BBC MEDIA CENTRE – Richard Madden (Game Of Thrones, Cinderella, Electric Dreams) and Keeley Hawes (Line Of Duty, The Durrells, The Missing) will lead the cast of Bodyguard, a timely original six-part drama, created and written by Jed Mercurio and produced by World Productions for BBC One.

Set in and around the corridors of power, Bodyguard tells the fictional story of David Budd (Madden), a heroic but volatile war veteran now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch (RaSP) of London’s Metropolitan Police Service.

When he is assigned to protect the ambitious and powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague (Hawes), whose politics stand for everything he despises, Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs. Responsible for her safety, is he actually her biggest threat?

On being cast in Bodyguard, Richard Madden says: “I’m very excited to be working with Jed Mercurio again and thrilled to be working with Keeley Hawes for the first time. Jed has created a remarkable story that resonates with the very heart of modern-day London and real characters trying to survive in this world.”

Keeley Hawes adds: “I’m delighted to be working with Richard Madden and once again with Jed Mercurio, and the hugely talented team behind Line Of Duty. Bodyguard is such an exciting project. I can’t wait to get started.”

Creator, writer and Executive Producer Jed Mercurio says: “I’m hugely flattered by the superb cast who’ve joined Bodyguard, led by Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes, both of whom I’m delighted to be working with again, and I’m immensely grateful to the BBC and World Productions for their unstinting support for the series.”

Further cast include Gina McKee (Line Of Duty, Our Friends In The North), Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders, Jamestown), Vincent Franklin (Happy Valley, Cucumber) and Rowena King (Trauma, The Wrong Mans).

Bodyguard is a 6×60′ series produced by World Productions for BBC One. The series will be executive produced by showrunner Jed Mercurio, Simon Heath for World Productions and Elizabeth Kilgarriff for BBC One. ITV Studios Global Entertainment will manage international distribution of the series. Filming has begun in London, with Thomas Vincent directing Block One, John Strickland directing Block Two and Priscilla Parish producing. (source)

Updated the gallery adding a couple of new production stills (thanks to Far Far Away) from Richard’s next project Electric Dreams: The Hood Maker, together with digital HQ scans from TV&Satellite Week (September 16-22 issue) where the series is featured.

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams will have its premiere on Sunday, September 17th and The Hood Maker (Richard’s episode) will be the season premiere. Can’t wait to watch it! Be sure to follow our twitter @RMaddenFan for news Holliday Grainger Fan, fansite dedicate to Richard’s 3-time co-star Holliday Grainger!

Some months ago the news that Richard was casted in the Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams anthology series by Amazon came out. Each episode of Electric Dreams will be a stand-alone based on Dick’s shorts stories as adapted by a writers room made up of British and American writers. Richard plays Agent Ross in the episode (6 seems) titled The Hood Maker. The series it is commissioned by Channel 4, which will air the series later this year in the UK, and by Amazon Prime Video for the U.S. (Deadline)

It is set in a world without advanced technology and where mutant telepaths have become humanity’s only mechanism for long-distance communication. But their powers have unintended implications, and when the public begins to embrace mysterious, telepath-blocking hoods, two detectives with an entangled past are brought in to investigate.

Holliday Grainger co-star and plays Honor. The pair already worked together in Cinderella (2015) and Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2015). The first production stills from Richard’s episode have been released and can be found in our gallery!

Back last Monday (July 24), Richard attended the After Party at the press night of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. The theater production stars Jack O’Connell, Sienna Miller, and Colm Meaney. Check out the HQ photos of Richard from the event in our gallery!

Richard is featured in the latest issue (July 27) of Grazia Italia, with a new interview (let me know if you want me to translate it!) and a brand new photoshoot – after almost 2 years! The editorial was taken back when Richard was in Milan for the Armani show during the fashion weeek – back in January.

The photos were taken at the Armani Showroom and Richard is wearing whole Armani.