Eleven million people can’t be wrong right? That’s the number of people who tuned into the Sunday night finale of the new BBC series, Bodyguard, making it the most popular British drama since Downton Abbey, which premiered in 2008. If you can even believe it, this drama is actually even bigger than Downton Abbey, which pulled in its biggest ratings with 10.5 million viewers for its 2011 finale. And the best part is, the Bodyguard is coming to Netflix.
Variety reported that all six episodes of Bodyguard will start streaming on Oct. 24 and clearly, you’ll want to tune in to the thriller which focuses on David Budd, a war veteran-turned-cop who is tasked with guarding Julia Montague, the Home Secretary who is being targeted by mysterious assassins. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that it stars Game Of Thrones bae, Richard Madden, better known as Robb Stark, as the bodyguard. While Madden’s time on the HBO series was over way, way, way too soon, he might have been happy to leave since he recently said his GoT pay wasn’t so good. Clearly, Game of Thrones’ loss is our gain.
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157 crew.
— BBC One (@BBCOne) September 23, 2018
88 shoot days.
56 cast.
23 stunt performers.
6 episodes.
2 directors.
1 writer.
1 epic finale.
Thanks for watching #Bodyguard on @BBCOne. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/X7WwvAXfXg
Following the finale, Madden took to Instagram to thank fans for all their support. “Blown away by the response to #Bodyguard,” he wrote. “Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who’s watched and supported the show it’s truly overwhelming. I’m so proud to have been part of the amazing talented team that worked so hard to bring this story to life.”
The gangbuster ratings weren’t only a surprise to its star, but its creator, Jed Mercurio, too. Mercurio said he was “completely stunned by the exceptional response to Bodyguard,” Variety reports. Its finale was the second-most watched show ever on the BBC just behind the 2008 Christmas Day episode of Doctor Who, which was seen by 11.7 million people.
What isn’t surprising is that there are now talks for a second season. On Friday, Mercurio, who was also behind another popular British drama Line Of Duty, told BBC radio that he just started talking to the network about continuing the show. “We know that people out there are loving Series 1 and that there would be an appetite for Series 2,” he said, “but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Luckily, American fans will now have the first season to tide them over while they wait.
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