Bodyguard: That huge twist in episode 4 threatens to strip the show of its best elements

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy *This article contains major spoilers for Bodyguard series 1 episode 4, if you've yet to watch it please click away now* The BBC’s Bodyguard series killed off its deuteragonist on Sunday night not with a gasp but a shrug. We’ve come to expect gory emphasis when main characters make a surprise early exit in our TV shows – a plot device we might call Ned Starking – so it was unusual and skilful how creator Jed Mercurio unceremoniously axed The Right Honourable Julia Montague in episode four. The home secretary was largely obscured by smoke during the St Matthew’s College blast the previous week, and the lack of viscera or halting final words, uttered while she was cradled in Budd’s arms amid the debris, led us all to assume that Montague would live to govern another day. The show’s opening train terrorist attack sequence felt pretty stock to me, but it was the sniper scene that came once Montague was in play that won Bodyguard my unfailing weekly viewing.