Spooks

Spooks is, without doubt, the tensest and most dramatic (for better or for worse) drama on TV at the moment, season III is especially brilliant and with season IV scheduled to start next year i am itching with anticipation. However, there is something for everything as the story line also focuses on the relationships within spooks meaning that there is an ongoing story as well as a story per episode. SHEER BRILLIANCE The actors are brilliant and i am sure spooks will go down in history as one of the best dramas, kiss BOND goodbye a more realistic, better story is here. Enjoy one of the most memorable security-service dramas ever!

I came to this series in 2021 via Britbox, and I loved it from start to finish. American television could learn a thing or two from the British about storytelling.

Just finished the last episode of series three, and was reminded why this is my favourite show of all time. I think the comparisons to 24 are quite unfair--they both deal with terrorism, but the similarities end there. Spooks is far more cerebral, and spends more effort on character and plot development.

Unlike other reviewers, I felt series three was every bit as good (and in many ways even better) than the previous two. The departure of several main characters was handled exceedingly well, and while they'll be missed, I think their replacements are quite strong and as such, the transition has been quite smooth. Kudos! (Er, no pun intended)

I've seen these on A&E in America and from the first I was hooked. The pressure cooker atmosphere and the modern day dot-com look puts this show about "counter intelligence" on another level than today's so called spy shows.

It's not the eye-candy of Alias and frankly its better than the flat delivery of the now canned Agency or Threat Matrix (both of which strive to be too PC in their "diverseness").

The writing is very well layered. It pulls the viewer in, and there's enough original material that many times you can't "skip ahead" to the fourth act in your mind. Meaning, you haven't figured out the end by the second break.

MI-5, or Spooks, puts enough plot twists in for any true fan of the genre. Well worth the time and effort to watch. Too bad American network television can't produce a show of this caliber.

(11/17/05 comment) Also, I was so intrigued by the UK version of Spooks, that I got into downloading the shows via the Internet, and I have to say it's an even better experience. I wish A&E would run the entire episode and not a chopped up version. The editing has to do with advert breaks more than content. If you only see this on A&E then I would suggest downloading it or renting/buying the DVD sets.

I read all the hype in advance of this program being shown on ABC-TV in Australia, and thought: yeah, yeah, show me something different. Maybe it's not too different, but it does deliver. I was a bit bored inititally by the straight delivery of MI-5 characters, and how terribly seriously they take their jobs. Matthew MacFadyen is a fine choice for Tom Quinn - he's big and tall, straight-faced, and very, very serious. Keeley Hawes is also very well cast, and eminently believable.

However the last two episodes shown here - the one about the mock terrorist attack, and last night's episode about the visit of the American presidential `circus' were rivetting stuff. I found myself holding my breath for a lot longer than was healthy for me! I was fascinated by how the US presidential entourage insisted they take over MI-5 files for `security purposes'. A metaphor for the world at the moment?? The suspicion that George Bush Jnr was visiting London specifically for a secret meeting with Colonel Gadaffi to negotiate compensation for Locharbie losses was very pertinent, given that Libya came forth with compensation - in the `real' world - just this week.

I look forward to more episodes of this straighter-than-straight, larger-than-life, but very entertaining series. I don't think it's very realistic, but then, who watches TV to indulge in more reality?