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“I had a choice to make between two of this nation's intelligence assets – the Albany deterrent and Ms Evershed. There was a risk I would lose Albany. But I knew the technology was worthless, of little value to the nation. My assessment of Ms Evershed was the reverse.”
Oh, Harry Pearce, you old romantic you. That might be the sweetest, most heartbreakingly austere and British declaration of love I've ever heard. For Sir Harry, preparing a document that details just how invaluable Ruth is to the Security Service is absolutely the best way to show just how much he loves her; it's like he wrote her a ten page, beautifully flowing love letter. Only, well, better.
Yes, Spooks is back for one final, all-too-brief series. Before we can find out if Harry and Ruth get a happy ending, or if Dimitri can step off the TV screen and into my living room, there are six hours of Cold War tinged lunacy to enjoy. I'm happy beyond measure that the Big Bad of the final series is my favourite Spooks baddie – the evil, shadowy Russian. I can't tell you how much I love this version of the Spooks world. If they don't have a vaguely Eastern European person from a made up country in this final series, I will be angry indeed.
With Lucas North/John Bateman's sad demise at the end of the last series, and the welcome off-screen exit for Beth, the Grid is looking a little underpopulated. Even so, it seems a pity to have to waste any of our precious remaining Spooks time on new characters as uninspiring as these two new faces. Lara Pulver's Erin is rather too insipid, while Calum is a two-dimensional prat. What happened to the classic loveable Spooks geek? Sure, we still have Tariq, but I can't believe that the irritating Callum is filling the same role on the Grid as lovely Malcolm and lovely Colin. RIP lovely Colin.
Still, there was so much to enjoy here that I forgave all that. There were the typical moments of Spooks madness, like the exploding laptop and the way that Calum was able to casually attach a tracking device to the car of the absolutely, 100%, definitely completely untrackable Gavrick. But it wouldn't be Spooks without moments like these. And, thank goodness, we still have the greatest Spooks politician ever in the form of Home Secretary William Towers, a blisteringly fun turn from Simon Russell Beale. When corrected by Ruth for using her real name, his delivery of the line “Oh, balls, have I ruined everything?” worked wonderfully against Nicola Walker's understated brilliance.
Sacha being Harry's son may have been fairly obvious (although, being drunk on post-Downton Abbey joy the first time I watched this, I didn't see it coming) it should be an effective way to ramp up Harry's moral dilemmas for the final series – and let's face it, no-one plays a moral dilemma quite like Peter Firth. No matter what he claims, Ruth and his children are the personal matters that can cloud Harry's professional judgement seriously; by having his secret son so intertwined in the story, it should make the final series more tense. Or I'm guessing that's the plan, anyway.
Apart from too much Calum and not enough of my beloved Dimitri being all deadpan and marvellous, this opening episode had everything a girl could want from an episode of Spooks: Harry and Ruth sharing meaningful, secret glances; Tariq using a ridiculous piece of equipment to find a suspect; dodgy Russian accents; and, of course, some ludicrously silly moments. If the rest of the series continues in this vein, it'll be one hell of a ride.
If you can tear yourself away from Downton Abbey, you'll find the next episode of Spooks on Sunday at 9pm on BBC1.
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