FILMING began last month on series 10 of Spooks, due on screen this autumn.
It’s now been confirmed that Sophia Myles has left the BBC1 drama after just one series as Beth Bailey.
While an old secret comes back to haunt Harry Pearce, played by Peter Firth.
Will this be the last series of Spooks?
I asked BBC Drama boss Ben Stephenson that very question a few weeks ago.
But his lips were sealed.
The new 2011 series will consist of six episodes, compared to eight last year.
(April 19 update: I have now been on set again during filming of Spooks 10 to interview Peter Firth, Nicola Walker and other members of the cast. As usual, all the material is embargoed until TX in autumn of this year)
Here’s the Kudos production release:
The headlines:
A Decade Of Spooks
And The Spies Face Their Biggest Challenge Yet.
After 10 Years Has Top Spy Harry Pearce Finally Made One Enemy Too Many?
Laura Pulver, Jonathan Hyde, Geoffrey Streatfeild and Alice Krige also join the hit spy drama.
London, 1 April 2011: Celebrating its landmark tenth series, Kudos Film and Television’s critically-acclaimed hit spy drama, Spooks, is back in production and will return to BBC One later this year.
Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) has spent 10 years walking the corridors of Thames House and dodging threats, but as Spooks celebrates a decade on our screens, the future of the MI5 chief is in jeopardy. A huge secret, hidden deep in his past emerges, threatening to destroy him and those close to him. Will Ruth Evershed (Nicola Walker), the woman he loves, stand by him, or is this the end for Harry? And, more importantly, can Section D survive without its leader?
As tensions rise in the Middle East and the UK’s special relationship with America falters, Britain is forced to befriend the new heavyweights on the global scene, none more so than Russia, forcing Harry to revisit old relationships made during the Cold War. Is it time for him to confront his demons and head back into the cold? Will he be able to return? Nothing can be taken for granted in this shocking and gripping drama that has consistently remained at the top of its game for a decade; a feat rarely achieved by a British drama series.
Simon Crawford Collins, Executive Producer Kudos Film and Television, said: “The heart of the show for the last 10 years has been Harry Pearce and his increasingly thwarted relationship with the wonderful Ruth. In Harry and Ruth, Peter and Nicola have created two of the most subtle and engaging characters in TV drama today and this series will take them both on a very unexpected journey. We hope it will be unmissable television.”
In keeping with the secrecy you would expect around Spooks, producers are keeping tight-lipped about storylines, but they have revealed a host of new characters joining the spy drama. While the team has been left reeling from Lucas North’s betrayal, and with Beth Bailey decommissioned, Section D has a new leader. Erin Watts, played by Lara Pulver (True Blood, Robin Hood) is ambitious, hungry and determined to make her mark.
A new IT supremo, Calum Reed, played by Geoffrey Streatfeild (Ashes to Ashes, Above Suspicion: Deadly Intent), also joins Dimitri (Max Brown), Tariq (Shazad Latif) and Ruth on The Grid and the maverick proves more than a match for Tariq when it comes to computer wizardry.
The new series of the high-octane drama also welcomes Alice Krige (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Deadwood) and acting stalwart Jonathan Hyde (Titanic, Jumanji , The Mummy) to the cast. In addition, Simon Russell Beale (Much Ado About Nothing, An Ideal Husband) reprises his role as the Home Secretary.
Christopher Aird, BBC, said: “Spooks is consistently one of the most intelligent, entertaining and action packed shows on television. It is testament to the huge talent of the creative team over the years that the 10th series is in production. We are very excited; the 10th series of Spooks will deliver everything its devoted fans expect and much they do not!”
Spooks is a Kudos Film and Television production for BBC One filming in London until mid June 2011. It was commissioned by Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC One and Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning. Spooks is produced by Chris Fry and executive produced by Simon Crawford Collins, Jane Featherstone and Howard Burch for Kudos Film and Television. Acting for the BBC are Sarah Brandist and Christopher Aird.
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