Line #5 Trivia/Spooks


1	* ActorLeavesCharacterDies: Originally, the show didn't hew particularly close to this mindset. When the crew had an exodus in series 3, only one character (of four) was actually killed. The other three either retired due to burnout or, in the case of Shauna [=MacDonald=], [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome disappeared after the series was over]]. It was only as the series went along (with different showrunners) that they killed off pretty much everybody who wanted to leave, barring a few fan favorites like Malcolm and Ruth, who were PutOnABus so they could (and did) come back.
2	** When Olga Sosnovska had to leave due to pregnancy, Fiona Carter was kidnapped, tortured and then shot trying to escape. She died in her husband's arms.
3	** Creator/RupertPenryJones, who played Adam Carter, later decided to move on. He was blown up by a car bomb.
4	* BackedByThePentagon: The production crew and cast were advised by retired agents from the [=CIA=], [=KGB=] and [=MI5=] and [=MI6=] on how their work is actually done in reality and how intelligence operations are conducted when on domestic soil.
5	* TheDanza: Tom's alias in Series 1 was Matthew. Tom Quinn is portrayed by Creator/MatthewMacfadyen.
6	* {{Defictionalization}}: Some terminology and catchphrases invented in this series are now used by the real MI-5.
7	* EnforcedMethodActing: Creator/RichardArmitage was actually "waterboarded" for a {{flashback}} scene, as a desire for MethodActing. The screams were genuine.
8	* FakeAmerican: Understandably, quite a few of the CIA personnel depicted on the show are played by British or Irish actors. In fact, Megan Dodds is notable as an ''aversion'' of this by being an American-born actress (albeit one who had been living in London for about five years at that point) playing CIA liaison Christine Dale.
9	* HideYourPregnancy: During the filming of Series 4, Fiona's actress, Olga Sosnovska, revealed that she was pregnant and wanted to leave the show. [[spoiler:The writers chose to kill off Fiona to further develop Adam's character]].
10	* PromotedFanboy: Geoffrey Streatfield is a long-time fan of the series, and viewed his role in the tenth series as "a dream role".
11	* RomanceOnTheSet:
12	** Raza Jaffrey married co-star Creator/MirandaRaison in 2007 and then Lara Pulver in 2014. He has a son with the latter.
13	** Creator/MatthewMacfadyen married Creator/KeeleyHawes in 2004, which happened after she divorced Spencer [=McCallum=] in the same year. This was seen as controversial at the time. Later interviews with Keely Hawes in recent years mention that she regrets divorcing her first husband. She also mentioned that she, Matthew and Spencer have patched up their differences.
14	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The two cable runs in the US. See the trope entry for more.
15	* UncreditedRole:
16	** Creator/ChristopherFairbank as Gordon Blaney in "Spiders".
17	** Creator/MacMcDonald as a hard-faced man in "Smoke and Mirrors".
18	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
19	** There was supposed to be a ''Spooks'' game for the Platform/Playstation2.
20	** Creator/DavidOyelowo mentioned in interviews that directors were calling him to ask him if he has to be casted in movies in a leading role outside of Spooks. At the time, he didn't consider leaving yet. Since he was getting popular due to his role in the show, he asked if the production crew can put him in more prominent roles, partially to see if the directors were willing to wait. Otherwise, David would exit the role instead by being killed off. He later found out that the directors would kill his character Danny instead.
21	** The production team was ready to do the third season without Creator/MatthewMacfadyen as they knew he didn't want to stick around for long. But when they were informed that he's willing to do a few scenes for the said season, the production team rewrote some scenes to include Tom.

Context Trivia / Spooks