Thou Shalt Not Kill (Spooks)
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"Thou Shalt Not Kill" is the premiere episode of the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
'' Spooks''. It first aired on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
on 13 May 2002. The episode was written by series creator
David Wolstencroft David Wolstencroft (born 16 July 1969), is an American-born British screenwriter and author. He is best known as creator of the BAFTA award-winning TV spy drama '' Spooks'' and its spin-off series, '' Spooks: Code 9''. Early life Wolstencroft wa ...
and directed by
Bharat Nalluri Bharat Nalluri (born 1965) is a British–Indian film and television director. Personal life Nalluri was born in India. He moved to England at a young age with his family and grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he attended the Royal Grammar ...
. "Thou Shalt Not Kill" focuses on
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
's activities in stopping an anti-abortion group who have smuggled 20 explosive devices to be used against family planning doctors. The episode title is a reference to the sixth Commandment. The pilot went through 30 rewrites and four separate story changes before the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
were satisfied with the plot. It would be rewritten again following the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, with the purpose of acknowledging the series premise as battling
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
. Filming took place mostly in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
using a long lens camera. The idea of using
split screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing) Split screen is a display technique in computer graphics that consists of dividing graphics and/or text into adjacent (and possibly overlapping) parts, typically as two or four rectangular ...
, regularly used by the series, came from Nalluri after filming wrapped up for the episode, and was not inspired by the American television series '' 24''. Following its broadcast, the pilot was seen by over nine million viewers, easily winning its time slot, having nearly doubled viewership from
ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...
at the same time; the ratings went beyond the producers' expectations. However, critics gave varied responses towards the episode.


Plot

When a car bomb detonates in the
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
suburb of Allerton, killing family planning doctor Karen Lynott (
Karen Westwood Karen Westwood is a Scottish actress most famous for her role as Meg Paterson in BBC TV series '' Monarch of the Glen''. She also played Rebecca Bannerman in '' Families'', Isabella Woodhouse in '' Emma'' and Carolyn Fraser in ''Two Thousand Acr ...
) and severely injuring her young daughter Sarah, Section D of
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
is on the case.
Danny Hunter Danny Hunter is a fictional character appearing in the first three seasons of the BBC television series '' Spooks'', known as ''MI5'' in the United States. The character, played by British actor David Oyelowo, is a Junior Case Officer in Section ...
(
David Oyelowo David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo ( ; born 1 April 1976) is a British actor, director and producer. His accolades include a Critics' Choice Award and two NAACP Image Awards as well as nominations for two Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards ...
) learns from one of his
assets In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that can ...
, "Osprey" (Kelly Rolfe), that the group responsible have smuggled 20 bombs into the country from Ireland. After following her, the team learn that the terrorist responsible for smuggling the bombs and killing Lynott is Mary Kane (
Lisa Eichhorn Lisa Eichhorn (born February 4, 1952) is an American actress, writer and producer. She made her film debut in 1979 in the John Schlesinger film '' Yanks'', for which she received two Golden Globe nominations. Her international career has includ ...
), an American anti-abortion extremist; she smuggled herself into the country under an assumed name and has been setting up cells across the UK. Section D also learn that Kane may be setting up the attacks in tribute to her husband, who is on death row in
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
following a series of attacks on abortion clinics. Upon tracking the movements of one cell, the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
pressure MI5 to
extradite Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...
Kane back to the United States; such an action will seriously hinder their efforts to find the cells and a put a stop to them. By the time
Harry Pearce Sir Henry James "Harry" Pearce, KBE (born 1 November 1953) is a fictional character, head of the counter-terrorism department ("Section D") of MI5 as featured in the British television series '' Spooks''. He was played by Peter Firth during t ...
(
Peter Firth Peter Macintosh Firth (born 27 October 1953) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC One programme '' Spooks''; he is the only actor to have appeared in every episode of the programme's ten-series lif ...
) signs the extradition forms, Kane has evaded MI5. In the meantime,
Zoe Reynolds Zoe Reynolds is a fictional case officer in the counterterrorism department of MI5, featured in the British television series '' Spooks'', also known as ''MI5'' in the United States. The character is played by Keeley Hawes. Prior to starting her ...
(
Keeley Hawes Claire Julia Hawes (born 10 February 1976), known professionally as Keeley Hawes, is an English actress. After beginning her career in a number of literary adaptations, including ''Our Mutual Friend'' (1998) and '' Tipping the Velvet'' (2002), Ha ...
) goes undercover to pose as a sympathizer to the cell. She lures a member, Rachel (Rachel Power) to the same hospital Sarah Lynott is being treated; Sarah later dies from the extent of her injuries. Senior case officer and team leader Tom Quinn ( Matthew Macfadyen) attempts to persuade her to stop Kane, believing she has little regard for any life. Rachel leaves in haste, but unbeknownst to her, MI5 bug her mobile phone and record a phone conversation she makes to the cell regarding their next target, Diane Sullivan, a doctor living in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. Tom's team are able to take Sullivan to safety whilst Zoe poses as the target. The team see Kane deliver a bomb to Zoe's car, and prepares to detonate it via
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
. To counter the attack, a
Bomb Squad Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the milit ...
jams the signal long enough for Tom to arrest her. During the interrogation, Tom promises to send her to a state in the US where the death penalty does not apply in exchange for the locations of every cell she runs in the UK. After she cooperates, Tom goes back on the deal and delivers Kane to CIA liaison Christine Dale (
Megan Dodds Megan Lynne Dodds is an American actress. She played Kate in the 2006 series ''Not Going Out'', alongside Lee Mack and Tim Vine, and has appeared in the series '' Spooks'', '' House'', ''Detroit 1-8-7'', and '' CSI: NY'', and the films '' Ever A ...
), who returns her to Florida to be executed. Over the course of the episode, Tom enters a relationship with civilian Ellie Simm (
Esther Hall Esther Jane Hall (born 28 August 1970) is an English actress who has appeared in a number of television dramas. Early life Born in Manchester in 1970 and brought up in Cheshire, she took A levels in Manchester before training in theatre arts ...
) following an unrelated operation before the events of the episode, going by the pseudonym of civil servant in IT "Matthew Archer".


