Spooks (series 10)
Encyclopedia
The tenth and final series of the BBC
espionage television series Spooks
(known as MI-5 in the United States) began broadcasting on 18 September 2011 on BBC One
and BBC One HD, and will continue until 23 October. It consists of six episodes. The series continues the actions of Section D, a counter-terrorism
division of the British Security Service
(MI5). The tenth series will also see problems in the Middle East and the United Kingdom's strained relationship with the United States. Also, Harry Pearce
(Peter Firth
) will be forced to remember the relationships he forged during the Cold War
. Peter Firth
, Nicola Walker
, Shazad Latif
, Simon Russell Beale
, Lara Pulver
and Geoffrey Streatfeild are included as the main cast. In August 2011, Kudos
, the production company behind Spooks, announced that the tenth series is to be the last.
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also returns as Tariq Masood
, and Simon Russell Beale
returns as Home Secretary
William Towers
.
The series will introduce a number of new characters. Lara Pulver
was cast as the new Chief of Section D, Erin Watts. Pulver described Erin as "young", "feisty", and has got "something to prove... but she has a maturity and a delicacy with the matters she's handling that makes her really good at her job." The character is also a single mother. The actress returned to London
from Los Angeles
to participate in other projects there. When the Spooks casting directors heard of her arrival, they approached her. She was back in Los Angeles when she was told she won the part. Geoffrey Streatfeild was cast as Calum Reed, an information technology
(IT) expert. Streatfeild researched his role before starting. The actor was a fan of Spooks and found it "weird to join a group of people when you know their characters." Jonathan Hyde
and Alice Krige
will also have roles in the series; Krige plays Elena. Jenni Herzberg will play the younger version of Elena.
Two main characters from the ninth series did not return for the tenth. Richard Armitage
did not return as Lucas North
. Firth has stated that Lucas "was always going to die" at the end of the ninth series. At the time the series was produced, Armitage was filming for The Hobbit film project. Also, Sophia Myles
did not return as Beth Bailey
as the character was decommissioned between the ninth and tenth series. Myles left the series as she wanted to pursue other projects in America. Matthew Macfadyen
, who starred in the first two series as protagonist Tom Quinn, returned for a cameo appearance in the series finale.
of Spooks, returned to their writing duties for the tenth series. Sean Cook and Anthony Neilson
are also writers of the series. Alrick Riley, Julian Holmes and Bharat Nalluri
are the series directors, with Nalluri directing the last two episodes. Chris Fry is the series producer, and Jane Featherstone, Simon Crawford Collins and Howard Burch are the executive producers.
. The Harry/Ruth storyline continued, as Firth believed it is "too delicious to stop." The series also saw the pair's relationship enter a new phase, though it may probably be "too late for them to proceed any further." Brackley and Vincent realise that there are fans of the show who will be "immensely cheesed off if they get anything less than Ruth riding in on a unicorn to marry Harry in a white suit," but at the same time know other fans "love the uncompromising toughness of Spooks. And both viewpoints were always well represented around the table."
The storyline also features Harry and the Section D team forging new relationships with different countries, including Russia, which in the series has a better image in the Middle East
. Because of this, the writers storyline a deteriorating "Special Relationship
" between Britain and the United States. For the finale episode, the writers went through "countless" ideas for how it would end. Some of the dropped ideas lasted for weeks, one of them being Harry detonating a nuclear weapon
in Siberia
. Other characters had their own stories as well. Dimitri was the "chief action man" of the series, with his very own centric episode, where he was to honeytrap
a young woman in the third episode. Though Myles left the series, there were plans to explore her character's past further should Myles remain on board. On the other hand, it allowed the writers to introduce Erin Watts and Calum Reed. Filming took place from March, to June 2011.
announced that the tenth series of Spooks would be the final series. Executive producer Jane Featherstone decided to end the series during its writing stage, stating "It's very tempting to keep going, and we have had ongoing conversations with our partners at the BBC about it, but the heart of the show has become those two characters [Harry and Ruth] and I feel they own it. We've followed the arc of their personal story and I think they've brought us to a natural end, which you will all see played out later this year." It was also intended to end the series "in its prime." Writers Brackley and Vincent noted "there was always a strong possibility of it being the end, so throughout the [writing] process we were looking for ways to infuse it with a sense of finality. We'd done a fair bit of writing before it was made definite by Kudos - but had plenty of time to plot a true conclusion. And crucially, by the time we began to write the final ep, we knew it would be the last." They also stated; "When Kudos asked for our opinion, we said we'd hate to see it cancelled on a cliffhanger - it just wouldn't be right, or fair on the fans. Call us suck-ups, but you have to really admire Kudos for having the confidence to kill off a very successful show - purely because it's the right thing creatively." Firth believed the series is getting to a point where the producers were starting to run out of story ideas, as virtually every type of antagonists have been featured in past episodes. When filming ended, a lot of the cast and crew were "bagsying
" objects from the Grid set. For instance an executive producer took the large "Regnum Defende" insignia.
