Bodyguard - BBC1

[Violetroselily]

Anybody watching?

Quite enjoying it so far

Huge LoD fan so I have high hopes for this series

Some random thoughts.

David's eyes are strange. They are blue but in some light look very dark, as if perhaps he's wearing contacts. It makes him hard to read and distant/scary where he is less so in other scenes.

The date on something (PC/document/TV? sorry, forgotten what it was now) was October 2018. The top secret document Julia was reading on the tablet said something about serious sexual assault. I've gone back on iplayer and it says the name Charlotte Foxfield. There is a description of what the attacker did to ?her. Also before that "cocaine use is daily". Maybe info about the PM as Kitty, Knots suggested.

What is the red pin David and other protection officers have in their lapel?

I found it strange that the auditorium was silent after the bomb exploded. Wouldn't there be screaming or sounds of people in pain?

I noticed when David was scanning the room before speeches began, he looked at lots of females (including the policewoman. The only males he seemed to focus on were the press.) This might link in to some people upthread suggesting it could be the female cop.

They did make it look like he may have OK-ed a bomb in the case. If Julia has said it's best if she gets a new PPO, this event could be his last chance if he wants to assassinate her or be involved in an attempt. I still don't really think he is involved though, even if he's had thoughts about doing something. He's had multiple chances (driving her to Chequers, in hotel alone together) although I suppose just letting others do the deed there is less possible outcome and blame for him.

I've no clue what's going on. Though I don't think the beady aide had a bomb and I'm hoping female police woman body guard didn't die (probably did though).

I got so caught up in the end I had a slight expectation it'd be on the news.

I found it strange that the auditorium was silent after the bomb exploded. Wouldn't there be screaming or sounds of people in pain?

I thought that was because his hearing would be shot after the explosion, he was just temporarily deaf.

did the police pass on that she was at Chequers? They had to tell the cop at the gate and he radioed that Lavender was there.

"if I don't come back, go to the Death Star" - what did that mean?

Yes, explosion deafness.

I found it strange that the auditorium was silent after the bomb exploded. Wouldn't there be screaming or sounds of people in pain?
There is silence after a bomb. People do scream, but there's a short period of silence, then sounds start.

Hellomist some reference to Star Wars I think?

Blimey they write this up quickly!

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/sep/02/bodyguard-recap-series-one-episode-three-theres-no-way-this-can-end-well

"Who was the guy who said "who does she think she is?" The political side/characters I'm finding very confusing. Too many similar looking actors."

Graphista that was Stephen, head of MI5 (because I remember the Versailles actor by his voice). He met her in her hotel room one of the times David was listening in, to discuss "their arrangement" and how they could get materials to her. (I've rewatched snippets).

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/Xr7VdXkz4f6z1yNWq3sgHk/characters helps a bit but I agree, others I am unsure of.

thank you Dory! Haven't seen it

HelloMist - me neither but had Star Wars mad brothers so random snippets must have seeped into my pea like brain

just remembered and checked back: Tahir was on the phone before speeches had started, after Julia had said to check it was all in order, and said "what do you want". Then it cut to David just finishing a call. Could be a red herring though.

Thanks for the Guardian link, Dory. Too late for me now but there will probably be some interesting ideas in the comments there too.

I think David is thoroughly good, but it's deliberately shown to put doubt into our minds.

I wondered if David/Dave had taken Scarface's gun from the crime scene because it was an army issue gun and it's presence would tell the investigators, almost immediately, that the sniper was ex army.

Once that link had been made, it would/may follow that Dave could be linked to the Sniper.

David swapped his own untraceable gun for the Sniper's gun at the scene.

Thus, the gun behind the panelling is the Sniper's.

Why is Dave is doing any of this? - not a clue!

Also: surely there is no way the person on duty outside the home sec's door over night wouldn't hear a) the shagging and b) the scared noises when he nearly strangled her?

I don't think there was anyone on duty, was there? There wasn't anyone in evidence when David went out to confront Longcross. Presumably they don't think it's needed because that's David's job.

There's always someone on the door. We didn't see them clearly when he came out to confront Longcross because Dave came out of his own door not Julia's. There would definitely be someone overnight as Dave is meant to be virtuously tucked up on his own bed.... He can't be on duty 24 hours.

Here's my two penneth: both the Home Secretary and SlashDave are being used. Someone in the security services is trying to manipulate things by discrediting the police and making them seem incompetent. In reality they are not keeping them in the loop so they can't do their job.

