Spooks (series 3)
The third series of "Spooks" was produced by Kudos Film and Television for the BBC. 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". Andrew Woodhead was the series producer, with Jane Featherstone, Simon Crawford Collins and Gareth Neame as executive producers. 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. Christopher Aird was the assistant producer. 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. 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. Raymond Khoury wrote the seventh episode. Series creator David Wolstencroft wrote the fifth episode. Wolstencroft was poised to write the next episode, but found himself committed to other projects.
Thou Shalt Not Kill (Spooks)
Writer David Wolstencroft decided that Tom Quinn would use IT as his cover story for Ellie Simm, because IT has, according to Wolstencroft, "something that has an enormous amount of thought and technical fact behind it that nobody would really understand," and according to series producer Jane Featherstone, has people reluctant to be asking questions about. A scene where a cat escaped during Zoe's operation to bug Kane's cottage, and the ensuing search in the rain mirrored an experience during Wolstencroft's early career. It was also intended that the episode established that although spies plan heavily before operations, things can go wrong. Among the main cast, Peter Firth was attracted to appearing on "Spooks" after hearing of Howard Brenton's involvement in the series. The cast were advised by ex-MI5 officers in order to help give insight into how the characters operate in the spy world and how their personal lives would be affected by it. The character Maisie Simm (Heather Cave), Ellie's daughter, was created because Featherstone believed that "children are the best spies of all"; Maisie is often seen "spying" on Tom throughout the episode and first series. Megan Dodds guest starred as Christine Dale; the producers were sufficiently impressed with her performance that she would later return as Dale in the second series.