Spooks (series 8)

Spooks series 8
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 8
Release
Original network BBC One
BBC Three
Original release 4 November (2009-11-04) – 23 December 2009 (2009-12-23)
Season chronology

The eighth series of the BBC espionage television series Spooks began broadcasting on 4 November 2009 before ending on 23 December 2009. The series consists of eight episodes.

Cast

Main

Guests

Episodes

No.
overall		No. in
series		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUK viewers
(millions) [1]
651"Episode 1"Alrick RileyStory by: Zinnie Harris & Ben Richards
Teleplay by: Ben Richards		4 November 2009 (2009-11-04) (BBC One)6.55
Harry, who has been kidnapped by Viktor Sarkisiian and the (ex-)FSB agents who worked under him, is sold to a group of Indian intelligence officers disguised as a terror group, the Sacred Army of Righteous Vengeance. The terror group murders Sarkisiian and his men, then release fake footage of Harry's execution. Section D uncovers the deception and resolves to find Harry. Group leader Amish Mani (Ace Bhatti), a former Indian intelligence officer, is keeping Harry alive in order to get him to divulge the location of a uranium shipment Harry stopped before the CIA and MI-6 planted it in Iraq to justify the war. The group also targets Ruth Evershed, who lives in Cyprus with her husband and stepson; she is the only other person besides Harry to know the location of the uranium. After returning to London, she and her family are kidnapped from an MI-5 safehouse by conspirators. The conspirators murder Ruth's husband in order to get her to talk. Lucas and Ros track an MI-6 agent, Stephen Hillier, and the retiring CIA liaison officer, Libby McCall, who were part of the uranium planting scheme. Hillier is assassinated by McCall before Hillier can tell Ros the location of Harry. Lucas persuades Sarah Caulfield, McCall's successor at the London CIA station, to plant a tracker on McCall. The MI-5 team tracks McCall to the warehouse at which Mani is holding Harry and Ruth. Lucas kills the leader. Malcolm succeeds in saving Ruth's stepson. Harry returns to the Grid. Malcolm retires.
662"Episode 2"Alrick RileyStory by: Zinnie Harris & Ben Richards
Teleplay by: Ben Richards		6 November 2009 (2009-11-06) (BBC Three)[n 1]5.11
When a gas processing plant explodes, the UK allies itself with Tazbekstan to buy their gas at reasonable prices. Sarah Caulfield, the CIA liaison officer, tells Lucas that the U.S. and Russian governments are opposed to the deal. However, with gas supplies dwindling, Rustam Urazov (Jonny Phillips), the Tazbek minister in charge of negotiation, is stalling. The minister orders the assassination of Matthew Plowden, a British journalist who is critical of Tazbek human rights violations. MI-5 arrives too late at the coffee shop where Plowden likes to write to save him. The minister also orders a hit on Bibi Saparova (Julia Krynke), a Tazbek human rights activist whose sister was raped, tortured, and murdered by Urazov. Malcolm's replacement, Tariq Masood (Shazad Latif), develops sophisticated eavesdropping equipment hidden in a book of matches Lucas carries to the strip club at which the Tazbeks congregate to discuss plans. Jo tries to get Ruth to talk to Harry; she thinks this will help Harry to manage the pressures that are affecting him. Tariq figures out Urazov is planning to strike against his own country in order to become Prime Minister. Jo recruits Saparova to kill Urazov. Although she succeeds, the Russians have recorded the actions and use the photographs to disrupt the negotiations. The Russians, however, are willing to sell the UK the gas at the same price in exchange for intelligence to be used against Tazbekstan. A romance between Lucas and Sarah Caulfield shows signs of developing. In the end, Blake, the Home Secretary, informs Harry of a top secret meeting that took place in Basel, Switzerland regarding a new world order, codenamed "Nightingale".
673"Episode 3"Sam MillerChristian Spurrier & Sean Reilly13 November 2009 (2009-11-13) (BBC Three)5.26
