Spooks | |
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Season 8 | |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Release | |
Original network | BBC One BBC Three |
Original release | 4 November – 23 December 2009 |
Series chronology | |
The eighth series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 4 November 2009 before ending on 23 December 2009. The series consists of eight episodes.
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [1] | |
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65 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Alrick Riley | Story by : Zinnie Harris & Ben Richards Teleplay by : Ben Richards | 4 November 2009 (BBC One) | 6.55 | |
Harry, who has been kidnapped by Viktor Sarkisiian and his (ex-)FSB agents, is sold to Indian intelligence officers disguised as an Islamic terror group. The terror group murders Sarkisiian and his men, then release staged footage of Harry's apparent execution. Section D uncovers the deception and resolves to find Harry. Group leader Amish Mani, a former Indian intelligence officer, wants Harry to divulge the location of a uranium shipment Harry had prevented from being planted in Iraq to justify the war. The group targets Ruth Evershed, who lives in Cyprus with her husband and stepson; she is the only other person to know the location of the uranium. After returning to London, she and her family are kidnapped from an MI-5 safehouse, and Ruth's husband is killed to get her to talk. Lucas and Ros track an MI-6 agent, Stephen Hillier, and the retiring CIA liaison officer, Libby McCall, who were part of the uranium planting scheme. Hillier is assassinated by McCall before Hillier can tell Ros the location of Harry. Lucas persuades Sarah Caulfield, McCall's successor at the London CIA station, to plant a tracker on McCall. The MI-5 team tracks McCall to the warehouse where Mani is holding Harry and Ruth. Lucas kills the leader. Malcolm saves Ruth's stepson. Harry returns to the Grid. Malcolm retires. | |||||||
66 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Alrick Riley | Story by : Zinnie Harris & Ben Richards Teleplay by : Ben Richards | 6 November 2009 (BBC Three) [n 1] | 5.11 | |
When a gas processing plant explodes, the UK allies itself with Tazbekstan to buy its gas. Caulfield tells Lucas that the US and Russian governments are opposed. However, with supplies dwindling, Rustam Urazov, the Tazbek minister in charge of negotiation, is stalling. The minister orders the assassination of Matthew Plowden, a British journalist critical of Tazbek human rights violations. MI-5 arrives too late to save him. The minister also orders a hit on Bibi Saparova, a Tazbek human rights activist whose sister had been tortured and murdered by Urazov. Malcolm's replacement, Tariq Masood, develops sophisticated eavesdropping equipment hidden in a box of matches Lucas uses to overhear the Tazbeks discussing their plans at a club. Jo tries to get Ruth to talk to Harry; she thinks this will help him manage his stress. Tariq figures out Urazov is planning to strike against his own country to become Prime Minister. Jo recruits Saparova to kill Urazov. Although she succeeds, the Russians have recorded the actions and use the photos to disrupt negotiations. The Russians, however, are willing to sell the UK the gas in exchange for intelligence to be used against Tazbekstan. A romance between Lucas and Caulfield develops. Blake, the Home Secretary, informs Harry of a top secret meeting in Basel, Switzerland regarding a new world order, codenamed "Nightingale". | |||||||
67 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Sam Miller | Christian Spurrier & Sean Reilly | 13 November 2009 (BBC Three) | 5.26 | |
Ros is undercover at a secret meeting of wealthy businessmen. Armed terrorists seize the meeting, which is taking place at Russian billionaire Leon Gevitsky's London mansion. Harry gets the Home Secretary to resolve Ruth's legal troubles, and has her rejoin MI-5. The terrorists take the hostages to an underground basement, and put them on "trial" for their abuses of power, streaming this over the Internet. They also release CIA documents showing embarrassing agreements between the businessmen and the US government. Internet viewers who observe the first trial vote on the businessman's guilt. He is convicted, and shot. The Home Secretary is pressured by the CIA to end the siege or the US (or Russians or Chinese) will bomb the site to stop further damaging revelations. Harry does not want a siege because everyone held hostage will die, including Ros. The Home Secretary over-rules Harry. Tracing