Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: Who created the TV show Spooks?
The programme was created by writer David Wolstencroft, and produced by Kudos for the BBC. A trademark style, coupled with the series' popularity, attracted a large number of high-profile guest stars. These included Martine McCutcheon, Hugh Laurie, Haluk Bilginer, Robert Hardy, Tim McInnerny, Bruce Payne, Reece Dinsdale, Ian McDiarmid, Ewen Bremner, Jimi Mistry, Andy Serkis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin McNally, Rupert Graves, Andrew Tiernan, Anton Lesser, Anupam Kher, Alexander Siddig, and Anthony Head.
In the TV show "Spooks", her character Helen Flynn suffered a particularly gruesome fate. In only the second episode of the first series, Faulkner's character had her hand and face burnt in a deep fat fryer before being shot in the head at point-blank range, setting a precedent for later deaths in "Spooks". In 2004, she starred on ITV as D.S. Emma Scribbins ("Scribbs") in "Murder in Suburbia", wherein she played a CID policewoman in company with Caroline Catz, who played her gaffer, D.I. Ashurst. The show returned for a second series in 2005, with Scribbs adopting the then popular fashion style of "boho-chic". In 2006, she starred in the TV series "New Street Law".
The series is a popular export, syndicated to more than 26 countries. However, it has struggled for popularity in some areas, notably the United States; two of the three channels to have broadcast Spooks in the US pulled the show during the fourth series due to low viewing figures. Due to the racist connotations of the term Spooks in some territories, international broadcasts are often renamed.
The main recurring characters in the TV series "Spooks" include (principals shown in bold):
Spooks: The Greater Good is a 2015 British spy film, continuing from the British spy series "Spooks" (known as MI-5 in some countries), which aired on BBC One from 2002 to 2011. Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent wrote the script, with Bharat Nalluri directing. Peter Firth reprises his role as Harry Pearce, who appeared in all ten series of the programme. Also returning from the TV series are Tim McInnerny as Oliver Mace, Lara Pulver as Erin Watts, Hugh Simon as Malcolm Wynn-Jones, and Geoffrey Streatfeild as Calum Reed. Kit Harington and Jennifer Ehle star as new characters in leading roles.
The second episode included the death of a main character. The idea was originally going to be used in the series finale. However, the producers did not know how to fill in episode two, so the death was moved up. According to Wolstencroft, the inclusion of Helen's death was to give the audience the message that "the world of Spooks isn't the world where the cavalry always arrive, because in reality these people [MI5] do risk their lives on our behalf and they do get into sticky situations with genuinely nasty people." The producers also wanted main characters to die on occasion rather than on a weekly or bi-weekly basis; otherwise it would show MI5 officers as not doing their jobs properly.[23] Although Spooks is a serious show, the writers add occasional humour from the characters. According to Wolstencroft, he felt that anybody who works in such an occupation with high responsibilities tends to have humour around, and that those people make jokes even though they have seen "heinous things". This became the basis for creating Jools Siviter.[13]
Sangster, Jim: Spooks Confidential: The Official Handbook (2003), Contender Books (London) ISBN1-84357-069-6 Episode guide of the first two seasons, and background information on MI5 and the making of the series Spooks: The Personnel Files (2007), Headling Publishing Group (London) ISBN978-0-7553-3397-4 Detailed MI5 personnel files of eight of the show's main characters: Adam Carter, Danny Hunter, Zoe Reynolds, Tom Quinn, Ruth Evershed, Harry Pearce, Zafar Younis and Malcolm Wynn-Jones, presented through a compilation of transcripts, reports and forms. Spooks: Behind the Scenes (2006), Orion Books (London) ISBN0-7528-7610-4 Background information on British intelligence and episode guides for the first four series Spooks: Harry's Diary: Top Secret (2007), Headling Publishing Group (London) ISBN978-0-7553-3398-1 The untold stories of Spooks, and MI5, as seen from the perspective of Harry Pearce, the Spooks team leader Adam Carter: Revealed (2008), Headling Publishing Group (London) ISBN978-0-7553-3401-8 Revealing the truth about Adam Carter after his death, explaining the true details of his childhood, the extraordinary responsibilities he took on as a teenager, and how he nearly betrayed his country but never betrayed the people he loved.
