Spooks (series 3)

The third series of Spooks was produced by Kudos Film and Television for the BBC.[23] Much of the production crew from the first two series returned. New crew members were brought in with the requirement that they were fans of the series and have ambition, so that they can understand Spooks.[24] Andrew Woodhead was the series producer, with Jane Featherstone, Simon Crawford Collins and Gareth Neame as executive producers.[25] Collins, who was the producer for the first two series, had to step back to executive producer, as he was overcommitted producing Kudos crime series Hustle. Woodhead replaced him as he was accustomed to the show, but also added more vitality to the show.[7] Christopher Aird was the assistant producer.[25] The third series included five writers. Howard Brenton wrote the first, second and eighth episodes. Rupert Walters wrote the third and ninth episodes. Ben Richards wrote the fourth, sixth and tenth episodes.[25] Richards previously wrote the ninth episode of series two, and accepted the offer to return. His script in the second series was his first script for television; he found writing easier as time went by.[26] Raymond Khoury wrote the seventh episode. Series creator David Wolstencroft wrote the fifth episode.[25] Wolstencroft was poised to write the next episode, but found himself committed to other projects.[27]

There were five directors, each directing two episodes; Jonny Campbell, Cilla Ware, Justin Chadwick, Bill Anderson, and Alrick Riley.[25] Featherstone wanted Campbell to direct for Spooks after they worked together producing the television series Glasgow Kiss.[28] He was drawn to directing the first two episodes because of Brenton's writing and the fact he would give Tom a send off.[15] Faith Penhale was the series script executive. Simon Chaudoir, Jake Polonsky, Kieran McGuigan, Sue Gibson and Baz Irvine were the directors of photography. Barney Pilling and Paul Knight were the series editors. Stevie Herbert and Robert Foster were production designers. Jennie Muskett and Sheridan Tongue composed the original music. David Myers was the make-up designer, whilst Iain Macauley was the costume designer.[25] Mark Doman designed the on-screen computer graphics, films surveillance shots and television footage from the series' point of view.[29] On occasion, crew members appeared as extras. For instance, pictures of every crew member were used as students and faculty for a university database in "The Sleeper".[17] In "Love and Death", the crew members present on the ferry appeared as extras in a bar scene. Collins also voiced a florist on a telephone message at the end of the same episode.[19]

Following the example of Matthew Macfadyen, by the end of the third series, actors Keeley Hawes (above) and David Oyelowo (below) leave Spooks. Oyelowo requested that Danny be killed off.

In producing the third series, the goal was to "raise the bar" higher to satisfy and surprise the audience.[7] The second series finale "Smoke and Mirrors" ended on a cliffhanger which left Tom's fate open. The producers were unsure whether Macfadyen would return at the time they began storylining.[30] Brenton had already written the first two episodes as if he was not coming back. When Macfadyen announced his return for those episodes, they had to be rewritten. Brenton went through a "nightmare" rewriting the first episode as he "dug this enormous hole, and [he] had no idea how to get out of it."[15] It became a long process of growing the story where Tom turns the tables against Joyce.[15] To make a suitable send off to the character, Brenton did not want Tom to be disillusioned; instead he wanted him to "sort of [become] a human being," as there have been real life instances where spies are attracted to the idea that "the world's a stage to them all the time," but later on they start to unravel.[31]

Tom's exit allowed the writers to pull the focus on the other characters, namely Danny and Zoe, to give the show more of an ensemble feel.[7] Overall, the producers made the third series more character driven. Raymond Khoury felt that because the length of a Spooks episode is one and half times longer than the average American television episode, the writers could use the extra time to flesh out the characters.[26] Khoury also noted another difference between Spooks and American television is that most American seasons usually consists of 22 episodes, much of those episodes are more plot driven, while Spooks series three only had 10 and hence all of them contain some character development.[32] The main character developments include Zoe's relationship with Will, which Danny did not like because he was in love with her. The writers initially wanted to expand on the potential Danny and Sam Buxton relationship which began in the second series, but the idea was dropped in favour of his affection towards Zoe, as the producers believed that was delivering more.[19] Harry was given more depth by introducing his estranged daughter in "Who Guards the Guards?". Through the daughter's introduction, Harry would appear more human as opposed to the boss who "barks orders" to his officers.[33] When Hawes announced she wanted to leave, Richards decided to write a "big episode" to give Zoe a decent send off. Richards did not want to kill off the character, as he deemed it predictable.[27] Oyelowo eventually decided to leave the series as well between filming episodes four and five; by then the finale was not yet written. The actor wanted Danny to be killed off, reasoning that since Tom and Zoe left as disgraced officers, having Danny leave a disgraced officer also would be "one time too many" for a series that is meant to second guess the audience. In addition, Oyelowo did not want the "lingering thought" of a possible return. The producers wanted to use Danny's death as a powerful end to the series.[8]

