Spooks (TV series)
Spooks (known as MI-5 in some countries) is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 to 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid. It is notable for various stylistic touches, and its use of popular guest actors. In the United States, the show is broadcast under the title "MI-5". In Canada, the programme originally aired as "MI5" but now airs on BBC Canada as "Spooks".
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.