Sun 28 Jun 2020
A TV Review: BODYGUARD “Episode 1″ (2018).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV Espionage & Spies[3] Comments
BODYGUARD. “Episode 1.†ITV/BBC One, UK, 26 August 2018. Richard Madden as PS David Budd; Keeley Hawes as The Rt. Hon. Julia Montague MP, the Home Secretary and Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Thames West: Sophie Rundle as Vicky Budd, David’s wife; plus a large ensemble cast. Director: Thomas Vincent.
After successfully defusing a terrorist attack aboard a speeding train, PS David Budd is assigned the ask of guarding Home Secretary Julia Montague against possible attempts on her life. Unknown to host of his superiors, Budd is suffering from PTSD from his years of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, but because of his moody and sometimes violent behaviors at home, he is separated from his wife and two children.
There isn’t a lot of time to fill out an actual story in this, the first of six episodes, but it certainly does a great job of paving the way for what comes next. Budd does not care much for the policies of the woman he is guarding, thinking of her as just another politician who does not care for the men and women who must do the fighting to carry them out, and conflict between them seems inevitable. His domestic problems at home are also sure to play a role in what comes next.
The British seem to do this kind of story much better than we seem to on this side of Atlantic. With only five more episodes to go, I’m much more likely to finish this particular example of that than some others I’ve been sampling. (I assume you’ve been following my recent investigations into streaming TV right along with me.)
June 28th, 2020 at 8:19 pm
I was impressed by this one as well. I don’t know if it is the writing, acting, or simply the limited time to tell the story, but the Brits get the right more often than not.
June 28th, 2020 at 8:29 pm
Doing some research just now, after posting my review, I have discovered the following (as per Wikipedia):
“The series received numerous award nominations including the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama, with Madden winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. At the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards the series was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series.”
June 29th, 2020 at 6:21 am
True. Good show, but I think you need to watch it in fairly short order, Keeley Hawes has really been Flavor of the Month lately, going from one show to another, from the grim Line of Duty to the silly fun Durrells in Corfu.