Ros is undercover at a secret meeting of a Bilderberg Group-like set of businessmen, armed terrorists seize the meeting, which is taking place at Russian billionaire Leon Gevitsky's (Rod Culbertson) London mansion. Harry gets the Home Secretary to make Ruth's legal troubles go away, and has her rejoin MI-5. The terrorists take the hostages to an underground bunker to prevent MI-5 from releasing them. The terrorists put the businessmen on "trial" for their abuses of power, and stream the trials over the Internet. They also release classified CIA documents showing embarrassing agreements between the businessmen and the U.S. government. Internet viewers who observe the first trial vote on the businessman's guilt. He is convicted. The leader of the terrorists executes the businessman, shooting him in the head. The Home Secretary is pressured by representatives of the CIA to end the siege or the U.S. (or the Russians or Chinese) will bomb the site of the siege to avoid additional damaging revelations. Harry does not want a siege because everyone held hostage will die, including Ros. The Home Secretary overrules Harry. Tracing Internet connections and documents, Tariq and Ruth link the terrorists to a corrupt lawyer who works for Vadim Robinov (Owen McDonnell), a Russian billionaire who is a business rival of Leon Gevitsky; Gevitsky is one of the captured businessmen. Robinov is underwriting the anti-capitalist terror group for the purpose of advancing his business interests in Russia. Lucas visits Robinov's home, and forces Robinov to call the leader of the terror cell to end the siege but the leader rejects Robinov's plea. Ros, who has been working on Nina Gevitsky (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), a young, unstable member of the terror group and the niece of Leon, to reactivate the lift that the terror group had stopped. Harry orders Jo to attempt to stop the incident from going any further. She uses the lift to descend, unarmed, into the bunker, prepared to negotiate an end to the siege. The action gets out of control. She must hold the leader before he can detonate C4 while Ros, using the gun wrestled from the niece, can take a shot. However, because Jo is right behind the leader, the bullet passes through him, and into her, killing them both.
684"Episode 4"Sam MillerDavid Farr20 November 2009 (2009-11-20) (BBC Three)5.18
Lucas's interrogator/torturer, Darshavin (Emil Hostina), escapes from a British immigration centre and demands to speak with Lucas regarding an attack planned by Sudanese terrorists with the complicity of the FSB. They meet at a location in the Thames estuary, and Darshavin informs Lucas about the attack without giving away much detail. Darshavin demands a British passport under an assumed name and $1 million in unmarked bills in exchange for information on the exact location and the plotters. Harry displays doubts, believing Lucas developed Stockholm Syndrome from his capture. Samuel Walker (Brian Protheroe), Sarah Caulfield's (Genevieve O'Reilly) CIA boss, orders her to continue her affair with Lucas in order to continue to try to get information from the MI-5 operative. Lucas goes off-track to get the target, meeting with Darshavin again, this time at Lucas's flat, but fails to get more information when Lucas's paramour Sarah interrupts. After Darshavin leaves, he hides in Sarah's car, and abducts her as she phones Walker to convey what she knows from Lucas. Tariq and Ruth discover the location of the bombs from an asset who fled his home base out of fear but left a clue on the Web. Harry learns that Darshavin let a Sudanese terrorist go when interrogating the terrorist back in Russia, only to join the terrorist plot and escape Russia. Ros track one of the terrorists to an apartment over a bar but the terrorist is killed by his own men, who then escape. Lucas negotiates with Darshavin and extracts the trigger code from him—for Darshavin wants the money and the new identity more than anything else--, relaying the information to Ros who disarms the explosives on site. In the end, Darshavin, sitting in a car with Lucas waiting for agents to show up, tells Lucas that there was recently a secret meeting in Basel attended by rogue Western intelligence agents and agents from China. A car shows up; it is the FSB—not MI-5—to haul Darshavin back to Russia. Sarah reveals herself to be part of "Nightingale", by throwing Walker over a railing to his death 100s of feet below.
695"Episode 5"Alrick RileyRichard McBrien27 November 2009 (2009-11-27) (BBC Three)4.39
Walker's death is suspected of being a suicide. Harry, however, is sceptical because of two factors: Walker had set up a meeting with Harry hours before the "suicide" and Michael Braydon (Wade McElwain), a second CIA officer, unexpectedly dies. Eventually, it is revealed Ros's mentor, Jack Colville (Stephen Boxer), is responsible for the death of the second officer and is suspected of killing Walker. In the guise of giving Ros a memoir to read, Colville plants a bug in the manuscript's binder, and becomes able to access MI-5 records. With the help of the bug, he identifies his next target, former MI-6 agent Roger Maynard (Andrew Havill). Caulfield exploits the presence of Colville to cover up her own acts of treason and murder. After Ros and Lucas fail to save Colville's next target, they realise that two of the targets, Braydon and Maynard, are connected to a Balkans operation that led to the death of Colville's girlfriend. Tariq creates a mirror of the MI-5 database, allowing Ros to fool Colville into thinking she sanctioned the girlfriend's death. After a showdown between the two, he kills himself realising it is the system, not the officers, at fault. In the end, Lucas discovers that Sarah murdered Walker.
