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.
Spooks (series 1)
Kudos began to develop the show after producing the Channel 4 medical drama series "Psychos" in 1999. Kudos wished to explore series ideas that saw beyond typical "precinct-based dramas" (crime and medical). Stephen Garrett decided on developing a spy drama after coming across John le Carré novels at a Waterstone's bookstore, and came to realise that MI5 or MI6 had not been featured as the setting for shows before. He felt the benefit of a spy show is that rather than in a crime drama where the protagonists take their work home with them, spies are given the added dimension that they cannot reveal their work even to their loved ones. In the meantime, Wolstencroft, who wrote "Psychos", was also developing a spy drama, albeit as a film. When Kudos contacted him, they agreed they should work together to create a television series based on his idea, which was not to glamourise the world of spies, instead showing the audience that spies work in a "shitty job". Kudos later pitched the show to all the major British television networks; however none of them were as enthusiastic as Kudos, as they did not see the potential of a post-Cold War spy series. After the commissioning teams from the networks were replaced, Kudos again pitched the show, albeit reinvented, and as a result Lorraine Heggessey, controller of BBC One, commissioned the show after planning to introduce "braver", "dynamic" and "pacier" shows to attract a younger audience for the channel.