Spooks (series 1)
Kudos Film and Television developed "Spooks" after releasing Channel 4 medical drama "Psychos" in 1999, though the company initially faced friction from television networks which saw no potential in a post-Cold War spy show. The producers later successfully pitched the series to the BBC after the networks' commissioning teams were replaced. Four episodes were being written when the September 11 attacks took place, and the some scenes were rewritten to take the event into account to show the audience "Spooks's" goal of fighting terrorism. Throughout production, the producers were advised by former intelligence officers from the Security Service, KGB and Central Intelligence Agency. Filming took place from November 2001 to March 2002.
Spooks (series 10)
In August 2011, Kudos announced that the tenth series of "Spooks" would be the final series. Executive producer Jane Featherstone decided to end the series during its writing stage, stating "It's very tempting to keep going, and we have had ongoing conversations with our partners at the BBC about it, but the heart of the show has become those two characters [Harry and Ruth] and I feel they own it. We've followed the arc of their personal story and I think they've brought us to a natural end, which you will all see played out later this year." It was also intended to end the series "in its prime." Writers Brackley and Vincent noted "there was always a strong possibility of it being the end, so throughout the [writing] process we were looking for ways to infuse it with a sense of finality. We'd done a fair bit of writing before it was made definite by Kudos – but had plenty of time to plot a true conclusion. And crucially, by the time we began to write the final ep, we knew it would be the last." They also stated; "When Kudos asked for our opinion, we said we'd hate to see it cancelled on a cliffhanger – it just wouldn't be right, or fair on the fans. Call us suck-ups, but you have to really admire Kudos for having the confidence to kill off a very successful show – purely because it's the right thing creatively." Firth believed the series is getting to a point where the producers were starting to run out of story ideas, as virtually every type of antagonists have been featured in past episodes.