Julia is a target and the security services want her to be bumped off because it suits them and whatever their plan is. If the Home Secretary can't be kept safe, who can? They are simultaneously giving her information and trying to make her job harder. The anti RIPA 18 protesters at the Downing Street gates and the college were a put up job by them. That was flagged by what Tablet Man said just before the scene cut to her arriving at No. 10.

SlashDave is the fall guy. Of course the security services know who Scarface is and you're not telling me he hasn't been recognised by someone at the pub he and SD met at? Incidentally, when he shot himself, he'll have blown the back of his head off rather than his face.

So SD has motive because of his service history, psychological and relationship issues. We know he searched Julia's parliamentary voting history. We know he knew she knew his kids' school was a target. We know he's a disgruntled veteran. The security services will know he knew Scarface and he's now lied to the police about this fact.

They are going to try to pin Julia's murder on Dave as a lone wolf killer. Far darker is the truth, that the security services are trying to get her killed for their own purposes.

Last nights episode got me thinking. What if the secret squirrel stuff on the tablet is about the Chief Whip, Julia's ex husband? What if, he has the ear of the PM and passes info to the more right wing of the party and now person or persons unknown want to stop Julia from going to the PM or worse still the Press? I think she is using our Dave for "room service" and that she has ulterior motives. I think she is alive but possibly scarred . The girl that was late to the lecture is disgruntled ex employee, I put my next bar of chocolate on that !!!

They said they had not been able to find his gun!

KnotsinMay, they said it was untraceable, i.e. they couldn't find where it came from. Not the same thing. If they couldn't find the gun, Scarface was dead and Dave was the only other person around, he would have been instantly under major suspicion.

Oh, ok, I misheard / misunderstood about the gun.

If Dave knew there was a bomb in the briefcase, on the face of it it's unlikely he'd run towards it.

“David swapped his own untraceable gun for the Sniper's gun at the scene.”

But surely the ballistics / forensic experts would know that the bullet that killed him wasn’t from that gun?

Pretty sure the gun in the panelling isn't the sniper's because we saw it before the shooting. IIRC the writers carefully had a scene where Dave/David was checking out his official gun, with all the paperwork, before going on duty, then juxtaposed it with him getting his own gun (the service pistol he never gave back?) out of its not-very-secure hiding place in the sock drawer (may be imagining it was the sock drawer, but something along those lines). It was only after the shooting that he puts it in a much more secure hiding place.

Why? He just happened to have it lying around? The "Veterans for peace" organisation is in fact a cover for a paramilitary organisation, the sniper wasn't a lone wolf, and Dave is part of it? The two sets of illegal guns are unconnected, the link is deliberate misdirection on the writers' part, but they need Dave to have an independent source of a gun for later plot purposes (e.g. suspended from duty, so no official gun, but will still need a gun to protect Lavender)? Other ideas?

*I wondered if David/Dave had taken Scarface's gun from the crime scene because it was an army issue gun and it's presence would tell the investigators, almost immediately, that the sniper was ex army.

Once that link had been made, it would/may follow that Dave could be linked to the Sniper.

David swapped his own untraceable gun for the Sniper's gun at the scene.

Thus, the gun behind the panelling is the Sniper's.*

Could be workable if same standard ex mlitary issue only Dave's one is unregistered, would ballistics match then? (totally no idea on guns)

oldmum yes the Chief Whip /Julia's ex is a nasty piece of work ....but is this another of Mecurio's red herrings?!

Agree with wowfudge both Julia & David are being manipulated from on high.

But basically......Not .A.Fucking.Clue. LOVE IT!!

Oh & worth trawling trough the comments on that Guardian round up some are hilarious!!

I would rather have seen the outcome of the 'one aide shafts the other over fact checking' storyline than yet another terrorist attack. As we got towards the episode I was thinking 'oh good, no set piece in this episode' as it's surely not realistic to have one in every episode, and better to let the tension mount.

I also got confused about who was who. The guy sitting next to Julia in Parliament was surely 'yeah bollocks' from W1A (ah yes it is and he's the PM, but has yet to have a line).

I also assumed the dossier was about the PM, although the whole encrypted text file thing seemed a bit unnecessary.

David strangling Julia in his sleep seemed a bit too much lifted straight from the plot of Grey's Anatomy (Owen does the same thing to Cristina due to PTSD).

Has Jed killed Keeley off again? It's possible.