PROTECT AND SERVE
Bodyguard finale – what really happened and what are the latest theories, clues and conspiracy theories?
The intense finale lasted 75-minutes and answered all of the questions fans had as they followed the show's 6-week journey
BODYGUARD's series finale hit screens last Sunday and fans got all the answers to their questions - in particular, the criminals behind the terror attacks.
Here's what happened in Bodyguard's finale and everything that was revealed...
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What happened in the finale episode?
The finale saw David meet up with Julia's fired PA after suspecting that she had some involvement in the terror attacks.
Her meeting turned out to be a trap, as the criminal group leader Luke Aitkens captured the brave policeman and beat him up.
During that time, the police forces managed to connect the dots and realised that the ex-soldier that tried to shoot the Home Secretary from a building terrace was, in fact, Budd's friend from millitary.
That convinced them that Budd was behind this thing all along and he'd been lying.
Meanwhile, Budd woke up with a bloody face and soon noticed that he was strapped to a live bomb vest, with his thumb taped to the pressed bomb activating button.
He convinced a woman on the street to call the police thinking they would come to help him out as his fellow officers, however as the countless sirens were heard, it became clear that they were coming to corner him, not help him.
Minutes and minutes of intense conversations between the police force and Budd saw David trying to explain himself and get them to help him deactivate the bomb instead of shooting him dead.
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David's wife Vicky eventually believed him and decided to act as his shield so that the police officers couldn't shoot him.
Budd decided to walk to his flat with Vicky to give them the Kompromat tablet as the security forces followed him and evacuated the building he was walking by.
As he gave the police the tablet, an expert helped deactivate the bomb vest in nerve-wracking scenes.
Not satisfied by still having no idea who killed Julia and how, David ran off to the fired PA's flat, and convinced her to help him locate Luke Aitkens.
It turned out that Luke was paying CSI Loraine Craddock a visit to inquire about how she hadn't been able to frame Budd yet.
The ex-millitary hero cornered the two, and soon his name was cleared.
It became obvious that Lorraine had been bribed into giving up the Home Secretary's itineraries, which the organised crime gang used to plan the attacks as they didn't want Julia's RIPA bill to pass.
In a shocking twist, it was also revealed that Nadia was the mastermind behind the bombs and used Budd's naivety to get her way.
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What were the latest theories and clues before the finale aired?
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MI5
Many people's favourites for the crime, the security service, had been behaving in a highly suspicious manner throughout the series.
Fans theorised that MI5 might have grown suspicious of the threat posed by Montague and fear being cut out of the loop over vital security issues, and thus killed her.
In episode five we had learned that Nadia, the would-be suicide bomber, and her husband picked up their explosive vest from Longcross.
However, the finale episode saw Nadia admit that she lied about the whole thing and she was the mastermind behind all the bombs.
She explained that she took advantage of Budd's friendly and naive demeanor, and used the information he provided about his kids to plan the attack on their school.
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Anne Sampson and the Met Police's counter-terrorism force
Anne Sampson, who heads up the country's counter-terror forces, was livid after Montague, who had grown tired of police failures to make progress on previous terror attack investigations, granted greater investigatory powers to the security services.
Mike Travis, who is promoted to acting Home Secretary in the wake of the bombing, then puts the Met back in charge of the investigations, pleasing Sampson.
It then appears she gives Travis a heads-up when MacDonald becomes a target of suspicion.
Although fans became highly suspicious of Anne, as her approach to Budd who was strapped to a bomb was uncompromising.
However, towards the end of the finale it became very clear that she was one of the good guys.
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The Prime Minister/ Chief Whip Roger Penhaligon
No 10 is shown throughout the series as growing increasingly suspicious of Montague's actions amid fears she is mounting a leadership challenge.
Roger Penhaligon is the Chief Whip as well as being Montague's ex-husband - on several occasions, he demonstrates his hostile relationship with Montague.
Then there is the Home Secretary's mysterious late-night visit to Chequers to meet with the PM.
Prior to the meeting, she demanded Budd call off all other protection officers on her case and that he drive her to Chequers himself.
Was this a request from the Home Secretary, or a demand from No 10?
We learned in episode five that No 10 was being blackmailed by Montague and she was in possession of a tablet loaded with "kompromat".
The finale revealed that the Prime Minister wasn't responsible for Julia's sudden death.
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David Budd
Could Budd, who is caught between his loyalty to his job and his anger at Montague for supporting military intervention overseas, have carried out the attack himself?
It is certainly possible especially when you factor in his enduring PTSD and nightmares, not to mention the horrifying moment when he choked Montague in the hotel.
Viewers were sent wild when Budd inspected the suspicious briefcase moments before the attack on Montague.
Despite giving it the all-clear and saying it contained nothing but documents, viewers were not shown the contents of the briefcase for themselves.
Still, it turned out that although he suffered from mental health issues due to his millitary background, Budd was being honest the whole time.
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Chanel Dyson - the fired PA
One of the most interesting theories involved Chanel Dyson, Montague's former PA who was fired early on in the series.
Clearly angered by her dismissal, she went to a reporter in the hope of smearing Montague and damaging her leadership aspirations.
Following this meeting, she was picked up on the street by a mysterious black Range Rover and, reluctantly, got inside.
Viewers were shown that Dyson has ties to organised crime, which would also be at severe risk if the RIPA-18 laws were passed.
And, as fans speculated, Dyson did in fact aid the organised crime gang in capturing, strapping a bomb on and trying to frame Budd.
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Tahir Mahmood
Previously, Mahmood was the chief suspect for police while investigating the attack on Montague.
Moments before the explosion he had made his way onto the stage near his boss and is assumed to have died in the blast.
While police interrogated Nadia, they showed her a picture of Mahmood and asked her if she recognised him, to which she said no.
The chances it was Mahmood lessened since it was confirmed the bomb was not in the briefcase he was carrying but under the stage.
The finale clarified that Tahir had nothing to do with any of the terror attacks.
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Julia Montague
It sounds far-fetched, but what if the Home Secretary, desperate to push through her RIPA reforms, organised the blast herself to increase public and Parliamentary support for her heightened surveillance laws?
At least, that's what fans theorised before the finale aired.
Viewers claimed that her behaviour was suspicious from an early stage, from her secret meetings and the encrypted tablet to making the high-profile public appearance at St. Michael's despite the advice of her security detail.
However, all of these theories were false as Julia didn't fake her own death and was in fact killed in a terror attack.
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