Internet connections and documents, Tariq and Ruth link the terrorists to a corrupt lawyer who works for Vadim Robinov, a Russian billionaire who is a business rival of Leon Gevitsky, one of the captured businessmen. Robinov is underwriting the anti-capitalist terror group to advance his business interests in Russia. Lucas visits Robinov's home, and forces him to call the leader of the terror cell to end the siege, but the leader refuses. Ros persuades Nina Gevitsky, a young, unstable member of the terror group and the niece of Leon, to reactivate the lift. Harry orders Jo to attempt to stop the incident. She descends, unarmed, into the bunker, to negotiate an end to the siege. The action gets out of control. She grabs hold of the leader before he can detonate C4 while Ros, using a gun wrestled from the niece, shoots. The bullet passes through him, and into her, killing them both. | |||||||
68 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Sam Miller | David Farr | 20 November 2009 (BBC Three) | 5.18 | |
Lucas's interrogator/torturer, Darshavin, escapes from a British immigration centre and demands to speak with Lucas regarding an attack planned by Sudanese terrorists backed by the FSB. They meet, and Darshavin informs Lucas about the attack without the detail. Darshavin demands a British passport and $1 million in unmarked notes in exchange for information on the exact location. Harry displays doubts, believing Lucas developed Stockholm syndrome from his capture. Samuel Walker, Caulfield's CIA boss, tells her to continue her affair with Lucas for intelligence. Lucas goes off-grid to get the target, meeting Darshavin at Lucas's flat, but Caulfield interrupts. After Darshavin leaves, he hides in her car, and abducts her as she phones Walker. Tariq and Ruth discover the location of the bombs from an asset who left a clue on the Web. Harry learns that Darshavin let a Sudanese terrorist go when interrogating him in Russia, only for him to join the terrorist plot. Ros tracks a terrorist to a room in a squat but he is killed by his own men, who escape. Lucas negotiates with Darshavin and gets the trigger code so Ros cam disarm the explosives. Darshavin tells Lucas that there was recently a secret meeting in Basel attended by rogue Western intelligence agents and agents from China. MI-5 hand Darshavin back to the FSB. Before Walker can reveal details of "Nightingale", Caulfield throws him over a railing to his death. | |||||||
69 | 5 | "Episode 5" | Alrick Riley | Richard McBrien | 27 November 2009 (BBC Three) | 4.39 | |
Walker's death is suspected as suicide. Harry is sceptical, because Walker had set up a meeting with Harry just before the "suicide", and Michael Braydon, a second CIA officer, unexpectedly dies. It is revealed Ros's mentor, Jack Colville, is responsible for the death of the second officer and suspected of killing Walker. In the guise of giving Ros his memoirs, Colville plants a bug, and becomes able to access MI-5 records. He identifies his next target, former MI-6 agent Roger Maynard. Caulfield exploits the presence of Colville to cover up her murder of Walker. After Ros and Lucas fail to save Colville's next target, they realise that two of the targets, Braydon and Maynard, are connected to a Balkans operation that led to the death of Colville's girlfriend. Tariq creates a mirror of the MI-5 database, allowing Ros to fool Colville into thinking she sanctioned the girlfriend's death. After a showdown between the two, he kills himself realising it is the system, not the officers, at fault. Lucas discovers that Sarah murdered Walker. | |||||||
70 | 6 | "Episode 6" | Edward Hall | Dennis Kelly | 4 December 2009 (BBC Three) | 5.11 | |
In a safe house, MI-5 are questioning Ryan Baisley about his former employer Dewitts Bank, whose depositors include corrupt government officials (including money for the Basel conspirators). Baisley is outside the safe house when assassins invade, killing the MI-5 officers. Baisley escapes, and thinks he can make a deal with the bank; but unknown to him, the assassins, who were hired by the bank, have murdered his wife and young son. The Home Secretary, Blake, informs Harry that the government must seize accounts at Dewitts to make an interest payment, otherwise the economy may collapse. Lucas, posing as a Russian oligarch, visits Irvin Perrot, the bank's president, and plants a bug in his highly secure computer. While Ros pursues Baisley, Ruth and Harry question her mental state after Jo’s death. She finds Baisley and attempts to bring him in; however, two assassins interfere. In the cross-fire, Baisley escapes. Ros