Entertainment

Keeley Hawes to play powerful politician in BBC drama Bodyguard

The BBC1 drama will be “set in and around the corridors of power”.
The BBC1 drama will be “set in and around the corridors of power”. The BBC1 drama will be “set in and around the corridors of power”.

Keeley Hawes has signed up to star as an ambitious Home Secretary in the new drama from Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio.

Game Of Thrones actor Richard Madden has been cast opposite Hawes, as the officer assigned to protect the dignitary, whose politics he “despises”.

Set “in and around the corridors of power,” Bodyguard will air in six parts on BBC1.

It will tell the fictional story of David Budd (Madden), “a heroic but volatile war veteran now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty And Specialist Protection Branch (RaSP) of the Metropolitan Police”, the BBC said.

Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden in Bodyguard (World Productions/Des Willie)
Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden in Bodyguard (World Productions/Des Willie) (Des Willie/BBC/World Productions/Des Willie)
Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden in Bodyguard (World Productions/Des Willie)

“When he is assigned to protect the ambitious and powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague (Hawes) whose politics stand for everything he despises, Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs.”

Hawes, who previously starred in Line Of Duty and whose recent credits also include The Durrells and The Missing, said: “I’m delighted to be working with Richard Madden and once again with Jed Mercurio, and the hugely talented team behind Line Of Duty.

“Bodyguard is such an exciting project. I can’t wait to get started.”

Madden said: “Jed has created a remarkable story that resonates with the very heart of modern-day London and real characters trying to survive in this world.”

Richard Madden on the Graham Norton Show (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA)
Richard Madden on the Graham Norton Show (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA) (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Archive/PA Images)
Richard Madden on the Graham Norton Show (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA)

The show’s creator and writer Mercurio, who worked with Madden on the TV adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, said that he was “delighted” to be teaming up with the actor and Hawes again.

The cast also includes Our Friends In The North actress Gina McKee and Peaky Blinders’ Sophie Rundle.