706"Episode 6"Edward HallDennis Kelly4 December 2009 (2009-12-04) (BBC Three)5.11
In a safe house, MI-5 officers are questioning Ryan Baisley (Ewen Bremner) about Dewitts Bank, a corrupt financial institution whose depositors include corrupt government officials and other corrupt individuals (including money for the Basel conspirators). Baisley once worked at the bank. Baisley is outside the safe house grabbing a smoke when a team of assassins invades the house, killing the MI-5 officers there. Baisley, however, escapes. Baisley thinks he can make a deal with the bank but unknown to him, the assassins, who were hired by the bank, have already murdered his wife and young son. Ros is in pursuit of Baisley to bring him back to Thames House. The Home Secretary, Nicholas Blake, informs Harry that the government is running out of money, and must seize accounts at Dewitts in order to make an interest payment, otherwise the economy is in jeopardy of collapsng. Lucas, posing as a Russian oligarch, pays a visit to Irvin Perrot (Richard Durdon), the bank's president. Using a ploy to get Perrot out of the room, Lucas plants a bug in Perrot's highly secure computer; the bug will give Tariq access to considerable information about the accounts in the bank. While Ros pursues Baisley, Ruth and Harry question her mental state after the loss of Jo. She finds Baisley at one address, and attempts to bring him in; however, two assassins interfere. In the cross-fire, Baisley escapes. Ros seizes Perrot, and hangs on a noose to get him to disclose the location where the assassins, who are ex-intelligence agents and adept at surveillance, have learned where Baisley is headed. She finds the elusive man at Liverpool Street Station attempting to flee. Two assassins make another attempt on his life. Ros and paramilitary units from MI-5 protect him. As he is about to enter an MI-5 car, he learns from a radio broadcast that his wife and child were murdered. He is brought to a Q-and-A room at Thames House, where he reluctantly gives up the corrupt accounts. Meanwhile, in her apartment Lucas confronts Sarah about her involvement in Basel. He looks out the window, and observes that one of the assassins is walking toward the apartment. He surprises the assassin and takes him prisoner for questioning at Thames House; Sarah, however, kills the assassin. Sarah disarms Lucas, makes him kneel, and holds a gun to his head. She tells him that she must kill him or be killed by the Nightingale organisation. Instead of killing him, she escapes before explaining anything. After money is transferred to the Treasury, Blake is forced to resign on account of set-up evidence that comes to light, evidence that identifies him as having $4 million in Dewitts, an amount not commensurate with his lifetime earnings. Tariq discovers that the money involved in Basel and deposited in Dewitts has disappeared to Pakistan.
717"Episode 7"Edward HallJames Dormer11 December 2009 (2009-12-11) (BBC Three)3.99[2][n 2]
After a Pakistani intelligence officer is murdered, Harry and Ros learn from the chief (Imran Mirza) of Pakistani intelligence (ISI) in the UK about a radical Hindu group preparing to attack Muslims in London. Harry tells the chief that the matter is now MI-5's job, and has the chief identify the ISI asset that infiltrated the Hindu terror cell. It is Ashok Veerkal (Ashley Kumar), a 17-year-old ethnically Indian Muslim with a Hindu name; he befriended members of the group at football (soccer) training. Lucas appoints the lad for help. Harry and Ros pay a visit to the newly appointed Home Secretary Andrew Lawrance(Tobias Menzies); Harry reports the existence of the terror cell but withholds much information in view of the fact the Home Secretary is new and could be somehow linked to Nightingale—there are few people Harry trusts. The cell's leader, Harish Dhillon (Paul Sharma), has a sister who is comatose as the result of a Muslim-initiated attack. He is planning a revenge assault on a Mosque. In a search of the vanished Sarah Caulfield's apartment, Lucas finds a flash drive that Tariq