Theresa May has said she did not enjoy watching the BBC drama Bodyguard, which focused on the relationship between a rightwing home secretary and her personal protection officer.
The prime minister switched off after 20 minutes of the first episode and told reporters while visiting Africa that she preferred watching programmes that were not so close to home.
“I watch TV to unwind,” May said. “I’m not sure a drama about a female home secretary is the best way for me to do that.”
The prime minister is a fan of the American police show NCIS, The Great British Bake Off and Strictly Come Dancing – a notable choice given the mixed reception for her dancing at a South African school, where she joined in with teachers and parents shortly after her arrival on Tuesday morning.
In Bodyguard, Keeley Hawes plays Julia Montague, a Conservative MP who supported military intervention in Iraq and wants to restrict civil liberties by updating phone-tapping legislation, but ends up in a relationship with her protection officer – David Budd, played by Richard Madden – a war veteran bitterly opposed to her politics.
Hawes said she had looked to Amber Rudd for inspiration rather than May, partly because Rudd was home secretary at the time of filming.
“We’re very much not playing Amber Rudd. That wasn’t what we were going to do. But she’s a very good example. She was brilliant for me to research,” Hawes said in a press conference promoting the show.