"The Sleeper" sees the MI5 team in a different light, going to great lengths to get the sleeper agent, Fred Roberts, to do what they want him to do so that the producers can make the audience sympathise with the character, as well as despise the main characters on some level for their methods.[17] There were other instances of the main character going through great lengths to solve the case, including Adam's interrogation methods, brinking on torture, in "Frequently Asked Questions".[21] "Love and Death" sees Danny and Zoe ordered to carry out an assassination. Wolstencroft did not want to do it lightly, as he wanted somebody like Danny going through "something dreadful."[34] He previously did it before with the death of Helen Flynn in "Looking After Our Own", but "Love and Death" did this in the point of view of the killer, not the victim.[34] "Celebrity" introduces a new plot style, which does not involve terror threats. Brenton wrote it as a more light-hearted episode that saw the characters emmeshed in a world they cannot handle. Despite this, Collins stated that MI5 do other duties other than fighting terrorism, though they would not gain as much media attention. Penhale also stated MI5 in the episode are in a way protecting the country, as if a national icon is under threat, the country's morale could drop.[20] "Who Guards the Guards?" and "Frequently Asked Questions" were considered for the second series, but because there was not room for them, the producers bumped the episodes back to the third series.[18][35]

One of the difficult things about looking at these organisations is it's very hard to find out what the successful operations were. You always hear about what went wrong, and you know think of the IRA in the 80s with the Brighton bombing or the mortaring of number 10. Obviously nobody tells you; "Well, we stopped ten other of those," otherwise because they reveal their sources.

— Rupert Walters[35]

Although the series fictionalises the world of MI5, several storylines are based on truth. The series had advisors who were ex-MI5 officers.[19] The producers wanted to use world events that Britain and America were directly or indirectly responsible for, where the consequences of an operation are worse than the problems they were intended to resolve, known as blowback.[26] One example is the two powers aiding the Afghan Mujahideen in 1989 before pulling out of the country; this ultimately led to the rise of Al-Qaeda.[18]

Brenton modelled Fred Roberts in "The Sleeper" on the weapons scientist David Kelly, who committed suicide in July 2003 after he was outed as the source of BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan's story alleging the British government "sexed up" the September Dossier about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.[36] "Who Guards the Guards?" sees a rivalry between MI5 and MI6. According to the producers, there have been documented rivalries between the two organisations. The episode also referenced a true story of a man joining a militant group who was paid with a Russian army helicopter, as the group could not afford to pay him in cash.[37] "A Prayer for My Daughter" deals with the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Because the topic is controversial, it was a difficult area to work with without offending people from both sides. The producers made the episode as neutral as possible by consulting with experts from both sides of the conflict. Richards also wanted to fairly represent it by addressing the issue as political and not religious.[33]

The producers learned from an ex-MI5 officer that it is common for intelligence gatherers who spend most of their work listening in to other people to fall in love with civilians through just their voices. This story was the basis of Ruth wanting to go out with John in "Love and Death".[19] Khoury based "Outsiders" on Internet security. He already knew the area, as he once worked for an internet company. Although the story is dramatised, Khoury did research on what was feasible, such as if one man and a laptop could theoretically bring Britain to its knees.[32] "Frequently Asked Questions" deals with interrogation and torture. Walters realised that torture is counterproductive as the suspects can say anything the interrogators want to hear, but rationalises that Adam is an expert in that field.[35] To get the interrogation as true to life as possible, the producers consulted with ex-Army advisors who were trained in questioning terror suspects.[21] As the episode was first broadcast, a prison abuse scandal in Iraq was in the news. In response to this, Kudos director Stephen Garrett stated "Spooks is really well researched and sometimes we look like we're ahead of the game. It's just we know stuff that's happening, and it'll come out in the news a bit later on."[35] In the same episode, the weapons caches came from a true story that the Russians hid weapons in Britain during the Cold War, according to Collins.[21]

The series was almost entirely filmed throughout London

The third series was filmed across five blocks of two episodes, with a director in each block.[35] Filming began in London in January 2004,[23] and took up to 140 days[14] spanning seven months.[34] Each filming day typically lasted eleven hours.[38] Scheduling was often tight throughout the shoot; sometimes the production crew had to "double up" on locations,[17] and the cast often had to learn six pages of dialogue a day.[38] The majority of cameras were handheld,[14][16] and the filming crew used a variety of lenses, including long-focus lenses,[14] fisheye lenses,[19] and swing and tilt lenses.[21] The first two series was shot with a Fujifilm stock. The third series saw a switch to a new type of Kodak stock, becoming the first television series to use this model.[16]

