Oh dear, the Riff and Bea Episode
.
Every great television series has one really duff episode that is so spectacularly naff that you wonder watching it if the creative and production staff left the apprentice trainee in charge of creating one episode whilst they popped down the pub.
It took Spooks until episode eight of series three before they suddenly took fans by surprise by delivering this utter clunker of a story. A burnt out rock star and his equally drugged up missus get mixed up in a silly story of a kidnapped baby which for MI5 get lumbered with as it's 'politically convenient', this in a major nod to the celebrity culture that we seem to be constantly bombarded with these days.
Even poor old Harry Pearce looks dumbfounded at the whole thing pretty much throughout although whether this is because the script called for it or it was just actor Peter Firth's opinion on the lousy storyline is not quite clear.
There are a couple of good bits though, the return of the deliciously slimy Oliver Mace as the head of the JIC and a nice little 'B' story involving a Member of Parliament and his spectacular fall from grace that in a typical bit of burying bad news is hidden from public view behind the silly kidnap story.
It would have been better if the story of the disgraced MP was given prominence and the vast majority of the terrible Riff and Bea storyline ditched.
Still I suppose every great series has to have its bad moments
Every great television series has one really duff episode that is so spectacularly naff that you wonder watching it if the creative and production staff left the apprentice trainee in charge of creating one episode whilst they popped down the pub.
It took Spooks until episode eight of series three before they suddenly took fans by surprise by delivering this utter clunker of a story. A burnt out rock star and his equally drugged up missus get mixed up in a silly story of a kidnapped baby which for MI5 get lumbered with as it's 'politically convenient', this in a major nod to the celebrity culture that we seem to be constantly bombarded with these days.
Even poor old Harry Pearce looks dumbfounded at the whole thing pretty much throughout although whether this is because the script called for it or it was just actor Peter Firth's opinion on the lousy storyline is not quite clear.
There are a couple of good bits though, the return of the deliciously slimy Oliver Mace as the head of the JIC and a nice little 'B' story involving a Member of Parliament and his spectacular fall from grace that in a typical bit of burying bad news is hidden from public view behind the silly kidnap story.
It would have been better if the story of the disgraced MP was given prominence and the vast majority of the terrible Riff and Bea storyline ditched.
Still I suppose every great series has to have its bad moments