, Doctor Who
, The Hour, Merlin
and Page Eight
. In early September a short teaser trailer was released, which includes clips of the series with the tagline "This is the end." This was followed by a full 30-second trailer a week later.
and BBC One HD. It was considered a move as previous series were often broadcast on a Monday. The move would make the finale series a "special event" by placing it on a Sunday night. However, it emerged that the final series would face off against the second series of the highly successful ITV1
period drama series Downton Abbey
, which averaged nine million viewers in its first year. The BBC however, defended the position by saying that "Downton and Spooks are very different shows and offer a real alternative for audiences."
After the broadcast of the first episode, Spooks received overnight viewing figures of 4.62 million with a 17 per cent audience share. It lost out to Downton Abbey which received almost twice the viewers, with nine million and a 34.6 per cent share. Overnight ratings for the series ten premiere was down from the 5.58 million that tuned in for the series nine premiere episode.
's review was mostly a response to John le Carré
who branded Spooks as "crap" for its lack of a true representation to MI5; "Lighten up J le C, no one thinks it is actually like that, it's just a bit of fun. And it is fun, exciting too. Plus it deals with important social issues. Look at new section chief Erin Watts, unattached, with a young child. You can be a great spy and a great mum. Spooks sends out positive messages about work and single-parenting; you don't get that in Tinker Tailor ... OK, it is crap, but good crap."
Andrew Pettie of The Daily Telegraph
believed that Spooks is looking "tattered and tired," with a plot that is "about as up-to-date as the Berlin Wall
." Pettie was also critical of the "motion analysis filter," a series-adopted technique for matching people by the way they walk. Pettie "The rare moments of intrigue were dredged from Harry's past affair with a Russian double agent. There will no doubt be more double-dealing to come. But in recent years the most enjoyable bits of Spooks have also been the least plausible, as the scriptwriters really let their hair down and do something silly." he rated the premiere episode two stars out of five. Tom Sutcliff of The Independent
also rated the premiere episode two out of five, stating "Spooks isn't even true to its own account of the world, let alone the one the rest of us inhabit. At one moment, a senior Russian minister was described as virtually unfollowable because of his wily knowledge of tradecraft. At the next, one of Harry's boys was sauntering past the boot of his car to clip on a tracker, in full view of the target and his security men."
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
espionage television series Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
(known as MI-5 in the United States) began broadcasting on 18 September 2011 on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
and BBC One HD, and will continue until 23 October. It consists of six episodes. The series continues the actions of Section D, a counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
division of the British Security Service
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
(MI5). The tenth series will also see problems in the Middle East and the United Kingdom's strained relationship with the United States. Also, Harry Pearce
Harry Pearce
Sir Henry James "Harry" Pearce KBE is the fictional head of the Counter-Terrorism department of MI5, featured in the British television series, Spooks...
(Peter Firth
Peter Firth
Peter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
) will be forced to remember the relationships he forged during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Peter Firth
Peter Firth
Peter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
, Nicola Walker
Nicola Walker
Nicola Walker is an English actress, best known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, particularly as Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks. She has also worked in theatre, radio and film....
, Shazad Latif
Shazad Latif
Shazad Latif, is a British actor, who starred in the BBC TV series Spooks as the highly skilled technician and data analyst for Section D, Tariq Masood from series 8 to his death in series 10.-Early life:...
, Simon Russell Beale
Simon Russell Beale
Simon Russell Beale, CBE is an English actor. He has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation."-Early years:...
, Lara Pulver
Lara Pulver
Lara Pulver is an English actress who has received nominations for the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards and 'Whatsonstage' Theatregoers Choice Awards.-Career:...
and Geoffrey Streatfeild are included as the main cast. In August 2011, Kudos
Kudos (production company)
Kudos Film and Television is a British independent film and television production company. It has produced television series for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and its productions include Spooks , Hustle, Life on Mars and its spin-off Ashes to Ashes, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and M.I. High...
