TV shows are lining up to film at the railway station from Bodyguard
The heritage station in Dereham was the breakout star of the BBC1 drama’s debut episode
Jed Mercurio’s new drama Bodyguard premiered with a nail-biting opening 20 minutes on Sunday night, watched by almost 7 million viewers.
The scene in question featured Richard Madden’s war veteran David Budd preventing a terror attack on a train to London.
But his stand-out co-star was the railway station where it all took place – and thanks to the publicity, Mid Norfolk Railway in Dereham, a heritage station, already has other TV shows lining up to film there.
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George Saville, operations manager of Mid Norfolk Railway, told the Dereham Times: “We were really pleased with the show. Plenty of the railway was shown at the start which is great because you can never be too sure how much will be included.
“We’re now finding we are getting approached more and more. A German beer company came and spent the week with us last month and the station was turned into a German railway station. We are hoping that it will continue and the Mid Norfolk Railway will attract more film and television crews in the future.”
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The scene wasn’t always intended to be shot in Dereham, however. As showrunner Mercurio explained in a tweet, it was originally meant to be filmed at Waterloo Station in London before permission was revoked, meaning the plot had to be changed accordingly.
Talk about a sliding doors moment.
Mercurio also revealed that the sniper on the roof in episode two was created with visual effects, because "for public safety" he wasn't allowed to "put anyone on a roof with a rifle".
Bodyguard continues on BBC1 at 9pm on Sunday