Production

The script for the episode went through 30 drafts, and four separate stories before the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
were satisfied and ordered the series. Writing the pilot was completed before the
September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
; after the attacks took place, the producers decided to add mention of the events into the episode in order to acknowledge the fact that the series is about fighting
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
. Writer
David Wolstencroft David Wolstencroft (born 16 July 1969), is an American-born British screenwriter and author. He is best known as creator of the BAFTA award-winning TV spy drama '' Spooks'' and its spin-off series, '' Spooks: Code 9''. Early life Wolstencroft wa ...
decided that Tom Quinn would use IT as his cover story for Ellie Simm, because IT has, according to Wolstencroft, "something that has an enormous amount of thought and technical fact behind it that nobody would really understand," and according to series producer Jane Featherstone, has people reluctant to be asking questions about. A scene where a
cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
escaped during Zoe's operation to bug Kane's cottage, and the ensuing search in the
rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...
mirrored an experience during Wolstencroft's early career. It was also intended that the episode established that although spies plan heavily before operations, things can go wrong. Among the main cast, Peter Firth was attracted to appearing on ''Spooks'' after hearing of Howard Brenton's involvement in the series. The cast were advised by ex-MI5 officers in order to help give insight into how the characters operate in the spy world and how their personal lives would be affected by it. The character Maisie Simm ( Heather Cave), Ellie's daughter, was created because Featherstone believed that "children are the best spies of all"; Maisie is often seen "spying" on Tom throughout the episode and first series. Megan Dodds guest starred as Christine Dale; the producers were sufficiently impressed with her performance that she would later return as Dale in the second series. Principal photography took place in November and December 2001. The majority of filming was done with a long lens, which proved difficult as many filming location were short on space. 40 to 50 cuts were made in the first 10 minutes of the episode to quickly introduce the main characters. Filming took part almost entirely in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
; some London locations doubled as
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
locations, including the hospital, which was filmed in Covent Garden. The hospital scenes were first in the episode to be shot. The scenes set in a cottage in
The Wirral Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to the ...
were filmed in Surrey; the cottage was dubbed the "cottage from hell" according to director
Bharat Nalluri Bharat Nalluri (born 1965) is a British–Indian film and television director. Personal life Nalluri was born in India. He moved to England at a young age with his family and grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he attended the Royal Grammar ...
because of its small size. The Freemasons' Hall in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
served as the filming location for
Thames House Thames House is an office building in Millbank, London, on the north bank of the River Thames adjacent to Lambeth Bridge. Originally used as offices by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), it has served as the headquarters of the United Kingdom' ...
, the headquarters for
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
. The Hall was chosen as the producers felt that both buildings were similar in
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
. The Grid set was filmed in a Kensington medical school.
Borough Market Borough Market is a wholesale and retail market hall in Southwark, London, England. It is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London, with a market on the site dating back to at least the 12th century. The present buildings were b ...
was located to film the scenes where Kane is arrested; filming proved to be difficult as they had to reset the scene several times. The idea for split screening came to Nalluri after visiting a
pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
one night after filming wrapped up. In the audio commentary for the episode, Nalluri stated he was not inspired by the American series '' 24'', which also uses split screen, as he was not yet aware of the show. The news report covering Mary and Paul Kane's past activities were snippets of real-life news from the United States, which were edited together. The music was composed by Jennie Muskett, who spent just two to three hours putting several pieces of background music together. One part of the episode centred on Zoe posing as target Diane Sullivan. Some publicity shots of Keeley Hawes in the series were shots of her with long brunette hair, though in fact she has short
blonde hair Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can ...
.