Filming began in the middle of winter, which presented problems for the cast and filming crew. Some scenes were delayed because of bad weather,[14] even snow at one point,[16] and as a result scheduling became tighter.[14] Another problem was the cold temperatures. The beginning scene in "Who Guards the Guards?", where Mace and Khordad meet in Hebron, was filmed on a roof garden in below zero temperatures; however, McInnerny and Paul Bhattacharjee wore summer clothes. To prevent hypothermia a heater was placed near them. The cameras used light-coloured filters to make the environment look warmer.[37] However, winter did have an advantage of longer nights, making night scenes easier; summer nights would last as little as five hours.[16] The producers hired real news presenters from Sky News and the programme London Tonight to present the news of the events from some episodes.[14] All episodes begin with a recap from past episodes, which the producers regard as "an art in themselves" in terms of editing.[16] The opening title sequence went through three changes over the course of the series.[16] More split screen sequences were also added to create more tension for the audience.[14][17] Overall, each episode took approximately six weeks to prepare, and would take approximately six weeks to edit.[24]

Freemasons' Hall doubled as Thames House, the headquarters of MI5. The Grid set was filmed in a separate location.

Shooting took place almost entirely in London. The directors somewhat followed the filming style of Bharat Nalluri, the director of the first two episodes of series one and two, who used London and the River Thames as characters in themselves.[14] The exterior and interior of Freemasons' Hall continued to be a stand-in for Thames House, the headquarters of MI5.[34] However, the Grid, the base of operations of Section D, was a set constructed at the fifth floor in another building.[7][14] Danny's apartment was also filmed in the same building.[29] Another constructed set was the back of mobile surveillance vans, which was housed near the Grid set.[16]

Director Jonny Campbell helped search for several "interesting locations" for the first block to draw the audience with interesting visuals. This included a church in Smithfield and the Natural History Museum; in the latter's case, Campbell believed the location was "harking back" to traditional spy films. Filming there was expensive and management of the museum only allowed the crew to film for a few hours.[15] The club Mace frequents was filmed at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall.[16] "The Sleeper" included scenes filmed at the University College London; a lecture room in the college was where the third series started filming.[17] The explosion scene at the beginning of the episode was filmed at a council estate in Peckham. The estate was condemned for demolition, which proved to be a suitable location for a big explosion. The crew returned there again a month later to gather footage of the demolition work.[15][17] Several exterior shots where Harry meets with government officials and his officers were filmed on walkways outside the Houses of Parliament.[38] The upper-class home of Riff and B in "Celebrity" was filmed in a house in Kensington that was for sale for approximately £27 million at the time.[39] Filming in public locations often took place on weekends, when they were closed off to the public.[14] However, there were exceptions. Some scenes in "The Suffering of Strangers" were filmed outside the National Film Theatre in South Bank, a popular tourist destination. Shooting there became difficult as the crew had no control over the tourists.[22] Other known London landmarks that were filmed at included Lord's Cricket Ground,[37] St Martin-in-the-Fields,[19] Tate Modern, the Old Bailey criminal court, Waterloo station,[29] Empress State Building,[39] and 30 St Mary Axe (the Gherkin).[21]

"Love and Death" was filmed in an actual Stena Line ferry that travelled from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, Netherlands; Stena allowed the producers to film in the ferry, though the cabins were filmed in a constructed studio set. The two actors present, Hawes and Oyelowo took precautions to avoid seasickness before boarding. After filming on board concluded, both actors had to re-record some of the dialogue that was overshadowed by noises of the waves and engines.[19]

The series' stunts were coordinated by Andy Bradford.[16] Several cast members participated in stunt work. The first scene Penry-Jones filmed was a fight scene between three of Mace's men, which the actor performed himself.[15] Macfadyen held a special driving licence allowing him to perform some stunt driving,[17] such as skidding a car outside the Freemasons' Hall to drop off Joyce's body in "Project Friendly Fire". The sequence was considered for rescheduling due to snowfall before filming it, but the producers felt the icy road would become an advantage, and went ahead with it anyway.[16] Several actors handled firearms during the shoot. One of scenes included Oyelowo and McGregor spent up to five hours firing guns at a shooting range for the beginning of "Love and Death",[34] which Oyelowo stated was "the most fun" he ever had in the series.[19] However, Penry-Jones was disappointed he was not given a gun at all throughout the third series.[34]

In "Outsiders" a scene required a lorry crashing into a car in front of Danny. Oyelowo had to stand ten feet away from the crash. The production crew considered having Oyelowo wearing sunglasses to shield his eyes from any possible glass shards, but they later chose against it.[38] There were scenes where some of the characters snorted cocaine. The "cocaine" was in actuality glucose powder that the actors did have to snort.[20][27] Elsewhere, the crew used vegetable soup as vomit.[21] The alcohol used in the series were made from non-alcoholic drinks; the production crew used fruit juices as wine,[17] ginger ale as brandy, and cold tea as beer.[37]

