The Scottish actor on objectification, roles in the “grey zones” and how he escapes the attention of being a star
MR PORTER – It has been a dizzying week for Mr Richard Madden as the reaction to his latest television series, Bodyguard, has intensified. The BBC’s delirious new primetime thriller – which stars Mr Madden in the title role — has generally been a ratings and critical hit. However, this being 2018, it wouldn’t do to not have a furore, and Bodyguard’s so far seems to revolve around the number of women shown in positions of power. In short: there’s too many, apparently, at least, according to many Twitterati – who felt this was an example of the BBC being unrealistically politically correct. (This despite the fact that until April 2018, the United Kingdom had a female prime minister, home secretary and Metropolitan Police commissioner.) Mr Madden, who is drily Scottish at the best of times, has no truck with misogynist trolls.
“I just thought: this is so fucking bananas!”, the 32-year-old exclaims over a light lunch. The usual healthy foods are complemented by a Diet Coke, a packet of cigarettes and a liberal use of the F-word that verges on the Rab C Nesbitt. “It’s not unrealistic at all to have these women in there – it’s completely normal.” It should be like that, he says. “Especially when the show focuses on a young white male. Let’s not forget that the camera is on a young white male the whole time.”
Handsome, affable and enjoyably cheeky, Mr Madden has thus far shuttled between two types of role: the romantic hero and the action ingénue. Sometimes he has done both at the same time – most famously playing Robb Stark in Game Of Thrones. He has played Prince Kit in Cinderella, and he has been Romeo on-stage, not once but twice. He has also bounced about and wielded a gun in Bastille Day, opposite Mr Idris Elba. Bodyguard has guns, but it’s the chance to expand his range that made him jump at the role. In the six-part series he plays David Budd, a bodyguard whose time as a soldier at war has left him suffering with PTSD. When Budd is assigned to protect a hostile, hawkish home secretary (Ms Keeley Hawes), we soon realise he may not actually want to protect her. Apart from those times when he’s in bed with her, of course.