, the production company behind Spooks, announced that the tenth series is to be the last.
Episodes
In this table, the number in the first column refers to the episode's number within the entire series, whereas the number in the second column indicates the episode's number within the tenth series. "UK viewers in millions" refers to how many Britons watched the episode on BBC One.|-
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! style="color:#fff; background:#000;"| Original air date
! style="color:#fff; background:#000;"| UK viewers
(million)
|}
Cast
Peter Firth returns as Harry Pearce. The tenth series begins with Harry on "gardening leave" after trading Albany, a state secret, for Ruth's safety. Also, Harry recalls an operation during the 1980s where he fell in love with Russian double agent Elena. Firth has said that Harry will not be killed off in the series. Sam Reid will play a younger version of Harry. Nicola Walker returns as Ruth Evershed. Max Brown reprises his role as Dimitri Levendis. Brown has said of his return to Spooks; "I couldn't wait to get back under the skin of Dimitri and see what new challenges he faced this year. He's a bit more senior now because he's been on the Grid for a year." Shazad LatifShazad Latif
Shazad Latif, is a British actor, who starred in the BBC TV series Spooks as the highly skilled technician and data analyst for Section D, Tariq Masood from series 8 to his death in series 10.-Early life:...
also returns as Tariq Masood
Tariq Masood
Tariq Masood was a character from the BBC television series Spooks, played by Shazad Latif. Masood was the technical wizard who replaced Malcolm Wynn-Jones in Series 8...
, and Simon Russell Beale
Simon Russell Beale
Simon Russell Beale, CBE is an English actor. He has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation."-Early years:...
returns as Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
William Towers
William Towers (Spooks)
William Towers MP is the Home Secretary in the ninth series of the BBC television drama Spooks. He is portrayed by actor Simon Russell Beale. Towers is appointed after the election of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government....
.
The series will introduce a number of new characters. Lara Pulver
Lara Pulver
Lara Pulver is an English actress who has received nominations for the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards and 'Whatsonstage' Theatregoers Choice Awards.-Career:...
was cast as the new Chief of Section D, Erin Watts. Pulver described Erin as "young", "feisty", and has got "something to prove... but she has a maturity and a delicacy with the matters she's handling that makes her really good at her job." The character is also a single mother. The actress returned to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to participate in other projects there. When the Spooks casting directors heard of her arrival, they approached her. She was back in Los Angeles when she was told she won the part. Geoffrey Streatfeild was cast as Calum Reed, an information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
(IT) expert. Streatfeild researched his role before starting. The actor was a fan of Spooks and found it "weird to join a group of people when you know their characters." Jonathan Hyde
Jonathan Hyde
Jonathan Hyde is an Australian-born English actor, well known for his roles as J. Bruce Ismay, the managing director of the White Star Line in Titanic, Egyptologist Allen Chamberlain in The Mummy and Sam Parrish/Van Pelt, the hunter in Jumanji. He is married to the Scottish soprano Isobel Buchanan...
and Alice Krige
Alice Krige
Alice Maud Krige is a South African actress. Her first feature film role was as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon in the 1981 Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire...
will also have roles in the series; Krige plays Elena. Jenni Herzberg will play the younger version of Elena.
Two main characters from the ninth series did not return for the tenth. Richard Armitage
Richard Armitage (actor)
Richard Crispin Armitage is an English actor famous for his roles as John Thornton in North and South, Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, and Lucas North in Spooks...
did not return as Lucas North
Lucas North
Lucas North, formerly known as John Bateman, is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks , which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. North is portrayed by British actor Richard Armitage...
. Firth has stated that Lucas "was always going to die" at the end of the ninth series. At the time the series was produced, Armitage was filming for The Hobbit film project. Also, Sophia Myles
Sophia Myles
-Early life:Myles was born in London. She is the daughter of Jane, who works in educational publishing, and Peter Myles, a retired Anglican vicar in Isleworth, west London. Her maternal grandmother was Russian, and she refers to herself as "half-Welsh, half-Russian". She grew up in Notting Hill,...
did not return as Beth Bailey
Beth Bailey
Beth Bailey is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division in MI5. She is portrayed by British actress Sophia Myles. Beth Bailey was introduced in Spooks's ninth series as a private contractor in her...
as the character was decommissioned between the ninth and tenth series. Myles left the series as she wanted to pursue other projects in America. Matthew Macfadyen
Matthew Macfadyen
David Matthew Macfadyen is an English actor, known for his role as MI5 intelligence officer Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series Spooks and for starring as Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.In June, 2010 Macfadyen won a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting...
