Spooks: Code 9

[Bob The Skutter]

So, the first 2 episodes were on last night. Did anyone else watch?
I'm watching the second episode now, and to be honest, I can't say I'm overly impressed. I guess I'll give it till the end of the series to improve, but I will change my mind if it gets much worse.

 

[Jax]

Didn't even know it had started, nice advertising BBC

Apparantly...

The first episode of the series had 810,000 viewers and a multichannel share of 3.8%, but for the second episode this dropped to 703,000 and a 4% share

Critical reviews were mixed but mostly negative

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Didn't even know it had started, nice advertising BBC

I saw the first advert about a month ago, and it's been advertised after every show I watched on BBC Three for the last few weeks or so. It's repeated plenty of times over the week though.

 

[Pingfah]

Apparently the BBC have had this show in the can for over a year now.

 

[Jax]

Probably cause I hardly watch UK TV anymore though been on BBC website a few times and not seen it anywhere on there website before now.

turned the pilot off (BBC I Player)

I can't take it seriously at all...

* The production values are average

* The acting is average

* The writing is average at best

* I cannot take a bunch of young adults being a MI:5 team seriously at all, they don't seem trained or capable of what is needed when you compare it to SPOOKS.

Any idea what happened to Harry or the rest of the normal team during the attack ?

 

[Harvey]

Does it even relate to Spooks regular in any way besides having the name and dealing with a new batch of spies? Have any characters or plot lines been ported over?

 

[DarkHorizon]

I kind of enjoyed it - more for the situation than for the characters, who, at the moment, are pretty much ciphers (no pun intended).

Apparently the BBC have had this show in the can for over a year now.

Nope - filming started in late March.

 

[Jax]

I can't wait for Spooks to return because this is a complete joke, its like Beverly Hills 90120 meets Spooks.

 

[Pingfah]

Nope - filming started in late March.

Oh, I read that on a different forum. Never mind then.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I can't wait for Spooks to return because this is a complete joke, its like Beverly Hills 90120 meets Spooks.

I was saying to a friend, it was pretty much Spooks: Skins, but not as good as either.
I'm willing to give it a chance to improve, but I couldn't take it seriously either. I liked the second better than the first, but not by much.

Looks like it scored OK ratings, but lost over 100,000 views for the second part.

BBC Three's youth-skewing Spooks spinoff made a strong start in the ratings last night (Sunday).

The first episode of Spooks: Code 9, which received a generally bad reception from critics, averaged 810,000 (3.8%) for the channel between 9pm and 9.50pm and peaked with 930,000. The ensuing second episode had 703,000 (4%). The figures made the programme the most-watched multichannel show of the day by a long margin and capped a strong night for BBC Three overall.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Nope - filming started in late March.

Oh, I read that on a different forum. Never mind then.

The idea seems to have been kicking around for a couple of years, and was announced on the press site over a year ago under a different name, Rogue Spooks, then it changed its name to Spooks: Liberty, then again to Spooks: Code 9. That's probably where the idea that it's been done for a while comes from.

 

[Jax]

My TV list is free of one show seriously UK TV blows lately with no Doc Who or HIGNFY. I remember the good old days of stellar ITV one off drama's and when stuff like messiah, wire in the blood came onto the scene with oldies still going strong like FROST.

 

[Starkers]

So far I've only watched the first episode and I have to say, as a big Spooks fan, that I'm unimpressed. The show seems to have been thrown together simply to attract young viewers by being cool and wicked with lots of youn pretty things, fast editing, loud music and that weird Union Flag superimposed over the character's faces.

Hard to believe it's by the same people who do Spooks. Given Kudos's record (Spooks, Hustle, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes etc) I'm surprised at how lame it is. I'm also annoyed at the thought that in 4 years terrorists will nuke London. Right, and Harry Pearce and co won't stop them? Pull the other one.

Russell T Davies pretty much did ther whole London nuked/police state idea better in Turn Left. I'm amazed there wasn't communication between various BBC departments over that!

 

[Sheep]

I watched the pilot (first hour only). Going into it more or less spoiler-free aside from the basic premise and the casting of the insanely yummy Georgia Moffett, I have to ask: Why in the hell did the BBC decide to slap the perfectly good Spooks name on a bad CW teenybopper castoff?! As I watched I couldn't help but think that this show would fit perfectly on a sad netlet like the CW trying desperately (and failing) to appeal to tweens and teens.

The "new world, new rules" premise has a ton of potential but the flimsy thin Scooby Doo plot was almost painful to watch. At least when Spooks' plots were flimsy thin, you had the likes of Peter Firth, Matthew MacFadyen and Rupert Penry Jones and the rest of the cast to save it with solid performances. There was none of that good acting to be found here either. Coupled with the incredibly dumbed-down plot focusing on the action for the kiddies, London getting nuked in 2012 wasn't the only disaster here.

I can only hope the second episode is better. Between this and the abortion known as Bonekickers, as an American who enjoys plenty of British shows I have to wonder exactly WTF the BBC were thinking in greenlighting rubbish like this.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I watched the pilot (first hour only). Going into it more or less spoiler-free aside from the basic premise and the casting of the insanely yummy Georgia Moffett, I have to ask: Why in the hell did the BBC decide to slap the perfectly good Spooks name on a bad CW teenybopper castoff?! As I watched I couldn't help but think that this show would fit perfectly on a sad netlet like the CW trying desperately (and failing) to appeal to tweens and teens.

The "new world, new rules" premise has a ton of potential but the flimsy thin Scooby Doo plot was almost painful to watch. At least when Spooks' plots were flimsy thin, you had the likes of Peter Firth, Matthew MacFadyen and Rupert Penry Jones and the rest of the cast to save it with solid performances. There was none of that good acting to be found here either. Coupled with the incredibly dumbed-down plot focusing on the action for the kiddies, London getting nuked in 2012 wasn't the only disaster here.

I can only hope the second episode is better. Between this and the abortion known as Bonekickers, as an American who enjoys plenty of British shows I have to wonder exactly WTF the BBC were thinking in greenlighting rubbish like this.

To tell you the truth, it is on what you'd refer to as a "cable channel". BBC Three is a digital only channel, aimed at the teen/early twenties age group, and isn't renowned for great shows. They do have the occasional good show, but the channel seems to be very much about experimenting, and "Youth Issues" most of the time.
I can't disagree about the show though, none of them made the stories credible. Between this and Bonekickers, it makes you wonder what happened to the writers.

 

[Deckerd]

It's SpookBeebies.

 

[Angel4576]

Looks like it scored OK ratings, but lost over 100,000 views for the second part.

Wouldn't read too much into the drop off. The % share went up as the total viewership across the board went down for that hour. By all accounts, those numbers are still very very good.

Of course, saying this, I didn't bother to watch myself as IMO, it looked awful from the trailers alone.

 

[Ghost Rider]

It did bring a new meaning to the term Olympic Torch

 

[tenmei]

Personally, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to see where the ongoing mysteries take the show.

 

[jgdst]

I wasn't that impressed to be honest. It's a little too obvious they wanted to come up with a new BBC Three "Hollyoaks" version of Spooks, but make it realistic as to why the country rests in the hands of 20-somethings

I wasn't really buying all the whole premise of the nuke in London, the Torchwood style inclusion of bad language and sex to separate it and make it "edgier". Plus, the direction wasn't great... I didn't watch the second, and I can't see me making the effort for the rest of the season I'm afraid I was expecting Danny John Jules and the MI:High cast to jump out any moment...

I turned over to ITV1 at one point to watch that heart attack advert. Was that Steven Berkoff or not?