to gunman must come out soon

Budd’s scar-faced Afghan war comrade Andy (Tom Brooke) might have deliberately shot his (rather recognisable) face off after the sniper attack but the net is closing. Initially unable to identify the gunman or trace his weapons, police released an e-fit on TV news and Budd was rattled. 

SO15 counterterrorism detectives DCI Deepak Sharma (Ash Tandon) and DS Louise Rayburn (Nina Toussaint-White) certainly suspect something. Budd’s anxious hand gestures beneath the table during their interview demonstrated his discomfort. 

The episode concluded with police finding Andy’s abandoned rental car and surmising that he had an accomplice. Cut to Budd. We’re midway through the series but it remains ambiguous where the bodyguard's loyalties lie.

Forget haute couture, here’s Hawes couture

Cabinet minster or wardrobe mistress? Until it got covered in dust, blood and shrapnel, Keeley Hawes’ outfits as the Home Secretary were beginning to earn the approval of sofa fashionistas. 

Montague’s unshowy yet très chic signature style – nipped-in suit jackets with cropped trousers, silk blouses and mid-heeled shoes – is like a well-tailored upgrade on the character’s real-life inspiration, Amber Rudd. Order, order online.

Rival aides both looked shady

Montague’s underlings Rob and Tahir, who have been jostling for her favour, now openly fell out. Villainous, vindictive Rob claimed Tahir was only employed to “be visible next to Home Secretary” because he’s “the demographic most vulnerable to our counter-terrorism policy” – and then stitched up his colleague over the fact-checking for her speech.

Tahir, for his part, encouraged Montague to make public appearances and suggested exposure from St Matthews would help RIPA 18 gain public support. He was also seen on the phone asking “What do you want?” minutes before the speech. It was implied that Budd was on the other end of the line. The plot thickens.

Budd’s war trauma continued to cause problems

When Montague woke up the sleeping Budd, he leapt up and automatically began throttling her, before snapping out of his dream-like PTSD state. It was a miracle – or possibly a continuity error – that it didn’t leave any telltale bruising. 

“Whatever your training has made you, it’s out of control,” Montague sobbed. “You need to get help.” Such scary incidents were presumably one of the factors in Budd’s separation from wife Vicky (Sophie Rundle).

The disturbed army veteran also seemed to slip into a half-asleep trance in the ministerial car to St Matthew’s. Did Budd freeze for a while after the bomb went off too?

Bodyguarding lingo decoded

This week’s lingo included “the IOPC is involved” (standing for the Independent Office for Police Conduct) and the  Thornton Circus sniper being “equipped with a PSL” (a Romanian military marksman rifle).

Some wags on Twitter are even attempting to count the “ma’ams" in each episode. Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am. Goodnight, ma’am. 

See you back here for next Sunday for a full episode four debrief. Lavender is down…