Spooks (TV series)


Spooks is a British television spy drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 to 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 seasons. The title is a colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the activities of the intelligence officers of Section D in MI5, based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid. In the United States, the show is broadcast under the title MI-5. In Canada, the programme originally aired as MI-5, but later aired on BBC Canada as Spooks.
The series continued with a film, Spooks: The Greater Good, which was released on 8 May 2015.

Series synopses

The show consists of 86 episodes, beginning in May 2002 and ending in October 2011. Most episodes end with the final scene freezing and changing to a black-and-white negative image that then compresses with a distinctive sound effect into a flat white line against a black screen.

Series 1

Starring Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Jenny Agutter, and Peter Firth, the initial series of six one-hour episodes premiered 13 May 2002.
Due to its combination of stylistic photography with fast-paced storylines, the series was a critical and popular success, averaging 7.5 million viewers over its six episodes.
The second episode gained notoriety for the violent killing of character Helen Flynn, which drew the largest number of complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Commission in 2002. During an undercover operation Helen and Tom were captured by race riot instigator Robert Osborne, played by Kevin McNally, who tortured Helen with a deep fryer in an attempt to make Tom reveal classified information. He refused and she was killed. This provoked an angry reaction from many viewers who jammed BBC phone switchboards with complaints, despite the show airing after the 9 pm watershed.

Series 2

With the success of the first series, a second, longer series of ten episodes was commissioned and aired in 2003. New regular characters Sam Buxton and Ruth Evershed, were introduced in the first and second episodes respectively, while the series finale ended with a dramatic cliffhanger. The series averaged 7.1 million viewers.

Series 3

A third series of ten episodes was transmitted on BBC One in the autumn of 2004 and concluded on 13 December. The first episode features Rupert Penry-Jones as Adam Carter, who was drafted in from MI6 to help investigate Tom's disappearance. He later takes over Tom's position as Section Chief after the latter jeopardised an important operation.
In episode six, Zoe is taken to court for misconduct during an operation and is forced to leave MI5 and assume a new identity in Chile. She is replaced by Adam's wife, Fiona. In the series finale, Danny is killed while he and Fiona are being held hostage. Audience figures dropped to a series average of 5.8 million viewers.

Series 4

The fourth series of Spooks began airing on Monday 12 September 2005 on BBC One at 9 pm with the first instalment of a two-part story. The next day the second episode was shown. The following week Spooks began airing in the Thursday 9 pm slot, a change from the Monday 9 pm slot that the previous three series had occupied. Once again, the series ran for ten episodes. It averaged 6.05 million viewers per episode, notably more than the previous series.
The opening two-part episode introduces two new characters to the series, Zafar Younis, and Juliet Shaw. The storyline involves a terrorist bombing in central London, something that, in reality, took place on 7 July, two months before the episode was due to air, but after it had already been filmed.
According to The Guardian newspaper, the day the first episode aired, "The similarities were sufficient to cause head of drama, Jane Tranter and new BBC One controller Peter Fincham to agonise over whether to drop the episodes." The episodes were eventually aired unedited, although before both instalments of the two-parter the BBC One continuity announcer warned viewers that they featured scenes of terrorist bombing in London which some viewers might find disturbing.
In episode seven, the character Fiona Carter gets killed off because the actress portraying her, Olga Sosnovska, was pregnant during filming and chose to leave the programme. In that story arc, Fiona attempts to kill her deranged ex-husband, who she thought had been hanged several years earlier. However, her ex-husband ultimately abducts her and later shoots her dead in Adam's presence during her attempted escape. Fiona Carter is replaced at MI5 by Jo Portman, a character who had been recruited by Adam Carter in a previous episode.

Series 5

The fifth series of Spooks aired its first episode in two parts, the first appearing on 17 September 2006. In it, elements within the British Government, MI6 and the British media conspire in an attempt to overthrow the Parliament and the Prime Minister. These elements agree that for Britain to survive the threats posed by modern-day terrorism, democracy had to be replaced with rule by committee. The second part followed the next day, marking Spooks's return to BBC One's Monday night schedule. These episodes introduced Ros Myers.
This series's storylines include a fake home-grown Al-Qaeda cell that plans an attack on London; the British government selling nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia; and the US administration selling arms to African dictators.
The ratings for this series remained consistent with those of the previous series, averaging six million viewers.