, who starred in the first two series as protagonist Tom Quinn, returned for a cameo appearance in the series finale.
Crew
Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent, who have been the head writers for the previous ninth seriesSpooks (series 9)
The ninth series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 20 September 2010 before ending on 8 November 2010...
of Spooks, returned to their writing duties for the tenth series. Sean Cook and Anthony Neilson
Anthony Neilson
Anthony Neilson is a Scottish playwright and director commonly associated with the "in-yer-face theatre" movement and is known for his collaborative way of writing and workshopping his plays. His work is characterised by the exploration of sex and violence...
are also writers of the series. Alrick Riley, Julian Holmes and Bharat Nalluri
Bharat Nalluri
Bharat Nalluri is a British television director, best known for his work with the independent production company Kudos Film & Television in the 2000s and early 2010s. For Kudos, he has directed episodes of Spooks, Life on Mars, Hustle , and Outcasts: all for transmission on BBC One...
are the series directors, with Nalluri directing the last two episodes. Chris Fry is the series producer, and Jane Featherstone, Simon Crawford Collins and Howard Burch are the executive producers.
Development
Early on in the series' developmental stage, it was decided that the series would only consist of six episodes. The decision was likely based on budget cuts from the BBC. The series featured a mix of standalone stories, and a "big old arc" that runs through it. The arc focuses on Harry, the only remaining original lead character from the first seriesSpooks (series 1)
The first series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 13 May 2002 before ending on 17 June 2002. The series consists of six episodes.-Cast:Main*Matthew Macfadyen as Tom Quinn*Keeley Hawes as Zoe Reynolds...
. The Harry/Ruth storyline continued, as Firth believed it is "too delicious to stop." The series also saw the pair's relationship enter a new phase, though it may probably be "too late for them to proceed any further." Brackley and Vincent realise that there are fans of the show who will be "immensely cheesed off if they get anything less than Ruth riding in on a unicorn to marry Harry in a white suit," but at the same time know other fans "love the uncompromising toughness of Spooks. And both viewpoints were always well represented around the table."
The storyline also features Harry and the Section D team forging new relationships with different countries, including Russia, which in the series has a better image in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. Because of this, the writers storyline a deteriorating "Special Relationship
Special relationship
The Special Relationship is a phrase used to describe the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural, economic, military and historical relations between the United Kingdom and the United States, following its use in a 1946 speech by British statesman Winston Churchill...
" between Britain and the United States. For the finale episode, the writers went through "countless" ideas for how it would end. Some of the dropped ideas lasted for weeks, one of them being Harry detonating a nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. Other characters had their own stories as well. Dimitri was the "chief action man" of the series, with his very own centric episode, where he was to honeytrap
Honeypots in espionage fiction
In espionage terminology, "honeypot" is one of several ways to refer to a recruitment that involves sexual seduction. See Love, honeypots, and recruitment for real-world examples.*North by Northwest has Eva Marie Saint as both the honeypot and a double agent...
a young woman in the third episode. Though Myles left the series, there were plans to explore her character's past further should Myles remain on board. On the other hand, it allowed the writers to introduce Erin Watts and Calum Reed. Filming took place from March, to June 2011.
Series conclusion
In August 2011, KudosKudos (production company)
Kudos Film and Television is a British independent film and television production company. It has produced television series for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and its productions include Spooks , Hustle, Life on Mars and its spin-off Ashes to Ashes, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and M.I. High...