Samantha (Melissa George) is an espionage operative for "Byzantium", a private intelligence agency. She survives an attempt on her life, which she strongly suspects was orchestrated by members of the company she works for. After recovering and returning to active duty, she goes back to work undercover as a nanny, not knowing who tried to kill her or whom to trust. It becomes evident that the attempt on her life is tied into a horrific event from her childhood.The series was created by Frank Spotnitz (best known as executive producer and head writer for "The X-Files"), who will write the majority of the episodes of series 1. Spotnitz is executive producing with Kudos’ Stephen Garrett (executive producer of "", "Spooks/MI5"), Jane Featherstone (producer behind "Spooks/MI5", "The Hour", "Life on Mars"), Alison Jackson ("Ashes to Ashes", "Eternal Law"), and BBC's Christopher Aird ("Spooks", "The Inspector Lynley Mysteries").
Film critics agree that "The Spook Who Sat By the Door" is a significant movie in that it presents a highly politically charged vision of black people, and according to "PopMatters" the film "remains one of the few uncompromised representations of black armed resistance in the United States." In a 2004 review for "Philadelphia City Paper", Sam Adams recognizes the importance of "Spook"’s questioning of politics and race in America, despite some other technical weaknesses. Adams writes: "the movie's sly polemicism has arguably aged better than the revolutionary rhetoric that inspired it", and notes that the conflict within "Spook" in its use of stereotypical imagery along with its revolutionary political message: "Hailed as a landmark and denounced as racist, 'The Spook Who Sat by the Door' is, at the very least, still worth arguing over."
Nancy Spook - Played by Nigel Plaskitt - Nancy is an Irish spook who lives in the launderette, who often babysits for Baby Spook whilst Sally is at nightschool.
She has also appeared in "Casualty" and "Spooks", where she was Nurse Jenny in episode 7, as well as playing Roxanne Duley in a 1997 TV show called "So-Called Friends".
Los Bochincheros was a popular children's program created in Chile that ran from 1976 to 1983. It premiered on the Chilevisión TV channel. It was hosted by Tío Memo and Tía Pucherito, a young
couple, who after a few years living in Uruguay, returned to Chile and created the TV show. "Los Bochincheros" was one of the most widely viewed TV shows in Chile and El Salvador during the 1980s.
Sid & Marty Krofft belong to the fifth generation of a family of puppeteers who had been successfully putting on puppet shows around the country, including "Le Puppet de Paris", an adult puppet show. They had created the puppets for Hanna-Barbera's children's TV show "The Banana Splits". In 1968 the NBC TV network asked them to create a Saturday morning TV show, and after a year of development the "H.R. Pufnstuf" program was launched in September 1969. The program includes various puppet characters and a boy named Jimmy who live in fantasy land called "Living Island". The island has walking trees and books that talk. The show was very successful and generated various spin-off products such as toys, games, comic books, lunch boxes and Kellogg's cereal commercials.
