The drama that most of the UK has been talking about all summer, Bodyguard, has ended its six-part run ended with its highest overnight audience concluding with an average of 10.4 million viewers (47.8% share), and a peak of 11.0 million.
Produced by ITV Studios company World Productions for BBC One , Bodyguard tells the fictional story of David Budd (Richard Madden; Game Of Thrones), a heroic but volatile war veteran now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Specialist Branch of London’s Metropolitan Police Service. When he is assigned to protect the ambitious and powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes; Line of Duty, The Durrells, The Missing), Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs.
Bodyguard was written and executive produced by Jed Mercurio, Simon Heath for World Productions and Elizabeth Kilgarriff for BBC One. It is produced by Priscilla Parish and Eric Coulter, and directed by Thomas Vincent and John Strickland. Mercurio is also showrunner.
The ratings make Bodyguard the leading non-World Cup programme of 2018 across all channels. It also means that the episode is the biggest drama across all channels since 2011, and the biggest BBC drama since 2008. It also attracted the highest young audience for any drama on any channel this year, with the finale attracting 1.3 million 16-34 year olds (42.3% share).
On the BBC iPlayer, Bodyguard has broken records with episode one being the biggest episode of any programme ever on iPlayer with 7.3 million requests so far. The series currently has over 24.2 million requests across all six episodes, while the series finale helped drive BBC iPlayer’s biggest ever day of over 12.6 million requests on Sunday 23 September. Bodyguard will remain on BBC iPlayer exclusively in the UK as a box set for the next six months.
Commenting on the ratings generated, director of BBC Content Charlotte Moore said: “The finale of Bodyguard gripped the nation and has got everyone talking with a staggering peak audience of 11 million on BBC One in a display of masterful storytelling from Jed Mercurio; while episode one is already the biggest ever episode on iPlayer and still growing.”
Mercurio added: “I’m completely stunned by the exceptional response to Bodyguard which reflects the star quality of our brilliant cast led by Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes and our outstanding crew led by producers Priscilla Parish and Eric Coulter and directors Thomas Vincent and John Strickland.”
Simon Heath, CEO and creative director of World Productions remarked: “At a time when we’re told that linear TV is dying, it’s been thrilling to see the number of viewers flocking to watch Bodyguard live. We’re so grateful for all their support.”
Just before the series reached its conclusion on the BBC, ITV Studios revealed that it had secured its global release with SVOD leader Netflix.
Bodyguard was written and executive produced by Jed Mercurio, Simon Heath for World Productions and Elizabeth Kilgarriff for BBC One. It is produced by Priscilla Parish and Eric Coulter, and directed by Thomas Vincent and John Strickland. Mercurio is also showrunner.
The ratings make Bodyguard the leading non-World Cup programme of 2018 across all channels. It also means that the episode is the biggest drama across all channels since 2011, and the biggest BBC drama since 2008. It also attracted the highest young audience for any drama on any channel this year, with the finale attracting 1.3 million 16-34 year olds (42.3% share).
On the BBC iPlayer, Bodyguard has broken records with episode one being the biggest episode of any programme ever on iPlayer with 7.3 million requests so far. The series currently has over 24.2 million requests across all six episodes, while the series finale helped drive BBC iPlayer’s biggest ever day of over 12.6 million requests on Sunday 23 September. Bodyguard will remain on BBC iPlayer exclusively in the UK as a box set for the next six months.
Commenting on the ratings generated, director of BBC Content Charlotte Moore said: “The finale of Bodyguard gripped the nation and has got everyone talking with a staggering peak audience of 11 million on BBC One in a display of masterful storytelling from Jed Mercurio; while episode one is already the biggest ever episode on iPlayer and still growing.”
Mercurio added: “I’m completely stunned by the exceptional response to Bodyguard which reflects the star quality of our brilliant cast led by Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes and our outstanding crew led by producers Priscilla Parish and Eric Coulter and directors Thomas Vincent and John Strickland.”
Simon Heath, CEO and creative director of World Productions remarked: “At a time when we’re told that linear TV is dying, it’s been thrilling to see the number of viewers flocking to watch Bodyguard live. We’re so grateful for all their support.”
Just before the series reached its conclusion on the BBC, ITV Studios revealed that it had secured its global release with SVOD leader Netflix.