The series began broadcasting on 11 October 2004 on BBC One during the 9 to 10 pm timeslot, and continued on every Monday night until 13 December 2004. The second to ninth episodes were pre-empted on Saturday nights, starting 16 October 2004, on digital channel BBC Three.[40][41][42][43] In the United States the series began broadcast on the A&E Network, where it is known as MI-5, from the start of 2005.[40] However, because each episode last approximately an hour, 15 minutes had to be edited out on each to accommodate for advert breaks. However, the DVD release of the series in the United States included the episodes unedited.[44]

The third series faced a decline in viewership from the second series. The season premiere received an overnight figure of six million viewers and a 25 per cent audience share.[45] It was down almost two million from the series two premiere in June 2003, which was seen by 7.8 million.[46] Ratings declines further as the series continues. The fifth episode dropped to five million.[47] The penultimate episode dropped further to 4.5 million,[48] though the finale rose slightly back to five million.[49] However, it was also down from the seven million who saw the series two finale in August 2003.[50] With consolidated figures factored in, the third series was seen by an average of 5.77 million viewers.[n 2] Despite the ratings decline, the BBC already commissioned a fourth series of Spooks before the third series even began broadcasting.[51]

Contender have once again delivered a fine package for Spooks' third season, and if this collection of episodes is not quite up to the level of those that preceded it, the quality of the presentation and exhaustive nature of the bonus materials almost make up for this.

— Michael Mackenzie of Home Cinema[52]

The third series received generally favourable reviews. In review of the DVD release of the series, Michael Mackenzie of Home Cinema was disappointed by the "complete decimation of the group around which the show effectively revolved," and had reservations for the introductions of the new characters, stating "despite ardent protests from both cast and crew, Tom and Adam are almost exactly the same character. The same goes for his wife Fiona, who more or less steps into Zoe's shoes (they even look similar!), and in the final episode, it becomes abundantly clear that, in the next season, Zafar Younis (Raza Jaffrey) will be taking Danny's place while ensuring that the "minority" checkbox remains ticked."[52] However, at the same time, Mackenzie thought "the psychology surrounding cast changes like these is extremely interesting."[52] In terms of the storylines, the reviewer stated "Spooks' third season […] is something of a step down from both its predecessors," although the series "has a number of fine moments."[52] Mackenzie ended up rating the series eight stars out of ten.[52]

David Blackwell of the American review site Enterline Media said, "MI-5 really impressed me with the first two seasons. The third season does start out for the first three episodes before it reaches some highs and lows until it stabilizes with the last two episodes of season 3."[44] He felt that Tom Quinn's exit was his favourite moment in the first two episodes, and that Adam is "just [as] cold" as Tom. He also praised the character development, stating "character development is excellent in this season. Danny receives great moments as he is brought into the spotlight from his feelings for Zoe to his conflicted feelings about things he does in the name of Queen and Country, but Danny doesn't break and let his emotions become a crutch like Tom did (when Tom wanted a sleeper agent not to do the job MI-5 wanted the sleeper to do)."[44] Blackwell concluded by saying "sometime MI-5 fails as a show this season, but it still reaches levels of greatness. It will be interesting to see what they have in store for season 4."[44]

The third series was nominated for a total of seven British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs). It was nominated for Best Drama Series, but lost out to the Channel 4 comedy-drama series Shameless.[53] It also was nominated for four BAFTA Craft Awards, for Original Television Music, Photography & Lighting: Fiction/Entertainment, Production Design, and Graphic Design, none of which resulted in a win for Spooks.[54] In addition it was nominated for two BAFTA Interactive Awards, with Spooks Interactive winning one of them.[55][56] The interactive service, which provided Spooks viewers with an "extra dimension to the television experience" by allowing users to go through mock training sessions via remote control, also won an International iTV Awards.[57]

The series was generally well received by fans; the BBC released a "Best of" viewer polls at the end of 2004, where Spooks was voted the second best drama, beaten only by the period drama series North and South.[58] However, it was also voted number eight in the "Worst Drama" category.[59] Firth, Oyelowo, Macfadyen and Penry-Jones were listed in the "Best Actor" category, being voted tenth, seventh, fifth, and third, respectively.[60] Meanwhile, in the "Best Actress" category, Walker, Sosnovska and Hawes were voted ninth, fifth and fourth, respectively.[61] Also, Hawes, Macfadyen, Sosnovska and Penry-Jones were voted a respective seventh, sixth, fifth and third most desirable star.[62] Oliver Mace was voted the fifth best villain.[63] The scene in which Danny is killed in the finale was voted the third "Favourite Moment".[64]