Netflix Lands ‘Bodyguard,’ Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes Hit U.K. Drama

“Bodyguard” is going global with Netflix. It has set the ratings alight in the U.K. where it is the biggest new drama series for a decade and will now launch internationally on the SVOD platform.

The Richard Madden (“Game of Thrones”) and Keely Hawes (“The Missing”) drama is made by ITV-owned shingle World Productions. Madden plays David Budd, a war veteran turned cop, assigned to protect a senior politician, Julia Montague, played by Hawes.

The show has captured the imagination of viewers in the U.K. where it airs on the BBC. The opening episode won a 40.9% share and generated a huge consolidated viewing figure of 10.4 million. In the coveted-after 16-34 demo it won 1.2 million viewers. That made it the biggest drama launch on any network in recent British TV memory.

Viewers have stuck with the series. The most recent, fifth, installment went out on Sunday, garnering an overnight rating of 8 million and a 38.2% peak share. Those were the serialized drama’s best overnight number so far, and an increase of one million on the previous week.

The series was created by Jed Mercurio, who also made cop drama “Line of Duty,” a critical and ratings success in the U.K.

Announcing the deal Tuesday, ITV’s distribution arm ITV Studios Global Entertainment, said that Netflix had actually picked up the series at script stage. The deal allows the streamer to premiere “Bodyguard” internationally on its platform from Oct. 24.

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