More than half of Sunday night viewers tune in for Bodyguard as climax is watched by 11 million

A staggering 11 million people tuned in as Jed Mercurio's thriller reached its gripping denouement, drawing a peak audience share of 55% across BBC1 and BBC1 HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1q5VDHlhEg

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN1azS1vjLM&list=PLbs-Pk9dtKb9yvH8DwGTgy4LMlp046hTM

The final instalment of the six-part drama – starring Richard Madden as Police Sergeant David Budd – was watched by an average of 10.4 million during its extended 75-minute slot from 9pm until 10:15pm, with the other major channels' offerings dwarfed in comparison.

ITV's period adaptation Vanity Fair was Bodyguard's closest competitor, watched by an average of almost 2 million between 9pm and 10pm, while the darts on BBC2, Big Brother on Channel 5 and fellow reality series The Circle on Channel 4 measured their audiences in the hundreds of thousands.

And the BBC, and Mercurio, made the most of their captive audience, following Bodyguard with a teaser trailer for the writer's other police drama, Line of Duty.

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