Spooks

Spooks (2002 — 2011) was a BAFTA award-winning British television drama series produced by the independent production company Kudos for BBC One. It follows the work of a group of MI5 intelligence officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid. The show is aired in the United States and France under the alternative title, MI-5. Ten series of the program aired before the program concluded. It also lead to a spin off program, Spooks: Code 9

Series 1

Though Shalt Not Kill [1.1]

Harry: So global terrorism, Islamic extremists, all phone-tap resources plus ECHELON pointed at the middle-east and now the old enemy looks like it's rearing its ugly head and it's such a beautiful morning.

---

Harry: You like her?

Tom: Very much.

Harry: Well assuming she passes vetting, when might you be addressing the microscopic issue that your real name is Tom Quinn and you're a spy?

Tom: When did you tell your wife you were a spook? When you met, when you married?

Harry: Just after we'd signed the register. Well I like to have things on paper, don't you?

---

Zoe: Lots of men. It's always men. Have you ever made anyone pregnant?

Danny: What's that got to do with you?

Zoe: Didn't think so.

---

Malcolm: I have a camp bed. I heard you were looking for somewhere to sleep. In town.

Zoe: To..to rent? A room, preferably, Malcolm.

Malcolm: Oh, well, I have a camp bed.

Danny: [To Zoe] Don't burn your bridges.

---

Mary Kane: My conscience is clear.

Tom: I doubt that very much.

---

Mary Kane: I stand by what I believe, I doubt you've ever believed in anything in your entire life.

Tom: I believe killing people in the name of life is just about the stupidest thing I've ever come across.

Looking After Our Own [1.2]

Tom: What we need is good old-fashioned human intelligence.

Danny: You won't find any of that in here.

Tom: You'd be surprised.

Danny: I've always said, never trust what anyone tells you, especially if you're paying.

Tom: Fair enough. Nice jacket, by the way.

Danny: Thanks.

---

Helen Flynn: Most men don't need two hours in the bathroom, Danny. I know it's hard to believe.

---

Harry: The couple who run the computer classes, are they removable? [pause] In a nice way.

---

Tom: I'll need a wife, of course.

Harry: Shouldn't have thought that too difficult, a dishy catch like you.

---

Harry: You're a little shite, Derek. Have I ever told you that?

Derek Morris: You've implied it enough times. Take a chill pill, Harry.

[Derek walks out of Harry's office, turns and waves. Harry falsely smiles and waves back]

Harry: Fuck you, Derek. With bells on.

One Last Dance [1.3]

Stan: You're not bugged up are ya? I don't want this going on record okay.

Tom: Stand today's Saturday, it's my family day, it's my birthday, it's just me no one else here.

Stan: Yeah well I'm just making sure I'm safe.

Tom: You are just don't look up satellites tracking my position.

The Rose Bed Memoirs [1.5]

Tess: There's a sense of...evil about him.

Harry: MI-5 doesn't do evil, just treachery, treason and Armageddon.

Mean, Dirty, Nasty [1.6]

Zoe: The special forces have disincentivized the target, Harry.

Harry: 'Disincentivized', Zoe?

Zoe: It's over.

Harry: Tom made the mistake of saying that to me after his first probation, and I told him what I'll tell you: it's never over. We may dance with the devil, Zoe, but it's always to his tune.

Series 2

Legitimate Targets [2.1]

Tom Quinn: I'm driving down to Ellie's parent's place, she won't speak to me on the phone.

Danny Hunter: What makes you think she'll speak to you in person:

Tom Quinn: Oh, reckless optimism

Nest of Angels [2.2]

Ruth Evershed: Why don't we just close the place down?

Harry Pearce: Home Office directive. Community-sensitive policy parameters. In real speak, they don't want a riot.

Ruth Evershed: Bugger the Home Office.

Harry Pearce: Mmm, if only...

___________________________________________________________

Vicki Westbrook: Tom Quinn.

Tom Quinn: That's my real name.

Vicki Westbrook: Really? You use false name to doctors you dine and bed with, do you?

Tom Quinn: Sometimes.

Blood & Money [2.4]

[in stake-out/observation van]

Tom: Are we ready with the flat?

Colin: All concurrent surveillance systems are operational.

Tom: Colin, when the word “yes” will do, use it.

I Spy Apocalypse [2.5]

Ruth: On the head of the King, let all the sorrows lie?

Series 3

Project Friendly Fire [3.1]

Danny Hunter: [to Oliver Mace] You've got some kind of hidden agenda here..

Harry Pearce: [arriving in doorway] If there is to be an agenda, it will be mine. Oliver, we speak now. Or must I embarrass you before junior personnel?

---

Oliver Mace: There’s a serious threat to national security here, I can’t keep to the niceties.

Harry Pearce: I like the niceties, they protect us from tyranny.

Oliver Mace: The moral high ground is a bit of a sand bank for you, Harry, the tide is coming in.

---

Harry Pearce: That is a totally illegal, madcap scheme. I like it.

---

[about a woman the team is trying to lift]

Oliver Mace: The woman is to be returned to immigration, immediately.

