I'm very sad for the end of Spooks. I've seen every single episode in all the series, some of them on Italian satellite pay-tv and the rest on DVD.Due to my fondness for Brit actor Richard Armitage, you can imagine how incredibly happy I was when, in 2007, he joined the cast as Lucas North. The last three series (7/8/9) have been my favorite so far, with the unforgettable first one starring Matthew MacFadyen as Tom Quinn.Now after a decade of killing off its cast members one by one, Spooks is being killed off itself.
However, strange enough for a successful TV show, it was Spooks producer Kudos rather than the broadcaster that decided to end the popular series "in its prime" with the last 6 episodes airing in the next 6 Sundays.
The 10th and final series will focus on the only survivor lead character, the head of section D, Harry Pearce, played by Peter Firth. Numerous stars have appeared in Spooks since it began in 2002 including Keeley Hawes, Matthew Macfadyen, Jenny Agutter, Robert Hardy, Hugh Laurie, Simon Russell Beale, Rupert Penry-Jones and Hermione Norris and the already mentioned Richard Armitage.
Spooks though armed with guns, great actors and a faithful fanbase will have a hard time duelling with lovely period drama Downton Abbey. The first series was extraordinarily successful. What now? Who will win the match?
Series Two explodes on to the screen with the full horror and carnage of life in the trenches of the Somme in 1916.The Earl is desperate to get into uniform and play his useful part in the war effort. Lady Cora must adjust to her three headstrong daughters, Mary, Edith and Sybil, becoming fiercely independently-minded young women. And there are any number of affairs of the heart yet to be resolved.Downton has been turned into a convalescent home for wounded soldiers, with the daughters helping out by becoming drivers and nurses. Real amputees were hired as extras. The family’s genteel pace of life has been turned into turmoil. Observes the Earl: ‘War is now reaching its long fingers into Downton, scattering our chicks.’As the war draws to a close in 1918, Downton — and the rest of the world — faces up to another catastrophe: a Spanish flu pandemic claims 50 million lives.From a more practical viewpoint, explains producer Liz Trubridge: ‘It’s exciting taking characters who did nothing for themselves before the war — they didn’t even plump a cushion or dress themselves — and plunging them into an unfamiliar situation’.
After the 90-minute opening episode, there will be six more of 75 minutes each and a 90-minute finale, followed at Christmas by a two-hour special set on New Year’s Eve 1919. A third series is also being discussed, set in the Twenties.
Since I love both series I want to wish good luck to both opponents in this Sunday night match. Sooner or later I'll be able to watch them both and tell you who my winner is. Meanwhile, what will you living in the UK choose be seeing on Sunday night ? What would you living in other countries (like me!) choose if you lived in the UK?