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)

Richard’s new show Oasis is now available to stream on Amazon Video/Prime. The episode is amazing and definitely deserves more episodes. Be sure to watch it, rate it, and review it!

I’ve updated the gallery with beautiful new production stills from the pilot episode. Check them out!

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – Amazon is set to kick off its latest pilot season on March 17.

On Thursday, the streaming giant unveiled the latest projects that subscribers will be able to vote on, including the space drama Oasis starring Richard Madden and Hayley Joel Osment; The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino; and the dark comedy The Legend of Master Legend headlined by Winter’s Bone star John Hawkes.

The other projects include the pot comedy Budding Prospects and the animated half-hour The New V.I.P.’s.

Per the company’s model, the pilots will be available in Amazon’s global territories including the UK, Germany, Austria and Japan, and subject to customer reviews.

“Pilots continue to be the best way to take risks, find voices and evolve the art form of television,” said Joe Lewis, Amazon Studios’ head of comedy, drama and virtual reality. “We’re excited about these new worlds, characters and filmmakers. We’re looking forward to another Amazon Pilot Season and more great customer feedback.”

Based on Michael Faber’s cult novel The Book of Strange New Things, Oasis follows a chaplain (Madden) who is sent into space to help establish a colony on a distant planet. What he ends up discovering not only puts his faith to the test, but life as we know it.

The pilot also stars world-renowned Indian actor and producer Anil Kapoor, Michael Shaw, Antje Traue, Mark Addy, Haley Joel Osment, Maureen Sebastian, Michael Shaffer, and Zawe Ashton. Oasis is written by Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies), who will exec produce with Andy Harries (The Crown) and Lila Rawlings, produced by Rob Bullock (The Night Manager), with Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland) directing. The one-hour drama pilot is a co-production of Amazon Studios and Left Bank Productions.

Unsorted production stills and a couple of new promotional images from Medici: Masters of Florence have now been added to the gallery! Be sure to stay tuned for more additions and follow the site on twitter @RMaddenFan

Production stills from the first episode of Medici: Masters of Florence – Original Sin have now been added to the gallery, and some of the unsorted stills have now been placed in the correct album.

Stills from episode 2 will be added soon as well, stay tuned! Follow the site on twitter @RMaddenFan!