My Favourite TV: Spooks

After airing more that 50 episodes this spy based series is some of the best TV I’ve ever seen. Based around the lives of members of Section D of MI5 the BBC has managed to keep me on the edge of my seat (and often shouting at the screen in joy and frustration) for 6 years now.

I’ve just finished watching Series 5 on DVD and loved it as much as the first time I saw it. About the only thing I find slightly unreal about it is that the stress of saving the country on a weekly basis doesn’t push more of them over the edge. Whilst it’s true that one of the main characters Adam Carter (played by Rupert Perry-Jones) suffers in Series 5 from serious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as he struggles to come to terms with his wife’s death as well as being shot later himself – by a person he trusted – most of the other cast seem to shrug off their regular escapes from death and destruction which can’t help but give a feel of unreality about things. Saying that though, the inventiveness of the storylines and the quality of the acting raise this spy series head and shoulders above anything I have seen in years. In the times we live in it would have been easy to base the whole thing on the West versus fundamentalist Islam and leave it at that. But being the BBC with its ‘notorious Left-wing bias’ things could never be that simple. Of course there are indeed many storylines involving both foreign and domestic Islamic terrorists. Some American viewers in particular though may find the sympathetic portrayal of these characters rather disturbing. While in no way endorsing their actions they are normally portrayed as complex three-dimensional people rather than the stereotypes I have often seen in US shows. What I actually found far more interesting is the many other security threats handed by Section D – from Eco-terrorists, ex-IRA bombers now working freelance, fundamental Christian killers bent on starting a Holy War, Mossad, the CIA and, my personal favourite, a Right Wing plot to take over the UK Government from within (with the active help of MI6).

This show is wonderfully complex and deliciously cynical – so much so that I have often wondered how close the inevitable exaggerations for entertainment value are to the truth of what really goes on in the Intelligence Community! I do wonder if real Spooks get a kick out of watching their fictional counter-parts and wonder just how did they knew that particular piece of information…. [laughs]

I have become quite attached to some of the characters over the years and still miss some that have fallen by the wayside – either through resignation (Tom Quinn played by the very talented Matthew Macfadyn), murder or being framed for a crime they did not commit (Ruth Evershed played by the quite superb Nicola Walker who I quite honestly fell in love with). Special mention must be made of Hermione Norris who plays ex-MI6 operative Ros Myers (previously seen in the excellent series Cold Feet) one of the coldest most manipulative kick-ass bitches on TV today. A woman that ruthlessly efficient and beautiful just has to be admired – from afar!

All in all an excellent series which hardly ever fails to entertain and shock in equal measure. If you like tough contemporary drama with a hard cynical edge this is the stuff of your dreams.