announced that the tenth series of Spooks would be the final series. Executive producer Jane Featherstone decided to end the series during its writing stage, stating "It's very tempting to keep going, and we have had ongoing conversations with our partners at the BBC about it, but the heart of the show has become those two characters [Harry and Ruth] and I feel they own it. We've followed the arc of their personal story and I think they've brought us to a natural end, which you will all see played out later this year." It was also intended to end the series "in its prime." Writers Brackley and Vincent noted "there was always a strong possibility of it being the end, so throughout the [writing] process we were looking for ways to infuse it with a sense of finality. We'd done a fair bit of writing before it was made definite by Kudos - but had plenty of time to plot a true conclusion. And crucially, by the time we began to write the final ep, we knew it would be the last." They also stated; "When Kudos asked for our opinion, we said we'd hate to see it cancelled on a cliffhanger - it just wouldn't be right, or fair on the fans. Call us suck-ups, but you have to really admire Kudos for having the confidence to kill off a very successful show - purely because it's the right thing creatively." Firth believed the series is getting to a point where the producers were starting to run out of story ideas, as virtually every type of antagonists have been featured in past episodes. When filming ended, a lot of the cast and crew were "bagsying
Dibs
Calling dibs is an informal convention to declare a specific right to something that no individual otherwise has any clearly recognized right...
" objects from the Grid set. For instance an executive producer took the large "Regnum Defende" insignia.
Trailers
A number of trailers were produced before the broadcast of the tenth series. A first look trailer was first released on July 2011 on the BBC, which also consists clips from other BBC programmes including The Body FarmThe Body Farm (TV series)
The Body Farm is a British police procedural crime drama series for the BBC network, featuring a fictional private forensic pathology facility that conducts scientific research to help solve crimes, lead by Dr...
, Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, The Hour, Merlin
Merlin (TV series)
Merlin is a British fantasy-adventure television programme by Julian Jones, Jake Michie, Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps. It began broadcasting on BBC One on 20 September 2008. The show is based on the Arthurian legends of the wizard Merlin and his relationship with Prince Arthur but differs from...
and Page Eight
Page Eight
Page Eight is a 2011 film written and directed for the BBC by the British writer David Hare, his first film as director since the 1989 film Strapless. The cast includes Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, Michael Gambon, Tom Hughes, Ralph Fiennes, and Judy Davis. The film had its world premiere on 18 June...
. In early September a short teaser trailer was released, which includes clips of the series with the tagline "This is the end." This was followed by a full 30-second trailer a week later.
Broadcast and ratings
The tenth series began broadcast on Sunday, 18 September 2011, during the 9 pm to 10 pm timeslot, on BBC OneBBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
and BBC One HD. It was considered a move as previous series were often broadcast on a Monday. The move would make the finale series a "special event" by placing it on a Sunday night. However, it emerged that the final series would face off against the second series of the highly successful ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
period drama series Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey is a British television period drama series, produced by NBC Universal-owned British media company Carnival Films for the ITV network. The series is set during the late Edwardian era and the First World War on the fictional estate of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire, and features an...
, which averaged nine million viewers in its first year. The BBC however, defended the position by saying that "Downton and Spooks are very different shows and offer a real alternative for audiences."
After the broadcast of the first episode, Spooks received overnight viewing figures of 4.62 million with a 17 per cent audience share. It lost out to Downton Abbey which received almost twice the viewers, with nine million and a 34.6 per cent share. Overnight ratings for the series ten premiere was down from the 5.58 million that tuned in for the series nine premiere episode.
Critical reception
Sam Wollaston of The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
's review was mostly a response to John le Carré
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
who branded Spooks as "crap" for its lack of a true representation to MI5; "Lighten up J le C, no one thinks it is actually like that, it's just a bit of fun. And it is fun, exciting too. Plus it deals with important social issues. Look at new section chief Erin Watts, unattached, with a young child. You can be a great spy and a great mum. Spooks sends out positive messages about work and single-parenting; you don't get that in Tinker Tailor ... OK, it is crap, but good crap."
Andrew Pettie of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
believed that Spooks is looking "tattered and tired," with a plot that is "about as up-to-date as the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
." Pettie was also critical of the "motion analysis filter," a series-adopted technique for matching people by the way they walk. Pettie "The rare moments of intrigue were dredged from Harry's past affair with a Russian double agent. There will no doubt be more double-dealing to come. But in recent years the most enjoyable bits of Spooks have also been the least plausible, as the scriptwriters really let their hair down and do something silly." he rated the premiere episode two stars out of five. Tom Sutcliff of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
also rated the premiere episode two out of five, stating "Spooks isn't even true to its own account of the world, let alone the one the rest of us inhabit. At one moment, a senior Russian minister was described as virtually unfollowable because of his wily knowledge of tradecraft. At the next, one of Harry's boys was sauntering past the boot of his car to clip on a tracker, in full view of the target and his security men."