seizes Perrot, and hangs him on a noose to get him to disclose where the assassins, who are ex-intelligence agents, have learned that Baisley is headed. She finds him at Liverpool Street Station. Two assassins make another attempt on his life. Ros and armed police protect him. As he is about to enter an MI-5 car, he hears on the radio that his wife and child are dead. He is brought to Thames House, and gives up the corrupt accounts. Meanwhile, in her apartment Lucas confronts Caulfield about her involvement in Basel. He sees one of the assassins approaching, surprises him and takes him prisoner; Caulfield, however, kills him. She disarms Lucas, and holds a gun to his head. She says she must kill him or be killed by the Nightingale organisation. But she escapes before explaining anything. After money is transferred to the Treasury, Blake is forced to resign on account of set-up evidence that identifies him as having $4 million in Dewitts. Tariq discovers that the money involved in Basel and deposited in Dewitts has disappeared to Pakistan. | |||||||
71 | 7 | "Episode 7" | Edward Hall | James Dormer | 11 December 2009 (BBC Three) | 3.99 [2] [n 2] | |
After a Pakistani intelligence officer is murdered, Harry and Ros learn from the UK chief of Pakistani intelligence (ISI) of a radical Hindu group preparing to attack Muslims in London. Harry tells the chief that the matter is now MI-5's job, and has the chief identify the ISI asset that infiltrated the cell as Ashok Veerkal, a 17-year-old ethnically Indian Muslim with a Hindu name. He had befriended the group at football training. Lucas contacts the lad for help. Harry and Ros tell the new Home Secretary Andrew Lawrance about the cell but withhold much information in case the Home Secretary is linked to Nightingale. The cell's leader, Harish Dhillon, has a sister who has been comatose since a Muslim-initiated attack, and is planning a revenge assault on a Mosque. Searching the vanished Caulfield's apartment, Lucas finds a flash drive that Tariq partially deciphers, learning that the cell's handler, Victor Chatterjee, is running Dhillon as well as a Muslim cell planning to attack Hindus, to pit both groups against each other. They suspect Chatterjee is likely to be a Nightingale operative. Just as the plan is about to go into effect, Chatterjee changes the target from the mosque to a girls' school. With MI-5 having traced Chatterjee's calls, Ros finds him in an empty garage, and under threat of sending him to jail and torture in Pakistan, finds out the attack locations. CO-19 officers (Metropolitan Police Service Specialist Firearm Command) stop the Muslim cell. The Home Secretary, wanting to avoid a bloodbath involving Muslim girls, orders MI-5 not to interfere, preferring to negotiate. Lucas disregards the Home Secretary's order. Dhillon pours petrol on the floor of the room in which the hostages are being held, but Lucas enters the room, and stops Dhillon. Section D piece together that Nightingale is planning to provoke India and Pakistan into war. | |||||||
72 | 8 | "Episode 8" | Alrick Riley | Ben Richards | 23 December 2009 (BBC One) | 5.91 | |
Pakistan seizes an Indian submarine. Home Secretary Lawrence arranges for a meeting in London between President Mudasser of Pakistan and the president of India. Because of the risk of a nuclear exchange, the British Prime Minister and the American secretary of state meet at Chequers. Section D has a week to stop the potential nuclear war, and is also investigating links with ‘Nightingale’. Unclear as to why Nightingale orchestrated Home Secretary Blake's departure, Harry tests the new Home Secretary by having Ros give him a flash drive that will pass to President Mudasser; if it is given to a Nightingale operative, Tariq will be able to trace it. Lucas breaks into the home of a Nightingale money man to plant a bug, but is intercepted by Sarah; Russell Price, head of CIA in Europe had ordered Sarah to kill Lucas. Sarah offers Lucas a deal to escape to another country where they can reunite but Ros enters; after a fray, Sarah escapes. A Chinese diplomat who is in the pragmatist camp meets Ruth to give her information on their disagreement with hardliners; he is assassinated. Tariq traces Sarah's whereabouts; she is brought in after Ros shoots her in the leg, and put under guard. She explains that the nuclear exchange Nightingale is precipitating will eliminate Al Qaeda and the Taliban from Pakistan, and make India a greatly weakened state. A Nightingale agent kills her guard, and assassinates her. After a fight, Lucas and Ros capture the agent alive. Tariq puts a trace on the agent's phone, who must, as instructed, call in the kill. They learns that Price is the lead Nightingale operative. Nightingale kills an Indian officer, and plant a bomb in her room at the hotel where Mudasser and the Home Secretary are meeting. When Ros and Lucas find the two, they discover that Nightingale has paralysed them. Lucas evacuates the President, who recovers and orders the release of the submarine. However, Ros fails to evacuate Lawrence in time, and the hotel blows up. |
