text: series 8 , episode 1 ( spooks ) 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 ( peter firth ) is willingly captured by viktor sarkisiian ( peter sullivan ) . in this episode , harry is taken by amish mani ( ace bhatti ) , 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 episode marks the return of nicola walker as ruth evershed , who departed in the fifth series . although there was media coverage on her return months before the broadcast of the episode , the producers were confident that only the " die hard " fans would be aware of this . it also marked the last appearance of hugh simon as malcolm wynn - jones . the episode was filmed in april 2009 and was partially shot on location in deià , majorca . the episode was seen by over six million viewers in the united kingdom , a quarter of the television audience during its time slot . critics praised ruth 's return , though reactions towards the overall episode were mixed . plot following his abduction , viktor sarkisiian sells harry to amish mani in order to start a new life outside the fsb . however , mani does not hold his end of the deal and kills sarkisiian and his team . his men then pose as members of extremist group , the sacred army for righteous vengeance , and supposedly execute him . when mi5 later intercepts the footage of his execution from the internet , the team are divided between those who believe it is genuine , and those who believe it is faked . malcolm later discovers that one of the " terrorists " said a curse word in malayalam , the language of the indian state of kerala . because there is no history with from that particular region , the team question whether or not the terrorists are from . furthermore , when they find the house where the execution was filmed , forensics find several traces of blood , none of which match harry 's dna , indicating he is still alive . meanwhile in polis , cyprus , ruth is living at peace with husband george ( daniel ) and stepson nico ( luke tzortzis ) . when she notices men are out to capture her , she and her family flee to london . upon returning to the grid , ruth believes harry was kidnapped because of a secret operation in which he , mi6 officer stephen hillier ( andrew scarborough ) , former cia liaison libby mccall ( paul birchard ) and mani intend to vindicate the iraq war by planting weapons - grade uranium in baghdad and later " discover " it , though harry would later pull the operation and safeguard the shipment at a secret location only he and ruth know ; those who kidnapped harry wish to acquire the uranium to create nuclear weapons . soon , while being transferred to a safe house , ruth is captured and brought to harry , while george and nico are taken to the safe house unaware of what is happening . to save them , ruth reveals the uranium is at a base in norfolk , however mani reveals he searched the base and it is no longer there , and hence orders george 's execution . ros myers ( hermione norris ) confronts hillier , but the latter is assassinated by mccall before he can divulge the location of the safe house . malcolm finds the safe house and arrives there , offering himself in exchange for nico . meanwhile , lucas north ( richard armitage ) persuaded mccall 's replacement , sarah caufield ( genevieve o 'reilly ) , to have a tracker implanted on mccall . the team follow him to the warehouse and arrest him . witnessing this , mani tells his man to kill nico , though malcolm is able to talk him out of it . as mani prepares to kill ruth , lucas arrives in time to kill him . in the end , malcolm wishes to retire , telling harry he is " dog tired " ; harry allows it . production writing and casting the episode marks the return of ruth evershed since her departure halfway through series five . actress nicola walker left the series to raise her baby . when walker was asked to return , she took " about half a second to say yes . " upon returning , she noticed that the grid set changed since her initial departure . because there was media coverage reporting walker 's return , the producers believed that the shock of her return would be hindered somewhat , but also believed only the " die hard " fans of the series would be aware of it . ace bhatti , who portrayed the episode 's primary antagonist amish mani , was cast because the producers were impressed by his highly convincing and relaxed acting style , which they felt would establish his role in the episode . paul birchard was cast as libby mccall because the producers believed he acted like a " dinosaur " from the former bush administration . child actor luke tzortzis was cast as nico since they were impressed with his intelligence and the fact he is a " strong " actor ; children are often hard to work with in the series , but in tzortzis ' case , he would ask the production crew several questions between takes in order to do understand what he is to do in the episode . it was also tzortzis ' first performance as an actor , having no past experiences . ben richards wrote the episode . the main focus for the first ten minutes of the episode was the debate of whether harry would be dead or alive . the producers decided to tease the audience by showing harry alive , but then show him apparently executed before the main title sequence , which would make them question whether or not he survived . the producers also wanted to reflect this to the characters , and divide them between if the execution was real or fake . this development was not originally included in the script , and filming was already completed at the time . however , according to director alrick riley , richards was quickly able to write those new scenes " seamlessly " into the rest of the episode , which is usually a difficult task to perform . richards also added hints in the script that malcolm would be leaving by the end . the primary plot of the episode were hard to do , but producer chris fry noted that richards was able to execute the plot very well . elsewhere , the episode would show ruth living happily in cyprus and then be quickly drawn back into the world of mi5 back at a " dark " and " grim " london . the conversations between malcolm and ruth were all automated dialogue replacement . following the writing , walker and peter firth were highly looking forward to play their