Spooks – 02 Oct 2006

The first recording today opens with a trailer for Lead Balloon, and for David Dickinson on Who Do You Think You Are?

Then, the next episode of Spooks. In a change of pace, the MI5 team are working for the Foreign Secretary to try to pass an international trade deal that would benefit Africa, but which the Americans and French have no intention of signing.

Malcolm is in his element with a system called Diaspora that can track everyone in the building via their pagers and phones.

It’s a bit racist that Ros is posing as the summit organiser, Adam is an advisor to the Foreign Secretary, and Zaf is one of the hotel staff.

Harry and Adam discuss news about Ros’ father, one of the conspirators in the opening two-parter. Harry’s appeal for clemency has been turned down, and he’s going to get 20 years. Harry tells Adam not to tell Ros as it will affect her work.

The French delegate is ambushed by a minibus full of young black schoolchildren thanking him for making things better in Africa, in an effort to persuade him to sign the agreement. These are dirty tricks MI5 are playing.

The American delegate meets with the Japanese delegate. They’re discussing an arms deal, but the American delegate asks the Japanese delegate to walk out of the summit tomorrow do the deal won’t be signed.

Ruth is at the hotel too, and there’s various awkward meetings with Harry after she’d told him last week they couldn’t have a relationship.

The team need to find out what’s on the American delegate’s laptop. So Ros, who has already established that she’s a fan of his favourite hockey team, brings along a DVD of one of their famous matches. It won’t work on the DVD player – “Maybe the American DVD isn’t compatible with the British machine.” But the delegate, Traynor Styles, has a US laptop, so they play it on that. He’s played by Colin Stinson, an American actor who, I suspect, lives in the UK, as he turns up in loads of things, including as the skeptic in Ghostwatch.

The DVD is, of course, a trojan horse, installing a program called “Spy-Da” which can download everything off the laptop when it connects to the internet. From this, they learn that Styles is selling arms, through intermediaries, to countries on the border of America’s enemies. Perhaps this information might be enough to force the Americans to sign the treaty.

It’s all looking good for the treaty, until they get intelligence that an assassination attempt might be underway on the most prominent African leader there, Gabriel Sekoa (George Harris). He’s the president of West Monrassa, a fictional country much beloved of spy dramas.

The assassin is a woman, Michelle Lopez, except that’s an alias. She was born Baptiste Kadala in West Monrassa. Her father was a journalist who died in a plane crash. “Hundreds of millions of pounds of government money had been siphoned into Gabriel Sekoa’s personal bank account. My father was about to publish evidence when his plane went down.” But this wasn’t about revenge. “I believe Gabriel Sekoa is going to attempt a genocide. He has gathered the northern population into one city to make the operation simpler and easier. He is planning to kill my people.” “How could Sekoa get away with an operation like that?” “Now he has signed the Havensworth agreement, he is an African hero. He can do what he wants. You people don’t understand countries like mine. Don’t you see what you’ve done? This summit has given him everything he ever wanted. Respect. Recognition. So when in a month’s time when he kills my friends… my family… you won’t lift a finger.”

But they want to see if there’s some connection between the American, Styles, his weapons deal, and President Sekoa. Malcolm’s Diaspora program comes into use, although he’s misspelled “Secretary of State”.

They pose as Styles’ contact in order to get the information, which does confirm that they are selling planes and biological weapons.

Adam confronts Sekoa, and without actually accusing him of anything, lets him know that they know his whole genocidal plan.

Sekoa complains to the British Foreign Secretary, who rebukes Harry and Adam, telling them they have to stay away from Sekoa. The Foreign Secretary doesn’t seem to care that Sekoa might be going to carry out a genocide against his own people. “Do you think this summit is actually going to change Africa? Dream on. That continent is nothing but an economic albatross around our necks, a continent of genocidal maniacs living in the dark ages. Havensworth is about garnering a bit of decent PR, getting ageing rock stars off our back and granting the opportunity to give our prime minister a decent send-off.”

Adam is handed information by a member of Sekoa’s delegation which outlines the military plans for the genocide. They also find the evidence that Baptiste Kadala’s father’s plane was shot down by President Sekoa.

 

They decide that the only way to prevent the genocide is to release Baptiste Kadala, give her back her gun, and let her finish her job. Which she does, shooting Sekoa as he’s leaving the summit in triumph. Adam grabs her, assuring all the many armed men around that she’s unarmed.

But the Foreign Secretary orders one of his men to shoot her. Adam is rather distraught, having flashbacks to the death of his wife.

The Foreign Secretary is furious with Harry, and tells him there’s going to be a full inquiry, and that his job is likely to go. Until Harry plays him the recording of his diatribe about their attitude to African countries. At which point he tells the team what a good job they’ve all done. This programme doesn’t have a high opinion of politicians, does it?

Ros is upset when she learns about her father’s 20 year sentence.