Spooks is a British television spy drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 to 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 seasons. The title is a colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the activities of the intelligence officers of Section D in MI5, based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid. In the United States, the show is broadcast under the title MI-5. In Canada, the programme originally aired as MI-5, but later aired on BBC Canada as Spooks.
Georgia Elizabeth Tennant is an English actress and producer. She played Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon's daughter Abigail in The Bill, Jenny in the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Daughter" and Lady Vivian in the show Merlin.
Nicola Jane Walker is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks and DCI Cassie Stuart in Unforgotten (2015–2021). She has also worked in theatre, radio and film. She won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and was twice nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax.
Rosalind Sarah Myers is a fictional character from the BBC television series Spooks, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division in MI5. She is portrayed by British actress Hermione Norris. The character was a former MI6 officer who joins MI5 in the fifth series.
"Thou Shalt Not Kill" is the premiere episode of the British television series Spooks. It first aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 13 May 2002. The episode was written by series creator David Wolstencroft and directed by Bharat Nalluri. "Thou Shalt Not Kill" focuses on MI5's activities in stopping an anti-abortion group who have smuggled 20 explosive devices to be used against family planning doctors. The episode title is a reference to the sixth Commandment.
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. The character is introduced in Spooks' seventh series as the former head of Section D, who was captured and imprisoned during an operation in Russia. He returns to the UK after eight years and is eventually reinstated into MI5. He is described as having once been the best in his field, and he is now trying to regain his former brilliance.
The first series of the British spy drama television series Spooks began broadcasting on 13 May 2002 on BBC One, and ended on 17 June 2002. It consists of six episodes. Spooks follows the actions of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of the British Security Service (MI5). Among the storylines, main character Tom Quinn faces dilemmas living a double life with his girlfriend, who at first does not know he is really a spy, and Tessa Phillips is submitting expenses for fictitious assets she claims to be handling and pocketing the money. Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner, Esther Hall, Heather Cave, Hugh Simon and Greame Mearns are listed as the main cast.
The second series of the British spy drama television series Spooks began broadcasting on 2 June 2003 on BBC One, ending on 11 August 2003. It consists of ten episodes. Spooks centres on the actions of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of the British Security Service (MI5). Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Hugh Simon, Shauna Macdonald, Rory MacGregor, Natasha Little, Nicola Walker, Megan Dodds, Jenny Agutter and Enzo Cilenti are listed as the main cast.
The third series of the British spy drama television series Spooks began broadcasting on 11 October 2004 on BBC One, and ended on 13 December 2004. It consists of ten episodes which continue to follow the actions of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of the British Security Service (MI5). It also sees the departure of three principal characters: Tom Quinn is decommissioned in the second episode, Zoe Reynolds is exiled to Chile in the sixth episode, and Danny Hunter is killed in the series finale. In addition to Macfadyen, Hawes and Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Rupert Penry-Jones, Nicola Walker, Hugh Simon, Shauna Macdonald and Rory MacGregor are listed as the main cast.