Harry Pearce: Oh dear, we've lost her, whoops.

---

[team is in van on way to location]

Harry Pearce: What are you doing?

Danny Hunter: Texting Tom.

Harry Pearce: Don't send that, I don't want him here.

[van goes over speed bump in road, phone beeps 'message sent' tone]

Danny Hunter: Aww damn.

Harry Pearce: What?

Danny Hunter: It went... when we bumped.

Celebrity [3.8]

Danny: Harry. Why are we investigating this? It’s . . . It’s a police job.

Harry: Do you understand atomic theory? Quantum mechanics? How there are six extra dimensions and infinite universes parallel to this one?

Danny: No.

Harry: Nor do I. I don’t understand politics either.

The Suffering of Strangers [3.10]

Adam: Mr. Younis!

Zaf: Mr. Carter!

Adam: What have you been up to?

Zaf: Oh, you know, exploring my identity crisis. Asian or British? British or Asian? It's tearing me apart.

---

Zaf: I've got an idea. But we need to act very fast before she moves him.

Harry: I'm not sure you're...

Zaf: It's my unique selling point, Mr. Pearce. Young Asian males don't often work for the security services.

Harry: Call me Harry.

---

Danny: [tied to a chair] You will never win. If I'd been born somewhere else... it might have been me holding the gun now. If you'd been born somewhere else, it might have been you sitting where I am. For all your talk about choices. We don't get to choose those things. But I guess... you're just unlucky because somehow... you've lost your humanity and now have no kindness or pity left in you. But I still have those things. Acts of hatred also produce acts of love, so you, my friend, will never win.

Series 4

The Special: Part II [4.2]

Adam: I'm going to check it out, you get the girl.

Zaf: Yeah, or I could do the warehouse.

Adam: No, I'm doing it.

Zaf: Adam, look, you really need to stop trying to hold my hand. Take the car and get the girl back to base.

Adam: Well, how you gonna get there?

Zaf: There's a cab office on the main road. I'll ask backup to come and collect me later.

Adam: All right, I'll text you the address.

Zaf: Oh, and, er, watch the accelerator because it's got a 280-brake horsepower twin turbo. Enjoy.

Syria [4.7]

Zaf: Present for you, "Vanessa."

Jo: [opens a box with identity papers] I'm not sure I really suit "Vanessa."

Zaf': Oh, it's not that bad. I was a "Hamish" on one particularly memorable occasion.

Jo: And you got away with it?

Zaf: [in a Scottish accent] It's all down to the delivery. [they laugh] Make sure you know all this stuff inside out. It saved my life once.

Diana [4.10]

Ruth: Angela believes that Princess Diana was murdered by the British Security Services. By us. [Jo laughs]

Angela: What's funny?

Jo: Nothing.

Angela: You find that funny?

Jo: No.

Angela: Funny? That your boss was on a committee that ordered the faking of the car accident which killed Diana?

Harry: Angela, what are you talking about?

Angela: I'm talking about you being chair of the contingent events committee.

Harry: The what?

Angela: The committee that organized, then ordered the assassination.

Harry: This is madness.

Angela: You can't deny there was such a committee.

Harry: I can. Angela, you must let us help you.

---

Zaf: Okay, I'm ready.

Adam: Now don't forget, we're only playing "What if?"

Zaf: You mean what if Harry organized the assassination of Princess Diana? I think he could have.

Ruth: You don't mean that.

Zaf: Don't I?

Ruth: It's the conspiracy theories, they suck you in.

Zaf: Yeah, they do. Some say it was caused by satanists because Diana's mercedes crashed into the 13th pillar in the tunnel. Then there's the theory that limo was stolen a month before by the Israeli secret service. The steering was modified so it could be controlled by a remote radio signal.

Ruth: Now Mossad did it?

Zaf: No. MI-5 and MI-6 did it in a joint operation. And I'll show you how. The British Embassy in Paris denied ever knowing that Diana had arrived in Paris. But they did. And the night before she arrived at the Ritz, two very high-ranking MI-6 officers arrived at the embassy.

Series 5

The Cell [5.3]

Zaf: Where's Jo?

Ros: Death by mascara... it was horrible to watch. Ruth's agonizing over the fact that there are no more horses in modern-day warfare and Adam's on a course learning how to lift his knuckles off the ground, so... you'll have to make do with me I'm afraid.

Zaf: Shouldn't you be in prison or something?

Ros: This is the something. You okay?

Zaf: My cover's still intact.

Ros: No, I meant-

Zaf: I'm fine. Hanif was talking about a bomb.

Ros: It's going to be taken out of the game without them noticing. We've been given a lease of life to turn our recruit.

Zaf: We?

Ros: You and I are now the shock troops of waterfall. Admittedly I get to go home at night. How is life in the flat?

Zaf: Claustrophobic, irritable, jumpy. Every noise outside is a possible raid.

Ros: Group dynamics?

Zaf: Samir's getting more envious of Michael since he became Hanif's right-hand man. I'm busy stoking the flames of discord.

