Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Bodyguard finale expected to draw among biggest TV audiences of decade

Bodyguard is expected to top the TV ratings with its finale (Sophie Mutevelian/BBC)
Bodyguard is expected to top the TV ratings with its finale (Sophie Mutevelian/BBC)

The highly-anticipated finale of Bodyguard on Sunday night is likely to attract one of the biggest TV audiences for a drama series this decade.

Ratings for the smash hit thriller, about a controversial Home Secretary and her PTSD-suffering protection officer, have climbed steadily since episode one.

The latest available figures are for episode four (shown on September 9), which had a consolidated audience of 11.1 million.

The Bodyguard
The Bodyguard(BBC/World Productions/Des Willie)

This makes Bodyguard the eighth most-watched drama of the decade, in a list that also contains blockbusters such as Doctor Who and Sherlock.

Top of the chart is EastEnders, which enjoyed an enormous audience of 16.4 million for its 25th birthday live episode on February 19 2010.

In second place is Coronation Street, which pulled in 14.7 million for an episode shown on December 6 2010.

Bodyguard needs only to add another million-and-a-half viewers to its total and it will have outperformed the likes of Call The Midwife, Broadchurch and even Downton Abbey.

Full ratings for the final episode won’t be known until Monday October 1, to take account of viewers who recorded the episode and watched it up to seven days later.

Millions are expected to tune in to the extended 75-minute episode of Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio’s latest effort, in one of the biggest whodunnit drama TV tales of the year.

The series centres around Afghanistan war veteran David Budd (Richard Madden), the protection officer assigned to Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), whose decision to hand the investigation of recent terror events to the Security Service ruffles many feathers.

She is also widely criticised for pushing a new counter-terrorism bill through Parliament, which would give the security services the ability for mass surveillance.

Audiences are waiting to find out who was behind the bomb that killed Montague during a high-profile speech in a surprise twist.

Viewers have watched as Budd tries to unravel the mystery around her death. However, in a trailer for the final episode, he appears to be at the centre of the manhunt himself.

There has also been speculation that Montague may still be alive.

Bodyguard will come to a conclusion at 9pm on Sunday on BBC One.