Bodyguard – BBC1 | What to Watch

A specialist protection officer (Richard Madden) is assigned to guard an ambitious home secretary (Keeley Hawes) who may be the target of a terror plot

Line of Duty won’t be back on our screens until next year, but this political thriller from its creator, Jed Mercurio, should keep viewers on the edge of their seats for the moment.

Richard Madden (Game of Thrones’ Robb Stark) stars as personal protection officer David Budd.

He's assigned to Home Secretary Julia Montague, played by the excellent Keeley Hawes, yet there’s far more to both leads than meets the eye.

'Julia is a very serious woman, in an incredibly serious job,' say Keeley.

'She has this public façade but appears to have no life outside work, so we think, "Where’s the woman?".'

'But everyone has a story, and as the series unfolds we start to see chinks in her armour.'

A pulsating opening to tonight’s episode sets the tone nicely for the rest of the series – with episode two following tomorrow.

There’ll also be many more twists and turns as we’re drawn into a murky world of conspiracy and counterterrorism.

TV Times rating: *****