User reviews

The early seasons of Spooks, a well-produced BBC action-drama about a small band of MI-5 agents serving to protect the UK, provided compelling entertainment. Giving the writers some latitude in developing plots that had the same team of MI-5 saving Britain each week from a variety of home grown and foreign militants, the show had excellent production values, good story lines and developed the characters' background to help create audience empathy. Led by Matthew Macfadyen and Peter Firth, the actors had good chemistry and, occasionally, the plot raised interesting questions about the dilemmas faced by domestic intelligence agencies.

In later seasons, however, notably five and six, and integrity of Spooks seriously deteriorated, as the quality of the plot became ridiculous, and then absurd. Life-long conspiracy theorists would have had a good laugh and Spooks adopted repetitive themes of general xenophobia, targeting particularly the United States, but also generally simplistic conspiracy themes within most of the UK Government (virtually everyone except our intrepid MI-5 team). Simultaneously, the show forgot to focus on the individual characters, providing two- dimensional studies of the new MI-5 players, with the exception of Adam (Rupert Penry- Jones), who carried the brunt of providing some unsophisticated examples of conflict. As a result, it became more difficult to care about the fate of the team, or of the country, the supposed threats so outlandish it may as well have been science fiction.

It is a shame, because obviously there is an audience for this type of show, and a basic idea that would be engrossing. If only it felt a little factual.

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)

Spooks, is quite frankly, bloody excellent. It seems to have learnt all the tricks that the best of American thrillers (e.g. '24') have picked up, and uses them to the best of their abilities. The acting, especially from McFadden, is likewise excellent (unlike many other similar programs, Spooks doesn't attempt to make the characters whiter-than-white. They're likeable, just not perfect). It also has the bravery to use storylines that are shocking, but are what make it the best.

My only criticism is that the characters from 'the government' are a bit too stereotypically slimey.

Otherwise 10 out of 10

Mondays, 9:00pm, BBC 1

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.

I've been hooked and reeled. I absolutely love MI-5/Spooks. I rented all the available series and I crave for more. I'm anxiously waiting for 2005 to become available. The characters are unique and intriguing. The story lines are complex and luring. The acting is top form. As far as I'm concerned nothing here in the U.S. comes close. We had Mission Impossible (covert missions and fancy gadgetry) but MI-5 is fathoms richer, and smart. I'm a loyal fan of Keeley Hawes first finding her in Tipping the Velvet and recently viewed Our Mutual Friend. She's an outstanding actress and her MI-5 colleagues perform with such command of the art. As far as I'm concerned the BBC can do no wrong.

Truly a riveting show. It is not at all like its American counterparts in the sense that one has to pay close attention to the dialog of the show with its witty and often intellectual remarks.

One feels a true sense of realism watching spooks. The characters are real people with real faults. Another aspect I enjoy is the fact that there is no fear in "killing" a character off. One might consider that to be cruel but it once again lends to the realism of the show.

If you are looking to watch something to simulate the mind get the heart racing, anger, fear hope and justice watch Spooks it is in a class of its own as only the British can do.

Spooks is certainly one of the best shows ever made for TV. One of the reasons is the basic principle that nothing is clear cut black and white but that every single character really is very ambivalent. So on the one hand there are "heroes" (otherwise it would be boring) but on the other hand the role of the security services is not glorified. That intelligent outlook makes is good watching. Apart from that the story lines are on the one hand believable (I wouldn't go as far as to say realistic as the show keeps the number of people involved in any given case to an unrealistically low number and the cases happen one after the other) but also original. The standard of writing is very high and the authors stay clear of spy story stereotypes. There really are no flat characters in this show which makes it really delightful and no character is safe which adds to the suspense. In season three basically all three main characters which did carry the show over a number of years disappear. It is done again in a believable way and the three new characters give the show a new (although not necessarily better or worse) dimension by their MI 6 past in the middle east and the addition of a husband/ wife team. And again, the Thin Man stereotype is avoided. Personally I preferred the McFadyen character because he was less of a stereotype (essentially he was really uncool) as Penry-Jones's who acts against his posterboy image. He is a great actor but his looks really are in the way of being taken seriously. But you can't blame him for that. Generally speaking I find it amazing that they manage to tell an exciting, multi layered and ultimately satisfying story in the 60 minutes format. Spooks is also one of the few TV shows that's visually innovative.