The fourth series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 12 September 2005 before ending on 10 November 2005. The series consists of ten episodes.
The fifth series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 17 September 2006 before ending on 13 November 2006. The series consists of ten episodes. Ruth Evershed left after episode 5; the actor playing the part, Nicola Walker was expecting her first child.
The sixth series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 16 October 2007 and ended on 18 December 2007. The series, consisting of ten episodes, was serialised - a first for the programme. Appearing as recurring characters are CIA Agent, Bob Hogan, and Iranian Special Consul, Dariush Bakhshi, and his wife, Ana.
The seventh series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 27 October 2008 on BBC One before ending on 8 December 2008 on the same channel, and consists of eight episodes, two fewer than previous series. It follows the actions of Section D, a counter-terrorism division in MI5. The primary storyline involves Sugarhorse, a top secret operation set up by MI5 during the final years of the Cold War, and a mole working for the FSB who intends to leak the operation to the Russians. Peter Firth, Rupert Penry-Jones, Hermione Norris, Richard Armitage, Miranda Raison, Gemma Jones, Hugh Simon and Alex Lanipekun are credited as the main cast.
The ninth series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 20 September 2010 before ending on 8 November 2010. The series consists of eight episodes.
The series eight premiere is the first episode in the eighth series of the British espionage television series Spooks, and the 65th episode in total. It was originally broadcast on BBC One on 4 November 2009. The episode was written by Ben Richards and directed by Alrick Riley. It continues from the seventh series finale, where Sir Harry Pearce is willingly captured by Viktor Sarkisiian. In this episode, Harry is taken by Amish Mani, a former Indian intelligence officer, who wants Harry to reveal the location of a secret uranium shipment he knows the location of, in order to build nuclear weapons.
The fourth episode of series eight of the British espionage television series Spooks is the 69th episode in the overall series. It was originally broadcast on BBC Three on 20 November 2009, later repeated on BBC One on 25 November. The episode was written by David Farr, and directed by Sam Miller. In the episode one of Lucas North's former interrogators, FSB officer Oleg Darshavin, approaches Lucas regarding an upcoming terrorist attack. The episode also continues the story-arc of "Nightingale", a shadow organisation bent on a New World Order, and reveals that CIA liaison Sarah Caufield is a part of it. A little over five million people tuned in to watch the episode following its BBC One broadcast. It was met with generally positive reviews.
"Smoke and Mirrors", known as "Pit of Secrets" in the United States, is the tenth and final episode of the second series, and the 16th episode overall of the British television series Spooks. It first aired on BBC One on 11 August 2003. The episode was written by Howard Brenton, and directed by Sam Miller. In the episode, Tom Quinn is being framed by thought-to-be-dead CIA agent Herman Joyce, as revenge for what happened to his daughter. After its original broadcast, the finale was seen by seven million people, a third of the television audience during its time slot. The episode, particularly due to its cliffhanger, received critical acclaim.
The tenth and final series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 18 September 2011 on BBC One, and continued until 23 October. It consists of six episodes. The series continues the actions of Section D, a fictional counter-terrorism division of the British Security Service (MI5). In August 2011, Kudos Film and Television, the production company behind Spooks, announced that the tenth series will be its last, as they wanted the show to end "in its prime".
"Nest of Angels" is the second episode of the second series of the British espionage television series Spooks, and the eighth episode overall. It was originally broadcast on BBC Three on 2 June 2003, and repeated on frontline channel BBC One on 9 June. The episode was written by Howard Brenton, and directed by Bharat Nalluri. The episode centres on MI5's actions in stopping Muhammed Rachid, a radicalised mullah in a mosque and community centre in Birmingham, who they believe is recruiting young suicide bombers. After their previous asset is discovered and brutally expelled, the team turn to Muhammed Ibhn Khaldun, an Algerian agent who left his country to work with the British.