Spooks Series 1 Review

Good Points
Believeable, fun and very gritty action thriller series. And, very timely.
The end of season cliffhanger was amazing.

Bad Points
Season 1 was a very short series at just 6 episodes.
And Hugh Laurie's character is too cliched and one-dimensional to be believeable.

General Comments
In what is probably the first series of it's kind, Spooks follows the professional and private lives of officers from Section D of MI5.

The first episode establishes the grittiness of the series, with a spectacular car bomb in suburban Liverpool heralding an anti-abortion campaign. Episode two features what may be the most shocking screen death on the BBC, which shocked and thrilled millions. And, before the series is over, we have dealt with double agents, corrupt politicians, and the subject of the Troubles.

The series is excellent from start to finish. This series focussed heavily on Tom Quinn, a Senior Case Officer who can't tell his girlfriend his real name or job until MI5 have "cleared" her. New recruit Danny using his MI5 skills to play about with his credit rating, while a multi-lingual Zoe is used by a senior officer in a fraud scam.

With writers like Howard Brenton and David Wolstencroft (who is also the creator) on the team, and Bharat Nalluri directing, it is obvious that this series is amazing. The photography and editing is world class, and with former agents offering tips on espionage tradecraft, we get sequences and tactics that are extremely believable.

The acting is brilliant, too. Matthew Macfayden plays a cool and calm Tom Quinn very well, and both David Oyelowo and Keeley Hawes are brilliant as his colleagues. Peter Firth, as always, shines, and his scenes with Jenny Agutter are a high-point of the series.

This series is highly recommended to anyone who likes thrillers.