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)
The first series received generally favourable reviews. Joe Joseph of "The Times" stated that it "bears a closer resemblance [to] "24"," which "shaded the pleasure of this opening episode", but felt that by the end of the episode, "Spooks" had "established a voice of its own." Gerard O'Donovan of "The Telegraph" thought that the series "proved thoroughly entertaining", and praised Wolstencroft's writing, which O'Donovan felt was "confident enough to be playful with its subject – especially regarding Britain's poor-relation relationship with America." Alison Graham of the "Radio Times" called the first series "a tremendous pieces of hokum, which is only slightly po-faced (but in a knowing kind of way) and which manages to stay just on the right side of self-parody." Thomas Sudcliff of "The Independent" felt it was a "different kind of spy drama" with "a literal description, derived from the sort of rueful story you could imagine being told at an MI5 staff social", and "a lot of bullshit too, naturally. This is one of those dramas where colleagues never make small talk but instead launch straight into an urgent purposive shorthand."