Top 10 Most Shocking Moments From Bodyguard

Happening early on in the series, this was just the beginning. After armed police stop a terrorist van from crashing into a school, a bomb goes off in that van, killing most of the police involved. The scene is built around the breathless action involved with stopping the vehicle in the first place, so when the police approach it, it feels as though the danger is over. But, no. Showing the faces of the officers right before their deaths, this moment set a precedent for the rest of the series – that no one was safe, and anyone could die.

During a sniper attack, PS David Budd pursues the attacker. Finding the sniper at the top of a building, he’s unexpectedly uncovered as David’s army friend, Andy Apsted. Revealing Apsted led audiences to question whether or not David had given him Julia’s itinerary. But, what came as even more of a shock was when, after telling David to finish the job, Andy kills himself. Not only did this moment catch everyone completely off-guard, but it meant that Andy couldn’t now be questioned about who had leaked him the information.

Having been shaped to be the ‘fall guy’ for Julia’s assassination, David escapes the police and confronts the people that set him up. Following Luke Aikens to a meeting with his police insider, David (and the audience) are aghast to learn that it’s Budd’s superior officer, Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock. A surprising moment indeed, because up until that point, Craddock had only shown compassion for David. The evidence was leading to a wider conspiracy within the system – but the truth was even worse.

Having been traumatised by the sniper attack, David escorts Julia to her room – which has adjoining doors with David’s. One thing leads to another, and the two meet in the middle to have sex. Up until this point, the pair had seemed professional work associates only with no real hints of an attraction towards each other. Clearly though, there’s a spark between them. All the more surprising because David had seemed completely devoted to getting back with his wife, Vicky, the relationship is complicated even further the next day, when David finds out that Julia knew that his children’s school was a target.

As David and Julia’s relationship begins to develop, they get together again. However, Julia later wakes up to find that David has slept in his own bed. She attempts to wake him, but then he instinctively strangles her. Did anyone see that coming?? David quickly snaps out of it, but Julia runs to her room and locks the door – obviously and understandably troubled. There had been hints that David suffered from PTSD before this, but never something this clear. Obviously, David and Julia move past this erratic episode, but it’s an impossible moment to forget.

Starting off the series finale, it is at this moment when the pieces start to finally fall into place. As David wakes and calls the police, it becomes clear that the force think that he is part of the terrorist plot. Even though by now we’ve learned to expect the unexpected, it was a real head-scratcher as to how exactly he was going to get out of this situation. Captivating the viewer and ramping up the tension – because, at this point, who even knows if David will survive – it leaves the lead character with very few allies.

To perhaps the most emotionally complex moment of the whole series when, after Julia’s death, David tries to kill himself. When he pulls the trigger, it truly seems like he really has died. Cutting away quickly and leaving his fate ambiguous, it could’ve sparked a complete change in direction, for a show which had already proven that it was prepared to kill off main characters. However, it was then revealed that the gun’s rounds had been swapped with blanks, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. David is still alive.

Occurring in the middle of the series, this sequence seemingly came out of nowhere. Moments before the bomb goes off, David inspects a briefcase which ultimately seemed to be the source of the bomb. All of which means that David either didn’t notice anything untoward, or that he was complicit in the attack. The questions keep piling up. Of course, the bomb killed Julia and others, and so it becomes even less clear about where David’s loyalties lie. We eventually find out that the bomb was actually placed in the stage, but not before our suspicions are sent into overdrive.

Though at first seeming like an innocent victim forced into terrorist action, Nadia is revealed to be the bombmaker and the person who targeted David’s children. Throughout the series, she had been painted as an unwilling part of the terrorist cell, but here she reveals her true colours. Nadia professing that she not only made the bombs, but also misled David and the other police officers signalled a complete turn-around in everything we thought we knew. And, coming in the final episode, it becomes part of an incredible finale.

This is arguably the scene that brought “Bodyguard” into the spotlight. Happening near the end of episode two, it’s another action-packed sequence that unfolds within seconds. David and Julia are talking in the car as they come under fire, and Julia’s driver is killed. Although there had been violence at earlier points in the show, this is an especially graphic moment – and the first time that Julia and David are ever truly threatened. Masterfully shot and acted, it in many ways outlined a mantra for the rest of the series. Trust no one, and expect danger at any given moment!