Ros: Okay, let's talk about sex.

Zaf: Oh, yeah, hang on... Sorry it's just that it's been so long.

Ros: We can use it to turn Michael Johnson.

Zaf: You really think I'm his type?

The Message [5.5]

Zaf: You awake?

Ruth: Didn't sleep.

Zaf: No, neither did I.

Ruth: I'm going to have to remind myself of why exactly I did this for the rest of my life.

Zaf: You know why.

Ruth: How much longer?

Zaf: Only a few hours now.

Ruth: And then?

Zaf: And then it's up to you.

Ruth: Yeah. If we ever bump into each other again... either here or abroad, I know what you are trained to say, but if we do...

Zaf: I'll smile.

Ruth: Promise?

Zaf: Of course. I smile at every pretty woman I pass.

Agenda [5.8]

Ros: Religion, the opium of the masses.

Zaf: Really? I thought that was football.

Ros: Yeah, except for ooh-ah cantona wasn't his last message to the world.

Series 6

The Virus: Part 1 [6.1]

adam hqazza

The School [6.10]

Harry: There's something about him I like. He's the opposite of you.

Adam: Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?

Harry: We need different types. He's got brains.

Adam: This just gets better and better.

Series 7

The Last Post [7.1]

Harry: [after getting agent Lucas North back from Russia after 8 years] How did they treat you?

Lucas: Sometimes well. Sometimes not. [pause] They told me I could come home if I spied for them.

Harry: What did you say?

Lucas: I said yes. [smiles] Do you think we can stop for some fish and chips? I've got a craving.

---

Lucas: Malcolm! [they hug] Good to see you. How's your mum?

Malcolm: Oh, she's very well, very well. You look, uh, you look, uh... Is there anything I can get for you? Hot soup?

Lucas: No, Malcolm, I had chips. Thanks. But I tell you what, though. I haven't had a decent sup of tea in eight years. [Malcolm has a look] What?

Malcolm: Is it really eight years?

Lucas: [everyone looks sad] Oh, it flew by! These Russian prisons, they're like holiday camps, they've got mattresses and everything.

---

Harry: [reading one of Lucas' tattoos] Dum Spiro Spero.

Lucas: While I live, I hope. Tattooing's part of the culture in there. You don't do it, you don't belong, you don't belong, you're dead. [turns to reveal more tattoos] They all mean something. There's a specific iconography. Fascinating, really. So, how did Tom Quinn work out?

Harry: He took early retirement.

Lucas: How'd you get me back, Harry?

Revenge Is Best Served Cold [7.2]

Ros: How's the nervous system?

Lucas: Twitchy. This is a mistake.

Harry: [Ros and Harry thinking Lucas is a Russian spy] I'm glad you didn't waste those years trying to memorize convincing excuses.

Ros: Maybe Kachimov should add that to his curriculum.

Lucas: We should be following Elizabeta.

Ros: We are following Elizabeta.

Harry: Come on, Lucas. Impress me with your ability to talk your way out of this.

Lucas: I agreed to be Kachimov's agent in London. Of course I did. But just to get back. To come home. God knows I couldn't rely on you to do it for me.

Ros: And you failed to mention this earlier. Why?

Lucas: [to Harry] I told you in the car.

Harry: You joked about it in the car.

Lucas: You suspected it. You as good as told me. If I admitted it officially, you'd lock me in a call and debrief me for months. I've seen enough cells.

Series 9

[9.1]

Harry: So the country will have to struggle on with pornography and minesweeper for a couple of hours. Do it.

[9.2]

Lucas: Wakey-wakey, Tariq. Bug in place.

Tariq: I'm like a shark Lucas, I never sleep.

[9.5]

Lucas: Do you want some psychological advice of incredible depth and subtly?

Dimitri: Always.

Lucas: Go get a skinful. Start again tomorrow.

Series 10

[10.1]

Dimitri: How was your, um... break?

Harry: At one particularly dark moment, I actually considered gardening. ____________________________

Ruth: (About the glowing report written about her.) So, can I see that report?

Harry: Not while I still draw breath. ____________________________

Home Secretary: They want you out, Harry. They'll get their own way eventually.

Harry: No surprises. I'm aware I have not played nicely with the other children.

Home Secretary: Would it have killed you to pick up a hold club every once out a while?

Harry: It may well have done, yes.

____________________________

Harry: (About Erin using his office) She's altered my bloody chair. It took me ten years to get that right.

Ruth: Well, I'll get Q branch to have a look at it.

____________________________

Calum: So, admiral, you kill anyone when your were in the SBS?

Dimitri: (Staring pointedly at him) Yeah, and do you know what? I miss it.

[10.4] Jim Coaver: I don't shoot my friends. Family maybe, but not my friends.

Cast

• Sir Harry Pearce KBE - Peter Firth
• Adam Carter - Rupert Penry-Jones
• Jo Portman - Miranda Raison
• Ros Myers - Hermione Norris

External Links

• Spooks BBC Page
• Spooks
• Spooks on TV.com
• Spooks on IMDB