Bodyguard finale was most watched drama tv episode since records began with 17m viewers

Despite the proliferation of streaming services, the summer of 2018 saw the nation brought together by three major televised events: the World Cup, Love Island and Bodyguard.

All three have been record breaking (England vs Tunisia at the World Cup is the most-watched live event of the year so far; Love Island broke ITV2 viewership records), with the Bodyguard finale only now breaking another: most-watched episode of a drama since records began in 2002.

According to the BBC, 17.1 million people across the UK watched the finale over the course of 28 days.

The consolidated figure was calculated using Barb’s updated four-screen measure, which was introduced in August and now includes data for those viewing programmes through online non-TV devices such as PCs, laptops, smartphones and tablets.

Without including non-TV devices, the total viewing figure is 15.9 million, which still makes it the highest audience for a drama programme since current records began.

Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content said: ”Bodyguard continues to smash records and thrill new audiences everyday via the boxset.”

Created by Jed Mercurio, the series is BBC iPlayer’s most successful box set, with more than 38 million requests so far.

Earlier in October, the finale of the BBC One series was revealed to have become one of the top five most-watched programmes of this decade, based on seven-day consolidated viewing figures.

It scored a huge television audience of 14.34 million, according to data which included those who recorded the episode and watched it up to seven days later.

The finale, which aired on September 23, drew an average of 10.4 million viewers in the overnight ratings.

The series followed troubled bodyguard and police officer David Budd (Richar Madden) and his relationship with controversial Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), who was killed halfway through the series by a bomb.

The nail-biting finale tied up the loose ends in the TV whodunit, revealing that thwarted terrorist Nadia Ali was the person behind the fatal bomb.

Mercurio has hinted at a second instalment of the series, telling The Sun: “If the ratings hadn’t been quite so high, then possibly everybody involved, including the BBC, would have said, ‘Well that was a nice little series but we’re just going to leave it at that and there won’t be any more”’.

“We do feel very privileged and fortunate that there’s been such a response that it gives us that opportunity to at least think about doing more.

“We would probably approach any thoughts of a second series with the idea that it would create the opportunity for a third or fourth.”’