I’ve been watching a number of political dramas recently. My father and I have just finished the first series of ‘Yes Minister’, the 80s Whitehall sitcom implying civil servants may have more leverage over decisions than their post should allow. With my mother, we’ve watched a single episode of ‘The Thick of It’, a drama of the Blair era, ever second word of chief spin doctor Malcolm Tucker an expletive. They are both amusing and create a thought in the mind about how much of each storyline is truly fiction. Set during the turbulent years of Thatcherism and Blairism, the productions attempted to shine a light of the more light-hearted, simpler elements of politics.
The BBC, commissioner of both series, has tried once again to construct a political drama, in the form of Bodyguard. In the real world, everything has changed. Our two major parties are in chaos, perhaps the weakest Prime Ministers in British history negotiating one of the most complex departures since civilisation began. This is reflected in the fiction world. There is no humour this time. Bleak lighting, obscure camera shots and flawed characters all create the recipe for a mind-bending, compulsive drama. Our perspective is David Budd (Richard Madden) a war veteran assigned to protecting hawkish Julia Montague (Keely Hawes), a draconian, matriarchal Home Secretary repeating neoconservative rhetoric. We are thrown into the action immediately, Budd suspecting a terrorist on a London-bound train. From the start, guns are heard, even from his facial expressions it is clear what an impact war still has on him. Such is his paranoia that he takes control, a personality for order and routine so innately wired in his brain that the train guard follows his advice. Madden effectively presents a persistent character, only his desire for dialogue and rationality preventing the real suicide bomber – a petrified woman coerced by her Jihadist husband – from blowing herself up and not being shot eby police. This third of the programme, focusing on our inner human desire for life and protection, gives the audience a huge initial insight into this Bodyguard for all. Yet Budd remains an incredibly flawed character. Little exposition is required to reveal his frustration over separating from his wife, Vicky (Sophie Rundle), an attempt at a kiss and drunken slur down the phone adding to our belief of David as a real character, with a firm character history. While they remain married for financial reasons, Vicky able to access his pension for their children’s future, an internal conflict weaved together by the writers so contrasts and complents the great struggles Budd has faced overseas. The dynamic with Montague evolves throughout the programme. Hawes presents the Home Secretary as an overworked, stressed figure who will take no prisoners (ironically) and wishes to do what she believes is best for the country. As so many real politicians do, she uses the risk of a potential terrorist attack to introduce an Investigative Powers Bill, aimed at looking through millions of innocent people’s private emails, phone calls and messages. I imagine many watching would view that sort of legislation as a gross, Orwellian style mishandling of the relationship between the citizen and the state. How ironic that such a bill is law, the real UK government able to violate much of your privacy. So desperate for power is our home secretary that Budd is frequently dismissed and snubbed, only recognised for his courageous act upon reading through official documents late at night. While that element of her character, her belief system as a politician was gripping to I, for it ultimately shapes how a country works, more insightful for future episodes will be Montague’s interventionist foreign policy stance. According to a website replicating TheyWorkForYou extremely well, she always voted for UK action in Iraq and Afghanistan, not wishing to apologise for past mistakes in a Marr interview. Through these visual mediums, Budd watching the clip over and over again, we viewers are entranced into his state of mind, no personal experience or understanding of war required to feel sympathy for his justifiable anger at how his PTSD has been treated (i.e. not at all). Hawes expounds a character that won’t back down from her position, even in private, a worrying thought emerging in my mind about whether Budd would become her saviour or her downfall. The first episode finishes full of loose ends, waiting to be tied up in future installments. I hope there is a mixture of intense action, representing sadly the daily threat our politicians, and the public, face, balanced with more reflective scenes, Budd clearly at his best with his children. As for Montague, while secure enough to fire an incompetent aide, her position, politically and personally, can only go south the longer she remains a familiar face in Britain. A whole nation is gripped for tension, suspense and, most importantly, whether the characters listen to anything other than the BBC!
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