Ex-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith slams Bodyguard for having 'too much sh**ging'

Jacqui Smith, the former Labour Home Secretary, has taken new BBC drama Bodyguard to task over its excess bedroom scenes.

The ratings-smashing series stars Keeley Hawes as fictional Home Secretary Julia Montague, who, as well as battling attempts on her life by a homegrown terrorist cell, is having an affair with her bodyguard, played by Game of Thrones star Richard Madden.

But The Sun reports that she was heard at a party saying: “She should do less shagging and more case work!”

The remark came after Prime Minister Theresa May suggested that she wasn’t tuning in, saying: “I watch TV to unwind – I’m not sure a drama about a female home secretary is the best way for me to do that.”

Another former Home Secretary Amber Rudd, however, has said that she’s a big fan.

She said: “Like everyone, I have been absolutely gripped by Bodyguard. I love it. And it is a pretty accurate depiction of what the relationship is like between a home secretary and their bodyguard in the sense that they are incredibly close to you a lot of the time – although obviously not that close!”

The show, penned by Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, has proved an extraordinary hit for the BBC, drawing in the biggest audiences for any show on any channel in more than a decade.

Episode one totalled 10.4 million viewers.

Meanwhile, the BBC has confirmed that the series finale will be an extended episode, weighing in at 75 minutes.

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