did you guess?
Bodyguard final – the vital clues David Budd missed and the questions we still need answered as Julia Montague’s killer is revealed
TONIGHT Bodyguard viewers finally found out who was behind the bomb which killed the Home Secretary Julia Montague - and no one had suspected the culprits.
After six weeks of twists, turns and a lot of red herrings it was revealed that the lethal and very advanced bomb was built by the seemingly innocuous suicide bomber Nadia (Anjli Mohindra), who David Budd (Richard Madden) had naively believed was an ally.
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But Nadia, who appeared in the first episode with a bomb strapped to her, wasn’t working alone and was actually just doing the dirty work for crime boss Luke Aitkens (Matt Stokoe), who was trying to weaken the security service.
Luke had found out that Julia (Keeley Hawes) was planning to transfer powers to the security service rather than police – meaning organised crime that he was involved in would be more at risk so he wanted to stop her – and would stop at nothing.
In a further twist, viewers learnt that he was collaborating with CSI Lorraine Craddock (Pippa Haywood), who had been feeding him the Home Secretary’s movements.
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David Budd manages to release his thumb from bomb detonator in dramatic Bodyguard scene
And in true Jed Mercurio style, the police chief was utterly corrupt and was helping bring down Julia who was trying to introduce the fictional bill Ripa 18, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2018 which would increase surveillance powers for the security services.
Meanwhile Richard Longcross (Michael Shaeffer) was helping Julia usurp the PM. He was working for MI5’s Director-General Stephen Hunter-Dunn and providing evidence to ruin the leader. For weeks viewers suspected there was something incredibly sinister about him when he was in fact just carrying out orders for the secret service.
Following the action packed episode, fans have been left with some unanswered questions, including how David Budd missed the clues that Nadia was involved. We take a look at things we missed and the theories which pointed at Luke all along...
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Why did Budd miss the clues about Nadia?
Nadia had been a prominent character from the get go – after she was first seen on a train wearing a suicide vest.
Viewers and Budd felt for the character, who appeared terrified and seemed to have been bullied into the wearing the device.
Budd had spent hours talking to in order to gain her trust and in doing so he ended up telling her a lot of details about his private life.
For example she had known everything about his children, but she was the last person Budd suspected when their school was targeted.
He continued to share information with her because he believed she was an ally, due to her convincing acting of a terrified Jihadi bride.
Nadia was perhaps too obvious of a choice, so viewers and Budd came up with alternative suggestions.
He often appeared patronising towards her – but very few suspected he was annoying her or she was anything other than a scared wife.
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Bodyguard's David Budd asks Vicky how her boyfriend is while wearing a suicide bomb
The Luke clues and unanswered questions
Throughout the series Luke has popped up on a few occasions, but only in few blink or you’ll miss it moments.
He was first seen in the first episode when he picked up Chanel Dyson after she was sacked by Julia.
Next he was fleetingly seen attending a veteran’s soldiers group. But Budd who was there on both occasions, failed to spot him popping up in two rather incongruous settings.
Budd did however click that he could have been behind supplying the guns to Andy Apsted (Tom Brooke), but he was more fixated on finding Longross.
There are however a number of unanswered questions surrounding Luke:
- How did he buy the bomb from Nadia while she was in police custody? Viewers will remember she was there since the first episode.
- How did Luke meet the ex army man Andy Apsted - did he know the connection to Budd?
- Was Chanel dating Luke? If not why was she involved with him?
- Why did he remove the bullets from Budd's gun and not just steal the gun?
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Questions that need to be answered with a second series
Who is Vicky’s boyfriend?
Throughout the series quite a big deal seemed to be made about David Budd's wife Vicky’s new boyfriend.
At various points David Budd (Richard Madden) quizzed Vicky (Sophie Rundle) about the mystery man, even asking at one point if he would be a good dad.
In the final episode he brought him up again as he was trying to remove the suicide bomb from his chest, but still viewers didn’t get to see him.
There was a theory at that Richard Longross might have been her secret boyfriend but he is now dead.
Could it still be him and she just didn’t know he had died? Or is he actually of no significance?
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What does Commander Anne Sampson really know?
Throughout the series Commander Anne Sampson raised eyebrows as she tried to keep the Home Secretary under control.
At one point she even declared that she was ‘dangerous woman’.
In the final episode the finger of blame was pointed at her as she became very uncomfortable while discussing Luke Aitken.
Inspector Deepak Sharma (Ash Tandon) pointed out that she had worked on a case involving him a number of years ago – leaving her sweating and uncomfortable.
Did she know what he was really up to and that he was working with CSI Lorraine Craddock?
At the end of the series she refuses to reveal who gave the order to release the material in the compromat - could Julia still be alive and behind the decision? And is she in on it?
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Why did Tom Fenton not appear in the final episode?
In the penultimate episode Budd’s colleague Tom Fenton (Richard Riddell) took centre stage.
He grassed up Budd for being mentally unstable in order to get him taken off the team.
Some viewers believed he could be Vicky’s new boyfriend as he certainly appeared to have a motive.
But in tonight’s episode he didn’t appear once. Why did he suddenly disappear? It seems unlikely that Jed wouldn't have just forgotten to write him in, so are there some unanswered questions?
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Other questions that need answering:
- Did Lorraine Craddock know that Budd and Andy Apsted were friends from the beginning? She said he was picked because he was a "fall guy from the beginning", suggesting she knew more about him than she let on.
- Was it purely by chance that Budd and Andy were former army buddies?
- Julia was told the top secret information on the compromat would disappear after a certain amount of time - but it was still there weeks later when Richard found it and handed it over. Why?
- Does the acting Home Secretary Mike Travis know more than he let on? He seemed to know Budd was the "fall guy".
- And finally, is Julia still alive? Is there a reason we have never seen her body? Viewers seem to think so.
Nadiya reveals she built the bomb that killed Julia in shock Bodyguard twist
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