BBC One thriller Bodyguard will be available to global audiences on Netflix, it has been announced.
The streaming service has acquired the series and will make it available to viewers globally outside of the UK and Ireland and China from October 24 this year, ITV said.
The Jed Mercurio-penned series, whose penultimate episode on BBC One was watched by eight million viewers, is produced by World Productions, an ITV studios company.
The deal has been done with ITV Studios global entertainment and Bodyguard was picked up by Netflix “at script stage”, ITV said.
Maria Kyriacou, president international of ITV Studios, said: “Bodyguard has gripped the nation with its twists and turns. It’s a perfect example of a show produced locally which has huge global appeal.
“Through our partnership with Netflix, we can’t wait for audiences around the world to enjoy the show as much as audiences here in the UK.”
In 2017 ITV Studios acquired a majority stake in World Productions, the makers of Bodyguard and other shows such as Line Of Duty and The Bletchley Circle.
The most recent pictures teasing Sunday’s forthcoming finale show David Budd, played by Game Of Thrones star Richard Madden, covered in blood.
He appears to be at the centre of the manhunt for the killer of Home Secretary Julia Montague, played by Keeley Hawes.
A teaser trailer for the political thriller’s final has hinted that Budd, who was Montague’s protection officer and secret lover before she died in a bombing, will be arrested over the assassination.
The clip shows Budd while the stand-in Home Secretary Mike Travis (Vincent Franklin) says: “Look no further for Julia’s assassin.”
Another part of the trailer sees DS Louise Rayburn (Nina Toussaint-White) claiming that the person who planted the bomb was an “inside man”, another suggestion that Budd is in the firing line.
The newly-released images show a fraught-looking Budd in more detail, with a black eye, a bruise down the side of his face and blood across his nose, cheek and chin.
Another picture shows him wrapped in a blanket, still covered in blood.
Commander Anne Sampson (Gina McKee), head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, looks tense while standing in her office in the midst of the investigation in another image from the episode.
The dramatic series has left viewers with few answers, notably regarding who is behind Montague’s apparent death.
The penultimate episode, which earned the BBC its highest overnight audience of the series so far, saw fans speculating that Montague may be alive.
The finale of Bodyguard airs on Sunday September 23.