Huanxi Media hires Bodyguard in China

Bodyguard was written and created by Jed Mercurio

Chinese media company Huanxi Media Group has secured the rights to BBC1 crime thriller Bodyguard for its streaming service in mainland China.

Bodyguard was created and written by Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty) and produced by World Productions, an ITV Studios company.

It is distributed by ITV Studios Global Entertainment, which sealed the deal in China, where it will now air on huanxi.com, a streamer specialising in domestic and international drama and films.

Bodyguard achieved huge success in the UK last year, with the final episode watched by more than 17 million people on BBC1. Netflix holds the international rights to the series outside China.

The series was executive produced for World Productions by Mercurio and Simon Heath (Line of Duty, Save Me), while Elizabeth Kilgarriff exec produced for BBC.

Starring Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) and Keeley Hawes (The Durrells), Bodyguard was directed by Thomas Vincent and John Strickland and produced by Priscilla Parish.