Adam looks like he’s having an existential crisis. He’s on a bridge, and he phones his son, trying to sound cheerful but choking back tears. “Hello, mate. Er, listen, I’m in the airport and I can’t decide between the big present and the little present.” It seems like his son is the only thing keeping him going.

Media Centre Description: Drama series about the British Security Service. When the United Kingdom hosts the World Trade Summit for Africa, the team are posted undercover, right at the heart of the talks. When they uncover a deadly assassination plot, they fight to quash it. But as the true motivations behind it are revealed, they are forced to make devastating moral choices, risking their very survival in the process.

BBC Genome: BBC ONE Monday 02 October 2006 21:00

After this, there’s a trail for Graham Norton’s Bigger Picture. I genuinely can’t remember ever watching this.

There’s another trailer for Robin Hood. And a longer version of that Elvis Radio 2 adverts.

Then the start of the Ten O’Clock News, leading with the murder of three children at an Amish school, plus Huw Edwards at the Conservative Conference.

The other recording today starts with the end of Eastenders. There’s a trail for Dog Borstal.

Then, you probably won’t be surprised to hear, is the next episode of Spooks, getting its BBC Three premiere.

Ruth is asked for change by a man buying a tube ticket. She doesn’t quite have enough, but he takes what she has and buys his ticket and leaves. Ruth hurries after him to give him his change, but when she finds him on the platform, he steps out in front of the approaching train. Later, she tells Harry that something seemed off. Harry makes her some tea, tells her to take the morning off, that it was a horrible accident, but then he talks to the officer in charge of the investigation at the station. “Well, I expect the Home Secretary will want this to be handled discreetly.” “Do we know any more?” “The formal ID hasn’t been done…” “Informally?” “Yes, it’s him.”

Adam’s having nightmares.

Ruth has been digging. The man on the tube was Mik Maudsley, Head of Security for South East Prisons. Who was also at Cotterdam Prison on the night of a fire, the report for which has just been released, and which appears to say the fire was an accident, something both Harry and Ruth clearly doubt. “What would be gained by Special Branch concealing the truth?” “Depends what the truth is.”

Harry attends a Joint Intelligence Committee meeting, chaired by Oliver Mace (Tim McInerney) returning after his appearances in an earlier season. He dismisses Harry’s concerns about a whitewash, and afterwards seems to imply he knows it’s a whitewash, but it’s not worth pursuing.

Seven terrorism suspects died in the fire, and MI5 were concerned with all the potential intelligence that was lost with them. Ros and Zaf have to go in to the prison to try to get information.

Meanwhile, Ruth is still thinking that her contact with Maudsley before he killed himself wasn’t accidental, and he somehow left information with her. But the ten pound note he left her with was clean, according to Malcolm, so she goes to visit a mortuary. I was distracted by this shot of a security camera that has obviously been mirrored to provide the correct orientation in editing. I guess fixing up the labelling was deemed to expensive for a brief shot.

Ruth examines the body and his personal effects. She’s still convinced he was trying to pass information to her.

Ros and Zaf visit the prison, posing as IT inspectors. She fakes an Asthma attack to get the operator out of the office so they can download security files from the day of the fire.

The files reveal that another member of the same terrorist gang who all died in the fire was in the prison on the day of the fire, Zakir Abdul. They think Maudsley was bribed to let him in, so they could kill the prisoners and prevent them being interrogated. But when they find him, he’s already dead.

Ruth is still convinced that Maudsley wanted her to know something. “The way he looked, he wasn’t a guilty man.” Jo sees her and Harry in Harry’s office, and is amused that their relationship seems to be on and off. She wants to know if it’s back on again, just for the goss, so she plants a tracker in Ruth’s coat.

Ros sees Ruth go home, and Harry drive off. But then she sees Ruth move again, and tracks her to Maudsley’s house. Ruth finds a note on his noticeboard which she thinks is significant. Ros and Zaf follow her to see what she’s up to.

When Ruth leaves, they search Maudsley’s house, and Ros finds a gun, the same type which was used to kill Zakir Abdul. Ros is suspicious of Ruth. “But what’s she doing here? At Maudsley’s house? And if this is part of the team’s operation, how come we don’t know anything about it?”

Ruth finds the Fruit & Veg stall, and buys an apple with a ten pound note. In return he gives her a newspaper. Zaf catches up with Ruth and asks what’s going on. She says she’ll tell him when they get back to Thames House.

But when they get there, Oliver Mace is already there, and looking very stern. He starts questioning her. “You were at his house, you went to the mortuary, you were behind him when he committed suicide. None of these events have been logged.” Mace thinks Ruth was working with Maudsley for the terrorist group Acts of Truth, and she went to the house to destroy evidence. (Why she’d leave the gun there is an open question.)