Entertaining show about the British security service MI-5 with a writing and editing style similar to '24', but typically with one or two episode story arcs instead of season long plots. The characters are well created and nicely fleshed out with skills and personal foibles, but do seem to have disturbingly short lifespans. Politics in the show are rather conservative at the beginning of the series (which started shortly after 9/11), but gradually begin to include a lot of lefty 'new world order' conspiracy stuff as the show progresses and the Iraq war became increasingly unpopular around the world. Like all shows of this type, it portrays England as having a shockingly high rate of terrorist attacks and far too many caches of surface to air missiles floating around inside it's borders.

While the action and spy craft is usually entertaining, it does tend towards the silly on many occasions. Weaker plots include elements like a small child with a laptop defeating the entire British intelligence computer network and the "G&J" algorithm (an extremely loose and poorly understood reference to RSA style encryption used on the Internet) security loophole that allows a villain to access any computer on the Internet, but who for some completely incomprehensible reason uses it to attempt to ransom the government instead of just tapping directly into banks to take the funds. Occasionally the logic is so tortured it becomes unintentionally funny, as in one season (spoiler alert) where a group of individuals attempt a coup of the British government. During the course of the coup they kill several people including an MI-5 officer, arrange to have hundreds of people killed in a staged terrorist attack, organize the slaughter of peaceful protesters by police forces, attempt the assassination of several high-ranking government officials and the Prime Ministers own son, and create detention camps where they round up political opponents and try to set them on fire. After the good guys finally stop the plot, one of the conspirators (that's right, just one) is brought to trial and convicted. The daughter and one-time co- conspirator of the convicted man, now amazingly added to the MI-5 payroll because she had an eleventh hour change of heart, has a heated exchange with her boss because her father received 20 years in prison and she felt he should only get 5. I laughed so hard I was crying. I don't know if this is a British thing I don't get, but over here we would say that mothf***er has got to go. Apparently in Britain trying to overthrow the government is seen as more of a stern talking-to kind of thing.

One quick not for those living in the states; it bears mentioning that the show has a strong anti-American sentiment that usually colors us as either arrogant jerks, soulless corporate overlords, or weapon merchants eager to sell biological weapons to foreign leaders for all their ethnic cleansing needs. Having seen other Canadian and British shows I've become de-sensitized to this so it didn't bother me overly much. I figure we made them the emperor's lackeys in Star Wars so turnabout is fair play.

All in all this is a decent bit of action-drama. When it works it works really well, which I'd say happens about 70% of the time. The other 30% fails pretty spectacularly, but still I would say overall it's worthy of providing a few hours of diversion.

Some British crime dramas are so good you forget to breathe at times. That is the case with "Spooks", or as they called it when packaged for American TV, "MI-5".

We were introduced to some fantastic actors, tense scripts, rich characters, and harrowing images. There is a perpetual ethical struggle within and amongst the characters, as they search their way through the dark of the drugs trade, terrorism, and such.

I will never forget what I felt when watching a Muslim bomber preparing to blow-up innocent children in a playground.

Probably the best thing I could say is the program proved more than realistic; it was prophetic, given the events on 7/7/05.

That just shows the excellence of the program.

Sadly, we can no longer view it here in the states as A&E has pulled it. I am hoping they recirculate it to some of their other network channels, as they've done with "Midsomer Murder"s to the Biography Channel (honestly). Perhaps to BBC America?

UK TV writers are chronically anti-American, and there's no law against that.

But it's disturbing when Harry Pearce, head of Section D, has a warmer relationship with the #3 from Al-Qaeda (the British squeeze out a 4th syllable there-Al-Kay-EE-Dah) than he does with his US counterparts.

Throughout the series, frequent snide references are made about "the special relationship" and "the cousins." Americans are consistently portrayed as controlling and coldblooded, but surely they must have at least one redeeming trait.

I can think of two. Coming to Britain's aid twice. In one century. Across 86 episodes, I wish someone would've mentioned that. Just once.

When i watched the first episode of the first season, i thought this was brilliant.But after watching half of season two I'm just bored. If this is how the real MI5 is run i would be seriously worried. They act like bloody fools. The show has been compared to the American 24 I'm not sure if thats is a good thing or a bad.

They fumble around they seem to take a lot of unnecessary risks and every episode always ended with a huge anticlimax. They could have done with some more action in the show. They build up so you sit and Wait for something exciting to happen,than it all just flattens out to nothing but some small talk and a pat on the back

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?

At times this is very silly but overall it's a top notch drama and looking back on it now one can see how it anticipated real world issues before they hit the headlines. It's at its best in the superb first two seasons with Matthew Macfayden and Keeley Hawes. Peter Firth is outstanding throughout.

