Gendered Islamophobia in BBC TV drama Bodyguard

Al-Azami, Salman (2025) Gendered Islamophobia in BBC TV drama Bodyguard. Journal of European Popular Culture, 16 (2). pp. 141-157. ISSN 2040-6134

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Abstract

The TV series Bodyguard (2018) was one of the most-watched TV dramas in the United Kingdom. The thriller centres around a British army war veteran who gets entangled in a series of terror plots spearheaded by a hijabi woman whose identity as the terrorist ringleader is revealed at the very end of the six-part miniseries. This article examines the racial securitization of Muslims and gendered Islamophobia in the representation of Muslim characters in Bodyguard through the portrayal of a hijabi Muslim woman, underpinned by the intersectionality of Islamophobia, gendered Islamophobia and critical race theory. This article argues that at a time when hijabi Muslim women face the majority of Islamophobic hate crimes, a popular TV drama’s depiction of this vulnerable group as perpetrators of violence not only distorts the reality but also creates a negative image of Muslim women in hijab, further alienating them from the mainstream British society.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	This is the author accepted manuscript version. The final, published version is available from: https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jepc_00085_1
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Creative Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities
SWORD Depositor:	RISE Symplectic
Depositing User:	RISE Symplectic
Date Deposited:	28 Sep 2026 12:52
Last Modified:	28 Sep 2026 12:52
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4989

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