partially deciphers, learning that the cell's handler, Victor Chatterjee (Sagar Arya), is running Dhillon as well as a Muslim cell planning to attack Hindus. The intention is to pit both groups against each other, and create chaos. Given the provenance of the information, Chatterjee is likely to be a Nightingale operative. Just as the plan is about to go into effect, Chatterjee calls Dhillon to order him to change the target from the mosque to a girls school, interfering with Lucas's pursuit. With MI-5 having traced Chatterjee's calls, Ros locates him in an empty garage, and under threat of sending him to jail in Pakistan (with the prospect of torture) extracts information on the attack locations. CO-19 officers (Metropolitan Police Service Specialist Firearm Command) stops the Muslim cell. The Home Secretary, wanting to avoid a bloodbath involving Muslim girls on British soil, orders MI-5 not to interfere with the hostage situation that has developed in the girls school, preferring to negotiate a solution. Lucas disregards the Home Secretary's order. Dhillon pours gasoline on the floor of the room in which the hostages are being held, but Lucas penetrates the school, killing a cell member standing guard of a hallway. He enters the room, and stops Dhillon. In the end, Section D learns that Nightingale is planning to provoke India and Pakistan into war.
728"Episode 8"Alrick RileyBen Richards23 December 2009 (2009-12-23) (BBC One)5.91
Pakistan seizes an Indian submarine, raising tensions in the region. Home Secretary Andrew Lawrence arranges for a meeting in London between President Mudasser (Nicholas Khan) of Pakistan and the president of India. Because of the risk of a nuclear exchange, the British prime Minister and the American secretary of state will meet at Chequers to keep a watchful eye on the situation and intervene when necessary. Section D has a week to stop the potential nuclear war because of an ultimatum given by India. Section D is also investigating Nightingale's link to the turn of events. Unclear as to why Nightingale orchestrated Home Secretary Blake's departure, Harry tests the new Home Secretary by having Ros give him a flash drive that will pass to President Mudasser; if it is given to a Nightingale operative, Tariq will be able to trace its forwarding. Lucas breaks into the home of billionaire Nightingale money man to plant a bug but is intercepted by Sarah, whom Russell Price (Mark Aiken), the head of CIA in Europe and Nightingale conspirator, ordered Sarah to kill. Sarah offers Lucas a deal to escape to another country where they can reunite but Ros enters the house. There is a fray, and Sarah escapes. A Chinese diplomat (Roger Yuan) who is in the pragmatist camp meets with Ruth in a park to give her information on the disagreement between his camp and the Chinese hardliners regarding the question of an India-Pakistan nuclear war. He is assassinated at the meeting. Eventually, Tariq traces Sarah's whereabouts; she is brought in after Ros shoots her in the leg; she brought to a hospital and put under guard. In response to Lucas's questioning she explains that the nuclear exchange Nightingale is precipitating is like a forest fire, altering the landscape so seeds can grow. It will eliminate Al Qaeda and the Taliban from Pakistan, which will be reduced to ashes; India will still exist but in a greatly weakened state. A Nightingale agent kills her guard, and assassinates her. After a brutal fight, Lucas and Ros capture the agent alive. Tariq puts a trace on the agent's phone, who must, as instructed, call in the kill. Section D learns that Price is the lead Nightingale operative. To further ensure that the war will happen, Price and his Nightingale underlings kill an Indian officer, and plant a bomb in her room in the hotel President Mudasser and the Home Secretary are meeting. When Ros and Lucas find the two, they discover that Nightingale paralysed them. Lucas evacuates the President, who later recovers and orders the release of the submarine. However, Ros fails to evacuate Lawrence in time, and the hotel blows up.

Notes

  1. ↑ "Series 8, Episode 2" onward would air from 11 November 2009 onwards on BBC One
  2. ↑ The episode did not appear in the top 30 viewings on the BARB website, only overnight ratings data would be available

References

  1. ↑ "Weekly Top 30 Programmes (See weeks ending Nov 8 to 27 Dec 2009)". BARB.co.uk. Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  2. ↑ French, Dan (17 December 2009). "2.9m see Tennant's 'Buzzcocks' special". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
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