I have discovered MI5

[AslanC]

Wow!

Peeps in the UK, tell me more about this show.

Is there a series 2 yet?

Man is this ever a good show

[Phantom]

Yeah, Five is a great show. I believe they are now showing S1 over here (obviously), with S2 going on in the UK right now. Can someone on the other side of the Pond varify that? I hope it has good long run.

[Sho-sa Kurita]

I brought this up a couple months ago when it first started airing.

Series 1 was 6 eps. We're in the middle of Series 2 right now (10 eps). Series 3 has been given the green light, but doesn't exist yet.

And it does indeed rock.

A&E has a page on it.

[AslanC]

Okay I am confused, according to the A&E site the ep I saw this week was ep 12, but it hasn't been on that long has it?

[AslanC]

Okay now I know why I was having such a hard time finding info.

It is called "Spooks" in the UK

Here is the BBC site.

And it says Series 3 will be 10 parts and is in production right now.

[JonA]

Ok,

Spooks is IMHO the best drama production to come out of the BBC in the last few years.

Season 1 was fantastic with a fantastic cliffhanger (truely a cliffhanger with a real sense of "how the hell they gonna get out of this one?" element). The resolution of the cliffhanger in season 2 is truely inspired.

I thoroughly recommend that you get your credit cards out and order the DVD series off www.amazon.co.uk (it doesn't appear on amazon.com even as an inport for some reason):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...692988-3034205

I'm sure Region 1 DVD players can play Region 2 DVDs (not really up on the restrictions of regionalised DVDs). Anyway the extras are pretty good but the extra scenes add depth and the episodes are fully uncut rather than the edited versions broadcast (in particular the scene when the racist thug kills an MI5 agent in the kitchen using the deep fat fryer - eugh!).

As for Season 2. Again a not so much a cliffhanger at the end but a real kind of "Where can it realistically go from here" element).

For those of with an eye for all things trek Siddig El Fadil plays a Musilm revolutionary in Ep 3 of Season 2 (an episode set in Birmingham in the UK - my home city - but doesn't actually feature any footage of the Birmingham I know, just a little peeve of mine).

One complaint I do have though is that they dropped Hugh Laurie's MI6 character (Siviter) for Season 2. Criminal. But more is made of the CIA connection.

Thats all I can say without giving out too many spoilers.

[Tobian]

NB: Region 1 players can't physically play Region 2 disks - it will invalidate your DVd player!

you would have to buy a multiregion player or 'enable' your player some how.

[Phantom]

Originally posted by JonA
Anyway the extras are pretty good but the extra scenes add depth and the episodes are fully uncut rather than the edited versions broadcast (in particular the scene when the racist thug kills an MI5 agent in the kitchen using the deep fat fryer - eugh!).

Christ! You mean there was more to that scene. I m not really one to get disturbed over death scenes in TV, but man that one is near the top of my gruesome list.

I did like how they got the bastard at the end of the ep, however. It reminded me of some the hits I pulled in Top Secret (original) in the past.

[Balok]

I haven't bothered to watch "MI5" "Spooks" because A&E has cut about 15 minutes from each "Spooks" episode in order to fit in commercials, or so a news article advised me. Apparently, they're a full hour long in the UK, but you can't get a full hour of show in an hour slot over here -- more like 44 minutes.

I'm hoping the series becomes available on region 1 DVD.

[JonA]

Originally posted by Phantom
Christ! You mean there was more to that scene. I m not really one to get disturbed over death scenes in TV, but man that one is near the top of my gruesome list.

I did like how they got the bastard at the end of the ep, however. It reminded me of some the hits I pulled in Top Secret (original) in the past.

It made me cringe when I first saw it. Actually showing her face was a (and I don't normally agree with censorship in any form) reasonable cut from the transmitted version. But I also understood why it was left in on the DVD (for completism).

As for the assassination - sadly they don't show it. But then it's absence just adds more power to the scene and adds an implied, but nonetheless overwhelming, taste of MI5's more ominious abilities and resources.

But there was a minor cut in the scene just before it where the MI5 chief gives the go ahead for the bad guy to be assassinated - including a rather witty line with undertones of "don't f*** with us - we're MI5."

[Phantom]

I though the scene was well done, leaving the actual shot out was pretty close to genius. Two vehicles enter the tunnel, one comes out. I liked how they had the traffic police in on it as well.
I hope this dosen't constitute a spoiler post, as it was from last season I am assuming everyone, who wants to, has seen the ep.

Here's hoping it comes out on DVD over here as well.

[JonA]

Right ho - sorry to breath life into this long dead thread but...

Since MI5/Spooks seems to have quite a fanbase in the USA and since the DVDs haven't yet been released in Region 1 yet, I thought I'd share some good news.

A friend in the BBC told me, a friend who deals with DVD tech confirmed it, and a US shopper on Amazon clinched it;

The Spooks Series 1 DVD as sold in the UK is Region 0. It's packaging only lists it as Region 2 for legal purposes.

Therefore - if you purchase a copy it will play on any DVD player.

Spooks Series 1 DVD

[AslanC]

On January 14th it will be realsed region 1 in Canada as well

But not the US... Cross border shopping anyone?