Yesterday I went to Exeter with the folks for a spot of shopping and then some food and drink. I like Exeter – good shops, a quay and a nice cathedral. Everyone seems a little bit more dignified than they are here too (which isn’t particularly hard). I don’t know if there are really more nice women than there are here or whether that’s just the Paperchase = chick-magnet factor talking. Hmm.

I picked up a bunch of DVDs and a book lauded by the girl who worked in the bookshop. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell has been on my list for a little while now, so to get it for three quid was pretty cool. Basically it is on my reading list because it (at least from the blurb) sounds like the stories I enjoy writing, so I reckon it should be pretty helpful.

MI5, not 9 to 5

The Spooks logo

Over the last couple of days I’ve been watching quite a bit of Spooks, which returns later this month with its 7th season. I must admit when they first aired I missed seasons 4 and 5 out completely – I still hadn’t got over the departure of much of the original cast. It was only a year or so ago that I bought season 4 and I’m still to watch 5 (waiting for it to go down in price!). I watched and enjoyed Season 6 on TV last year.

Thames House, featured widely in the show. Well, the exterior, anyway.

If you’ve seen yesterday’s TV guide in the Times, you’ll know that Richard Armitage (the true heart-throb of the BBC’s Robin Hood, as Guy of Gisborne) enters this season as a character named Lucas North to help our Spooks after eight years in a Russian prison. Details are sketchy at best, but he is said to carry plenty of baggage and have traitor written all over him. Sounds good. Spooks ruthlessness with its characters (even pivotal main characters) has always been one of its main attractions. You never quite know who will survive an episode to live another day.

Adam Carter is having a bad day

At one point, when Tom Quinn left in season 3 I was upset by the crumbling original cast. I missed quite a bit of Spooks after that as I’ve mentioned, which I later regretted. Adam Carter (Rupert Penry-Jones) has grown on me, as has Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) the quick-witted staple of the series and the good-natured Malcom (Hugh Simon) who has taken more of a place in Spooks in the last few seasons.

Jo Portman - will she or won't she?

The photo in the Times also shows hard-faced Ros Myers (Hermione Norris) alongside Harry, Adam, Malcolm and the aforementioned Lucas North. This intrigues me as I thought we’d seen the last of Ros given all the subterfuge in last season’s closing episodes. Of course the real question for all Spooks fans is whether Jo Portman (Miranda Raison) will make her return after the small-scale but powerfully bleak season 6 series finale last year. I’d say no, but would they really start the new season with another funeral?

Expect Spooks to return on the week of October 27th

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