Rarely do I find DVD's of Broadcast TV worthy of the expense. MI5 or Spooks is one of the rare exceptions. As an American, I've been limited to the A&E versions, which has others have stated, are edited to allow for commercials. The pace, the actors, the plots even in the edited versions are exceptional. When I found out I could purchase the series on DVD, I gladly did. The only other Broadcast series I've purchased for myself, are Secret Agent Man (danger man in the UK) The Prisoner, and the Hornblower series. I've been pleased with all. The bonus with MI5 is seeing the full episodes. Unlike American series, the UK series have short seasons which keep the story lines clear, concise, intelligent, and plot driven not profit driven. The actors are generally given fleshier roles and unlike many U.S. shows, the actors seem to be chosen on talent, rather then a "look". MI5 brings a sense of what it may really be like in the intelligent community, as a clear delineations of right and wrong crosses paths with politics, ambition, and geo-political idealogy. In short, MI5 raises many morality issues while at the same time, filling one with suspense.

Ever since Spooks hit the BBC back in 2002, it has been essential, innovative, superbly written and action packed drama. The first season of the show was exceptional, the show was so ground breaking in the stories and themes it tackled that it won many plaudits and won many prizes. But Seaon 3 of the show was rocked by the departure of its main stars and I will talk about that later, but first I will go over the show generally and the first two seasons particularly...

Tom Quinn (Matthew Macfayden) was the linchpin of the show and rightly so. He was an amazing character and Matthew was absolutely superb as the main star of the show. Keeley Hawes and David Oyelowo were great as Danny and Zoe as the other main cast members of the show. Peter Firth(Harry Pearce) put in a superb performance as the Spooks boss.

The biggest assets the show had was its main three characters and because they were so likable, the viewer really warmed to the characters and the actors themselves.

Never shy to stow away from controversy Season 2 of the show was also very good. The problem then came in Season 3.....

All 3 of the main characters left and there were these replacements bought in that were so obviously replacements for the others, that the viewer could not help but notice it. The sense of the closeness of the show was gone, as the show stopped focusing on the "bad guys", but started focusing solely on the Spooks private life.

One of the great things about the show was that the show dealt with a wide range of terrorism issues affecting mainland UK but in series 3, the writers were clearly more concerned with the Spooks personal lives, than the actual welfare of the country!! Maybe they should have ended the show after the second season and let the show go out on a high. There are so any stand alone memorable episodes in these two series, that you will remember them for ages. The problem was that the loss of the three main characters the audience had loved for the two previous series, had left and this has had a dramatic effect.

As for the replacements, Rupert Penry-Jones is not a patch on Matthew Macfayden and he is quite wooden at times. Olga Sosnovska is so-so as Fiona, Adams wife. They are the main replacements to the cast, but even the quite well written characters cannot help fill the void of the ex-characters departures.

I used to be a massive fan of this show and I would rate this show as one of the best on the box, and essential viewing but season 3 really let the show down. In my opinion a big part of the show was over when the main three characters left and the new replacements have not done much to change my mind. This is a prime example of a show that simply cannot survive without its main cast, there is just too much history wiped away. If you want to see a top class drama show buy Series 1 and 2 box sets, stick clear of Series 3. Good show (season 1-3) 10/10, Season 3 (4/10)

This show started out great. It was a mix of short-lived series Rubicon with the action of a Born movie. I was in heaven. It came to a screeching halt after the first two seasons. I just didn't have the same connection with the characters.

And what I took as anti-American sentiment was too much. I've made it through six seasons and will update my review if 1) I make it through more seasons and 2) They improve.

Sad because this had the potential to be a new favorite. It is still watchable and better than average, just don't expect the excitement of finding a new, great show to last.

I watched the first 4 seasons of this series and it just gets sillier and sillier with each season. I can't say for sure but the idea that any "secret operative" of any agency would tell the young child of a lover that they are "spies but don't tell anyone ever" is just absurd! It seems like they just brag about being spies a bit too much to be believable. The plots become repetitive and nonsense the further on in the series I get. If you want intelligent television try watching "The Newsroom" or "The West Wing" which I consider two of the best TV shows ever broadcast. I would hate to think this is a realistic portrayal of MI-5. It seems to me that real life MI-5 agents must find this program laughable and probably hate the ridiculous image of their service that it portrays. Don't think I will bother with season 5 onward.