Hustle was largely born from the same production team that created and popularised the early series of Spooks, a similarly-styled drama series first broadcast in 2002.[5] Bharat Nalluri, that series' Executive Director, conceived the idea in early 2002 while filming for the first Spooks series was ongoing.[6] Nalluri pitched the concept to Jane Featherstone, managing director of Kudos Film & Television which was the production company behind Spooks, in the back of a taxi while returning from a day's filming.[6][7] Intrigued by the idea, Featherstone recruited Tony Jordan, the lead scriptwriter of the soap opera EastEnders,[8] to develop it into a workable proposal.[9]
Following the success of Torchwood (the BBC Three Doctor Who spin-off series) the controller of BBC Three, Julian Bellamy, announced in December 2006 a Spooks spin-off entitled Spooks: Code 9 (working titles: Rogue Spooks and Spooks: Liberty).[57][58] The show started filming in Bradford in 2008 and the first[59] and second episodes were broadcast on 10 August 2008. It was not well received by critics, who said "the script is poor and the acting little better" (The Sunday Times)[60] and the production "utterly uninspired and stale" (Digital Spy),[61] "daft and unconvincing" (The Telegraph),[62] "an utterly cynical venture" that "given its patronising awfulness ... actually damages the Spooks brand" (The Guardian).[63]
Spooks returned for a ninth series on Monday 20 September 2010 for an eight-episode run.[24]
A new website called "Spooks Interactive" was created to coincide with the launch of the series.[16] In April 2008, the Spooks production team won the BAFTA Award for Interactivity for their work on Spooks Interactive.[19]
Critical reactions towards the series were polarised between positive and negative. Among the positive reviews, Peter Sharples of CultBox rated the series five out of five stars, commending the series for looking "more cinematic than in previous years," adding "any reduction in budget certainly doesn't show, with the action scenes as impressive as ever." Sharples was also appreciative of the "pretty strong" new cast, including Pulver for "making a big impression as a tough action girl juggling responsibilities as section head with those of a single parent," and Streatfeild for being "amusingly cocky and insubordinate." Sharples also commented that "ultimately Series 10 belongs to Peter Firth and Nicola Walker (more so than ever in the final, heartrending moments), confirming that it is they who held Spooks together and, pushed even more to the fore, elevate the series to a new level." Sam Wollaston of "The Guardian's" review was mostly a response to John le Carré who branded "Spooks" as "crap" for its lack of a true representation to MI5; "Lighten up J le C, no one thinks it is actually like that, it's just a bit of fun. And it is fun, exciting too. Plus it deals with important social issues. Look at new section chief Erin Watts, unattached, with a young child. You can be a great spy and a great mum. "Spooks" sends out positive messages about work and single-parenting; you don't get that in "Tinker Tailor" ... OK, it is crap, but good crap." Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy listed the final series of "Spooks" as "Best of the Rest" for 2011, television shows that failed to make the website's top 25 television series. Jeffery however, gave the series a favourable review, stating that although the show "waxed and waned over the years," the tenth series "saw "Spooks" back on top form," adding "the final run unfolded with a great deal of pace, excitement and emotion."
The sitcom "15 Storeys High" used the estate as a backdrop for the exterior locations. It has also been featured in the TV shows Spooks, Silent Witness and The Bill.
They also felt that writing the final episodes of a popular programme was "an exciting responsibility, a daunting honour." They also did not want to end it on a cliffhanger, as doing so wouldn't be right or fair to the fans. The writers also concluded the Ruth/Harry arc in the series. They were concerned that there were fans of the show "who will be immensely cheesed off if they get anything less than Ruth riding in on a unicorn to marry Harry in a white suit," but noted there were "plenty of viewers who love the uncompromising toughness of Spooks. And both viewpoints were always well represented around the table." When it came to writing the final scenes, both writers went through "countless" ideas, some of which were pondered for weeks before making their final decision. In an interview, both writers admitted that the finale "can't please everyone," but that they tried to create an ending that was faithful to the spirit of "Spooks". When filming concluded, cast and crew members were "bagsying" items from the Grid set, including a large "Regnum Defende" insignia.
Spook Squad is a British children's television gameshow created by BBC Scotland. It ran on CBBC's section BBC1 and BBC2 from 6 January 2004, to 30 March 2004. The gameshow featured three children contestants entering a haunted castle in Scotland to assist Professor MacAbre in hunting ghosts before they reach their "death day" and gain superpowers. The show was filmed in Fyvie Castle.
5. "Spook City" - In the Forbidden Forest, Bastian meets a scared little spook named Gaya, who tells Bastian about her brother Meeka's capture into Spook City.
Other spooks include Bed Bug Willy Spook (Ian Allen) and the School Master (Nigel Plaskitt) spook who led the night school that many of the younger ghosts attended. Captain Patch, (Nigel Plaskitt) one of the many spooks who haunted the galleon moored in the harbour, was called upon by Sally and Fred in order to stop Sybil from stealing the Duchess of Dingledale's (Steve Nallon) diamonds.
The Spooks of Bottle Bay is a children's drama series shown between the years of 1993 and 1995 on CITV. The stories behind the show were created by Ian Allen, and the puppets and sets were designed by John Thirtle. Three videos containing a few episodes from the first two series were released in the 1990s, but nothing has been released since then and the show has never been repeated on television. The series was directed by Paul Cole.
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.