Hey, you over there!!!!

[rozk]

I'm not very keen on most of what the BBC puts out as drama these days - Who and Life on Mars aside. I've never quite fallen for Hustle for example, though I can see the case for it, and the only classic serial I've liked in ages was Bleak House.

However, the show I love and which I get the impression a lot of my US and Canadian friends don't watch is Spooks which is the show that 24 might aspire to be if it had any brains, and was not just a neocon apologia for torture and god knows what.

Spooks is a constantly escalating series about a group of British intelligence operatives in which, every so often, people we care about are killed in action, or have to go into exile or hiding forever. It is also a show in which there are no friends, only interests - the CIA are as liable to be the villains of the piece as the Iranians and it is often a mistake to think you know what is going on. It is a show in which an embassy siege might be mounted by what appear to be Islamic extremists and are actually Mossad - in that one, with a grim sense of humour, the British sent the surviving Israeli agent off to Guantanamo.

It is a deeply cynical and pragmatic show - even when I disagree with its politics they are always intelligent and thoughtful. Some of the time it has been scripted by writers who are definitively of the Left, but it is never ever comfortable to any orthodoxy. The current series is tightly arced and deals with the Iranians getting nuclear triggers and joining the nuclear club - the episode which aired on digital this week, and will be on terrestrial next, had a group of fascists taking hostage the Q&A broadcast in which an appeasing trade deal was being announced as tools of an intelligence faction prepared to start WW3 rather than do business. Next week, apparently, the shit really hits the fan and a major character dies - I rather fear it may be the 'decent British chap' male lead, Adam.

In its time, it dealt with suicide bombers long before they hit the streets of London, and has included an attempted coup, what seemed to be a UFO and an attempt to destroy London with flood; it is full of lovelorn brilliant operatives and, as I say, kills beloved characters. The technogeek boyfriend of the unit's top techno guy was casually murdered during the coup attempt for example, and in the first series someone we were encouraged to think of as a long-term character ended up face down in a deep fat frier.

Also, the unit has the best boss ever - Harry Pearce, the cleverest man on the planet.

You really should watch it.

Comments

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Word.

[badger.livejournal.com]

Been high on my get round to list for a while. I just bumped it up a bit. Thanks for the reminder. Still have a soft spot for the Sandbaggers series, personally.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

I can hardly believe they can get away with showing the current series in the USA - it is hardly flattering to America..

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

I've seen a few seasons -- it's called MI5 on this side of the pond -- but not recently.

[hilleviw.livejournal.com]

Thank you; as I was reading the description I thought "that's sounding like MI5" but I wasn't sure. Indeed a sharp, deep, gripping series.

[fastfwd.livejournal.com]

I watched the first season and part of the second, and then lost track. But I'm trying to catch up. You're right, about everything.

No surprise there...:)

[transtempts.livejournal.com]

I must sit down and see it; so far I watch it through my sister- who has several seasons and comes into my room regularly to rant out it (in a good way) and to express her concern that yet another of the characters she likes is going to die. The running joke in my house is that if my sister likes a character, their doom is imminent.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

Lovelovelove Spooks and pimp it whenever I can (and if I had my full icon set, I'd illustrate this with a Tom or Adam icon :)

But yes, the show's brilliant and Harry utterly amazing and it's the show that kills off its leads!!!! (my heart's with Spooks and ReGenesis, because how can you not love Peter Outerbridge :)

[missmomoko.livejournal.com]

Amen! I get genuinely scared every time an agent is in danger. With programmes like 24 et all, you lose that sense because there is clearly a star of the show (mind you, I love 24. Just not so much anymore)

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

All the reasons you give for liking Spooks are perfectly valid, and they're what keep me watching even though I have to do it through gritted teeth at times. This is because their storylines are often monumentally technically incompetent.

'Nuclear triggers' are not some mystical magic that can't be dreamt up by someone with access to 50s level technology - after all that's what the Manhattan Project and its descendants did. This is just one example of many which sometimes get rather too much for me.

Classic Serials

[(Anonymous)]

Roz,

Are you not watching Cranford? It is an example of the best of the BBC. A classic which is faithful to its original (not like those many ones that that halfwit Andrew whatisname has murdered).

It accurately catches not only the plot, but the feel, charm and delight of the book. It also has a superb cast.

Stop watching some of this American crap and what to some real BBC classic television -- the best there is.

It is on at 9 p.m. on Sundays and, if you missed the first episode, it is repeated earlier that day,

Graham

Kudos

[(Anonymous)]

There was a story in media guardian, or some like source, the other day, about Broadcast magazine suggesting that Kudos, teh production company that makes Sppoks, might like to take out an ad congratualting Channel Four on its 25th anniversary. Kudos came back with the idea of an ad that thanked channel four for turning down sppoks and life on mars, as that had allowed them to go on to be major hits with a bigger audience on BBC1

Re: Kudos

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry, forgot to sigh that -- oli

[ratmmjess.livejournal.com]

I was wowed by Spooks when I saw it in London a couple of years back, and I'm waiting for Netflix to deliver me the first season on dvd so I can enjoy it at lenght, and get my wife hooked on it.

[the-gardener.livejournal.com]

Tuesday's episode had so much plot in it that when a major climax seemed imminent and I glanced at the clock to gauge how much time was left, I was startled to see that we were only halfway through.

Next week, apparently, the shit really hits the fan and a major character dies - I rather fear it may be the 'decent British chap' male lead, Adam.

Possibly. But Harry Pearce has been on the verge of being written out a number of times now, and it might be him.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

I loved MI5 when it was on in San Francisco. It really seemed to be finished tho. Will have to check with Netflix. Too many of the shows I enjoyed on BBC seem to dissapear. I am really looking forward to Life On Mars coming back, tho I understand it will only be for one more season.

As for Who, oh yes. Torchwood has been fun too.

[(Anonymous)]

"Some of the time it has been scripted by writers who are definitively of the Left" - One of the frustrating things about the series is its absence of credits, so that it's impossible to see just how much of the first two (three?) seasons were written by Howard Brenton.

—Ian S.