Ruth tells him she thought Maudsley had arranged a drop. And show them the newspaper and envelope she retrieved. But the disc in the envelope is blank. Then Mace produces CCTV footage which supposedly shows Ruth pushing Maudsley onto the track. And he says there are witnesses who saw her do it. So Ruth is marched away.

Adam talks to Ros. “Ros, next time you come to me before you go to anyone else.” “I was just reporting the facts.” “You were striking back at Harry.” “I know you all have this loyalty to Ruth, but she’s pulling the wool over your eyes.”

Harry asks Mace for time. “I’ll give you a day. I’ll have her put under surveillance, one day and then she’ll be arrested. Don’t ask me for more. And no contact. Any contact between you and her and it’s out of my hands.” Tim McInerney is rather hard to read. He’s so obviously cast as the villain that I can’t help thinking he’s not at all. And my memory is so bad that even though I’ve watched this episode I can’t remember what happened.

The team meet covertly. Even Ros, who now thinks Ruth is being set up. They now think Ruth was right about the drop so they have to work out where and what it was.

Ros and Ruth switch, so the police watching her house will still think she’s there.

Adam meets Ruth, and gets intel from the Russian embassy, showing the seven terrorists being removed from Cotterdam prison two hours before the fire.

Mace invites Harry to lunch to talk. “Now you may doubt our methods, but see if this persuades you. The planned attack from Acts of Truth? A major sports stadium. Several devices capable of inflicting mass murder. What, would you have preferred that we never found out? Two-thousand-odd lives, for a little discomfort?” Incidentally, the lines describing the terror plot are dubbed, so I’m thinking the script originally says something else. Possibly something that, as the broadcast approached, was too close to some recent news story. Harry has a choice. “Save Ruth, and join a club.” But Harry would have to condone torture.

Ruth and Adam scope out Maudsley’s house, now swarming with police. She spots a picture of Offa high up, outside a window. “He was King of Mercia in the 8th century. I wrote a thesis on him and the site of his palace, now known as Wood Street. That’s the drop Maudsley left for me.” They go to the church, and Ruth finds some microfilm. I love microfilm, it’s so old-school. Much more interesting than a USB stick.

Adam has a microfiche reader in his car, which is handy. The document is minutes from a meeting about extraditing an torturing the Cotterdam Seven. And Ruth finds someone from MI5 there – codename FOX.

Ros is contacted, and leaves the house, whereupon she’s arrested, with the police thinking she’s Ruth. Mace gets the news. Harry is still not biting. “What if I play neither strategy? What if I say Ruth did push Maudsley, but I asked her to do it? What if the rogue officer is me?” “It doesn’t add up.” “Doesn’t it? Ruth would get a slapped wrist, but that’s all because she was only following orders. But me? A rogue agent at my grade? Wait till the press hear.” He wants the police called, so he smashes a glass and slashes Mace’s arm. Suddenly, the ‘security’ aspect of both of them not wearing jackets is revealed to be a production choice so you can easily sea that Mace’s arm is bleeding. Clever.

Harry’s arrested. Adam goes to see him, telling him that they’ve got the document about the extradition, but there’s an MI5 name on the list, which will implicate Harry. Harry insists they have to expose the documents. And Harry’s also being arrested for murder.

Ruth wants them to implicate her as Fox so she can take the rap. I love that they are both trying to protect the other. “Harry goes. What happens to MI5? This is only Round One in an ongoing battle. He has to keep fighting. The authorities in this country cannot be allowed to intimidate and torture. Harry is the only one who can take it on. There’s no choice. If I can save him, then I will.”

Zaf photoshops a meeting between Ruth and Mace.

The last part of the story is a dramatic one. Ruth has to threaten a witness who says she saw Ruth pushing Maudsley. Zaf says “You were brilliant.” She replies “Lady Macbeth. Sixth Form play.”

Adam visits Harry, having provided the authorities proof of Ruth’s involvement in the torture plan. Harry is released. Then Adam visits Mace with the news that the defence secretary is resigning, and the Prime Minister is placing all the blame on Mace.

Harry gets a call that they’ve found Ruth. “Dragged from the Thames this morning.” He has to identify the body. He almost breaks down as he sees the body. But he collects himself and walks out with Adam. “So, where is she?”

And at least they get to say goodbye before Ruth leaves on a boat.

Media Centre Description: Drama series about the British Security Service. The government releases its report on the Cotterdam Seven – terror suspects killed in an accidental prison fire. Harry senses a whitewash but doesn’t realise until too late that the conspirators have taken the precaution of framing a member of his own team.

BBC Genome: BBC THREE Monday 02 October 2006 22:25

There’s a trailer for Grime Scene Investigations and The Indestructibles. Then there’s a 60 Seconds bulletin. And despite my lack of interest in football, I have to mention an appearance from Watford in a 3-3 draw, otherwise my sisters would never forgive me.

Then there’s the start of an episode of Little Miss Jocelyn.