Broadcast and reception

The pilot was first broadcast on Monday 13 May 2002, during the 9 to 10 pm time slot. The ''Spooks'' producers were hoping the ratings for the pilot would achieve at least six million viewers, with a 30 per cent
audience share Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Somet ...
; at the time this would be considered acceptable ratings by the BBC, as it would allow them to further consider ''Spooks'' future. The episode ended up with an overnight rating of 9.2 million viewers, with a 41 per cent audience share, easily winning its time slot, and nearly doubling the numbers of
ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...
's ''Helen West'', which was viewed by 4.8 million with 22 per cent share in the same slot. The final numbers posted on the
Broadcasters' Audience Research Board The Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) is a British organisation that compiles audience measurement and television ratings in the United Kingdom. It was created in 1981 to replace two previous systems whereby ITV ratings were compil ...
website was up slightly to 9.6 million viewers, making the ''Spooks'' pilot the seventh most viewed
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
broadcast, and the tenth most viewed broadcast in total the week it aired. Nancy Banks-Smith of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' called it "one of those shiny and insubtantial series," adding that "all that leaping out of bed at dawn on the pretext that you have to go and sell a house tends to wear thin." Banks-Smith also called the story "slightly unexpected." She also stated "''Spooks'' appears to plume itself on its authenticity, and there are moments, well one moment, so stupid it has to be true." Thomas Sudcliff of ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' felt it was a "different kind of spy drama" with "a literal description, derived from the sort of rueful story you could imagine being told at an MI5 staff social," and "a lot of bullshit too, naturally. This is one of those dramas where colleagues never make small talk but instead launch straight into an urgent purposive shorthand." Joe Joseph of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' stated that it "bears a closer resemblance ..''24''," which "shaded the pleasure of this opening episode," but felt that by the end of the episode, ''Spooks'' had "established a voice of its own." Gerard O'Donovan of ''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' thought that the episode "proved thoroughly entertaining," and praised Wolstencroft's writing, which O'Donovan felt was "confident enough to be playful with its subject - especially regarding Britain's poor-relation relationship with America." Alison Graham of the '' Radio Times'' said that after the episode, the series "looks like it's going to be great fun," but "it's presumably not meant to be taken too seriously, because surely life in MI5 can't be this exciting?"


References


External links


Series 1, Episode 1
at bbc.co.uk * {{Spooks 2002 British television episodes 1.01 British television series premieres Television episodes about abortion