Series 6

The sixth series was commissioned by Jane Tranter, Head of Drama Commissioning at the BBC, by the time series 5 was announced. The series returned on 16 October 2007 at 9 pm on BBC One, and concluded on 18 December. The series averaged 5.68 million viewers
The sixth series was different in certain respects from the previous five because it had a dominant storyline running through the entire season and the show contained end credits for the first time. There was also a less frequent use of the soundtrack composed by Jennie Muskett.
The primary storyline of Series 6 follows Iran seeking the ability to manufacture its own nuclear weapons and searching for sellers of nuclear armaments components. The governments of several nations are woven throughout the plot. Simon Abkarian plays the Iranian Special Consul liaising with the various governments. Agni Scott as his wife, Matthew Marsh as the CIA station chief, and Robert Glenister as the British Home Secretary, all have recurring roles throughout the series.
A new website called "Spooks Interactive" was created to coincide with the launch of the series. In April 2008, the Spooks production team won the BAFTA Award for Interactivity for their work on Spooks Interactive.

Series 7

Series seven of Spooks began airing on 27 October 2008 for an eight-episode run. Peter Firth returns as Harry Pearce, along with Alex Lanipekun as Ben Kaplan, Hugh Simon as Malcolm Wynn-Jones, Miranda Raison as Jo Portman and Gemma Jones as Connie James.
In the first episode, central character Adam Carter dies in a car explosion set by terrorists, and the character Ros Myers returns to the show as a deep-cover agent in Moscow. Richard Armitage joins the cast as Lucas North, an agent who has been held in a Russian prison for the past eight years and released as part of a spy exchange. Following Adam's death, Ros is made the section leader and Lucas assumes Ros's previous position as senior case officer.
The series eight recommission press release announced that there would be a twist in the final episode of series 7. In that episode, a nuclear bomb is set to explode, triggered by a Russian sleeper agent who is part of Operation Tiresias. As Parliament and the Royal Family are evacuated, the nuclear threat to London is eliminated when Ros and Lucas are able to turn Connie James and elude an FSB kill squad. While defusing the bomb, Connie is killed by its conventional explosives. Seconds before the bomb explodes, Connie reveals it had not been Harry who sold Lucas North out to the Russians as Lucas had always believed but, rather, herself. The episode concludes with Harry, conscious but with his mouth taped shut, in the boot of a car being zipped up in a body bag by Viktor Sarkisian, head of the FSB's London station.

Series 8

In December 2008, the BBC announced that series 8 would start filming in March 2009 and air in late 2009, and that both Hermione Norris and Richard Armitage would be returning. Series 8 started on Wednesday 4 November 2009, at 9 pm on BBC One, with episode 2 broadcast on Friday 6 November at 9 pm on BBC Three. The opening episode of series 8 drew 6 million viewers, a 25% share of audience numbers between 9 pm and 10 pm.
The first episode of the series picks up the story from where it left off in a cliffhanger at the end of series 7, with Harry Pearce being held captive by the Russians. During this episode, Ruth Evershed is reintroduced, having spent her time since series 5 in Cyprus. The only character other than Harry who has been in the programme since its inception, Malcolm Wynn-Jones, departs, stating simply that he is "too old". His replacement comes in the form of much a younger technician, Tariq Masood.
The series again revolves around one major plot arc, focused on a mysterious organisation known only as "Nightingale". Over the course of the series, Lucas North's loyalty is continually called into question, for the most part because of his ongoing relationship with CIA agent Sarah Caulfield, who is connected to Nightingale.
Jo Portman also briefly returns, but is killed by Ros in a dramatic act of martyrdom after being captured by a terrorist. Ros is haunted by the memory of this event for the remainder of this series.
At the end of the series, Section D does not appear to have made much progress in tackling Nightingale, and Ros Myers is killed in an explosion, along with the new Home Secretary, Andrew Lawrence.