‘Bodyguard’ creator Jed Mercurio has teased that as many as four series of the BBC drama could be coming in the next few years, as the nation recovers from the action-packed finale.
Jed served as the executive producer and writer of ‘Bodyguard’, which has gripped viewers over the last six weeks, with speculation now turning to whether a follow-up is in the pipeline.
When asked about the subject by The Sun, Jed couldn’t confirm anything, but did say that continuing Sergeant David Budd’s story was something that had crossed his mind.
He said: “It’s probably fair to say we would probably approach any thoughts of a second series with the idea that it would create an opportunity for a third or fourth.”
Noting that he had been “fortunate” with the success of series one, he explained the reason that he’d chosen to wrap up all the show’s loose ends in the finale was because he wasn’t sure how it would be received, and therefore whether a second run would be in demand.
Jed added: “To adopt a sporting phrase, we kind of decided to leave everything on the field for series one.
“If the ratings hadn’t been quite so high, then possibly everybody involved including the BBC would have said, ‘Well that was a nice little series but we’re just going to leave it at that and there won’t be any more’. So you are a hostage to fortune in that sense.
“And we do feel very privileged and fortunate that there’s been such a response that it gives us that opportunity to at least think about doing more.”
However, he did note that if a second ‘Bodyguard’ series were commissioned, he’d need a lot of time to write it, as he’s currently focussing on his other hit show, ‘Line Of Duty’.
And we should probably point out there’s every chance Jed is quite simply “winding everyone up”, which is something he confessed he was rather enjoying in the lead-up to this weekend’s series closer.
The ‘Bodyguard’ finale proved to be the most suspenseful instalment yet, in which the fate of Julia Montague was finally revealed, as was the person behind the St. Matthews College bombing.