Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes in Bodyguard (Des Willie/BBC)
TV hit Bodyguard, Britain’s biggest drama of 2018, is heading to China.
The finale of the drama, which starred Keeley Hawes as home secretary and Richard Madden as her bodyguard, was watched by 17 million people.
Madden played a protection officer guarding Hawes’s character in the ratings juggernaut, created by Jed Mercurio.
Produced by World Productions, part of ITV Studios, for BBC One, it is expected to return for a second series in the UK
Richard Madden as David Budd (Sophie Mutevelian/World Productions)
ITV Studios global entertainment managing director Ruth Berry said the show will air on streaming service platform Huanxi, which has films and TV dramas produced domestically and from abroad.
“We are delighted that viewers in China will be able to enjoy Bodyguard,” she said.
Madden previously told the Press Association: “I’m having a conversation with him (Mercurio) in about 10 days or something, when I’m back in the country, and we are just going to chat through some ideas.
“We never intended to make another one and I don’t know, I’m excited to see what he’s got.”