scenes together again . filming and post - production filming took place throughout april 2009 . before it began , production designer anthony ainsworth partly reconstructed the grid set to give it more of a concrete , underground bunker , feel . though more television series in the uk are adopting high - definition cameras , the spooks producers decided to continue using hand held standard - definition ones , which were more compact and flexible ; the producers felt that using high - definition cameras would sacrifice the filming style of the series . for instance , a hand held camera would allow the crew to film one long take following cast members through tight spaces , like an average london flat . high - definition cameras would lose that ability . two days were dedicated towards shooting the pre - title sequence . it was filmed on location at house in buckinghamshire . the helicopter scenes took place inside an actual helicopter taking flight with some cast members on board , which would make the sequence more genuine as opposed to having the cast members sitting inside next to a green screen . the fight sequences between sarkisiian 's and mani 's men were orchestrated and performed by stunt coordinator and his stunt team , as there was very little time to train conventional actors . director alrick riley wanted the fight sequences to be performed in the same style as in the jason bourne films . the abandoned warehouse used to hold harry and ruth were filmed in an abandoned leather factory near london bridge . one of the meetings between lucas and sarah caufield were originally intended to be shot on the london eye , a location the producers had never used before . however , due to restrictions the filming crew felt they could not follow , it was shot in south bank , opposite the houses of parliament , instead . the scenes set in cyprus were filmed on location in deià , a coastal village in the island of majorca . previously working on a film using the same location , producer chris fry chose the village because he felt it was the closest to the uk the crew can get to mimic the hot , mediterranean feel of cyprus . because filming abroad tend to be costly for a bbc budget , the producers kept costs down as much as possible by using a limited crew with some local help . much of the original script was to take place inside a house , but because there were no responsible for lighting , and that the weather was decent , filming took place primarily outside because of the natural sunlight . the filming crew spent four days at the end of april shooting in majorca . jamie pearson was responsible for editing the episode . the sequence where lucas rescues harry and ruth near the end were made in slow motion , because the producers felt it would add to the tension . the incidental music was composed by paul leonard - morgan . the computer graphics on the episode were designed by mark doman . the producers ended up being receptive of both morgan and doman 's work , because of their ability to help interpret the story via the music , and computers , respectively . broadcast and reception broadcast and ratings the episode was originally broadcast on bbc one , during the 9 pm to 10 pm time slot on wednesday , 4 november 2009 , and later repeated on bbc three at 12 : 15 am on 5 november . upon its original broadcast , the episode received unofficial overnight viewing figures of 6 million and an audience share of 25 per cent . spooks won its time slot against itv1 's uefa champions league game , which attracted 5 . 1 million viewers . according to the broadcasters ' audience research board , the episode received final figures of 6 . 549 million viewers , placing spooks the sixth most seen programme on bbc one the week it aired . the repeat on bbc three attracted 602 , 000 viewers . in addition , 446 , 900 viewed the episode from bbc iplayer , an internet television service ; as a result the episode became the seventeenth best performed iplayer broadcast of 2009 . critical reception gerard o 'donovan of the daily telegraph lamented the eleven months that passed since the series seven cliffhanger , and stated that " for all its square - jawed silliness and bonkers conspiracies , spooks still delivers high - class escapism at its slickest , most glamorous and entertaining . " adam sweeting of the arts desk felt that the episode 's plot was " mere background noise , " and that the series " is about hilariously artificial encounters between the characters , clumsily manufactured dramatic tension , and a denouement involving someone being prevented in the nick of time from detonating something / killing somebody / triggering a global economic collapse . " andrea mullaney of the scotsman said that the plot was " all gibberish , " but cited the episode was really about the return of ruth , a development mullaney praised , stating ruth " has been much missed since she was framed and sent into faked - death exile . " mullaney also praised the performance of the cast , including " walker 's gulping hysteria when ruth 's husband was executed , " which was " perfectly done , " and malcolm 's " doughty attempts to comfort a small boy in danger were touching . " robert mclaughlin of den of geek believed that it is " equivalent to 24 , " " far more engaging than the last james bond movie , " and that it is " good to see [ ruth evershed ] again , " seeing how " the re - introduction of an old character will work with the new additions . " while also reviewing channel 4 's the family , tom sutcliff of the independent stated that family values were " relevant in spooks too , " citing ruth being " on the rack , " after having her see her husband killed and adoptive son threatened . though sutcliff did not see the series with " great diligence recently , " he though the intelligence " is not the quality you would attribute to some of the strategies employed " in the episode . vicky frost of the guardian was overly critical of the episode , criticising it for the reunion between ruth and harry , which she stated " wasn 't quite the romantic occasion [ i would have ] liked , " and malcolm 's method to convince a " trained killer not to shoot nico . " overall , frost thought the episode was " medium " and rated it five out of ten on the " ridiculous - o - meter " .