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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.Spooks 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.Spooks, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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For more information, go [http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/spooks/ here] (Non-UK spoilers) and [http://www.aetv.com/tv/shows/mi5/mi5_homepage.html here].
A [[Spin
{{tropelist}}
* [[Actor Allusion]]: [[Robin Hood (TV)|This isn't the first time]] Lara Pulver has taken {{spoiler|[[Richard Armitage]]}}'s job.
* [[And the Adventure Continues]]: The show ends on a particularly bittersweet version of this.
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** Ros also kills a Russian dude ''with a fork'' and threatens another one with a pen to the eyeball. In the same episode. [[Lady of War|Without significantly messing up her hair.]]
* [[Compromising Memoirs]]: The Rose Bed Memoirs.
* [[Crapsack World]] - Terrorists around every corner, corruption in every rank of the government, allied governments not giving a damn about Britain's survival, Russia openly slaughtering British agents in the street, and [[Anyone Can Die]] taken to [[Kill
* [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]: Several
* [[Defictionalization]] (some terminology and catchphrases invented in this series are now used by the real MI-5)
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** A common example is to use terminology that was accurate at one point but is now outdated, perhaps due to issues with classified information. For example, the Alternative Seat of Government base under the Cotswolds is known as "TURNSTILE" in the series, that code name being one used some time in the past (and in any case the base has been decommissioned since 2004).
*** To be fair, the episode in which "TURNSTILE" is referenced (''I Spy Apocalypse'') aired in 2003, when the base was still active.
* [[Did You Just Scam Cthulhu]] / [[Mugging the Monster]]: far too many politicians [[Realpolitik|try to use]] [[Badass Israeli|Mossad]] [[Too Dumb to Live|for their own ends]], usually via manipulation and mis-direction One very highly placed lawyer managed to manipulate them into taking out an [[MI 5]] op team. [[Alas, Poor Villain|Let's just say]] [[Family
* [[Dirty Coward]]: How Adam describes a rival agent {{spoiler|who was helping rogue Mossad agents to take hostage and kill Saudi officials}} for this when he kills himself rather than face the team.
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Lucas.}}
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* [[Heroic Sacrifice]] (several)
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: several agents have issues with maintaining a stable reality. This [[Freak Out|does not end well.]]
* [[Hey
** In only the second episode [[Pirates of the Caribbean|Mr. Gibbs]] is a nasty Fascist {{spoiler|who shoves Lisa Faulkner's head in a deep fat fryer}}.
** in Series 1, the head of [[MI 6]] is [[House (TV)|House]]!
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* [[Locked in A Freezer]]: Whole episodes have taken place in a locked-down grid, most notably "I Spy Apocalypse" and "Diana".
* [[The Lost Lenore]]: {{spoiler|Fiona, to Adam}}.
* [[Mad
* [[Make the Bear Angry Again]] (Season 7)
* [[The Mole]] {{spoiler|Various [[Acceptable Targets|Americans and MI6 agents]] throughout the series, plus Connie in season 7.}}
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* [[Moral Dissonance]]: Lampshaded by Danny when he has to assassinate a scientist planning to sell weaponized plague to terrorists, who references a line spoken by Tom in the very first episode that stated killing in the name of life is still wrong.
* [[More Expendable Than You]]: An interesting variant is season 8. {{spoiler|The British Home Secretary and Pakistani President have been left paralysed in a room rigged to explode. When Ros and Lucas show up for the rescue, Lucas is heartbreakingly forced to leave Ros and the Home Secretary behind. If the President dies there could be nuclear war, and Lucas is the only one strong enough to carry him.}}
* [[Murder
* [[Never Mess With Granny]]: And never, ''ever'' {{spoiler|be alone in a locked room with Connie.}}
* [[Our Hero Is Dead]]: noticeable for subverting this rather harshly. There is a very good chance in this show that if it looks like the hero is dead, they [[Kill Them All|probably are]]. And if they manage to [[Not Quite Dead|escape a near-death experience]], expect [[Heroic BSOD|the emotional trauma to manifest in their behaviour]].
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* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Connie, who redeems herself with a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to stop London being destroyed.}}
** However, this is then [[Averted]] at the end of series 10, {{spoiler|when a memorial garden with the names of the operatives KIA across the series is shown. Connie's name is not there, and neither is Lucas North's.}}
* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: at the beginning of season 5 {{spoiler|Collingwood and [[Visionary Villain|his group]] of [[Well
* [[Revolving Door Casting]]
* [[Running Gag]]: "KGB." "FSB."
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** And Helen, of course.
* [[Sacrificial Lion]]: {{spoiler|either Danny or Fiona, depending on your point of view.}}
* [[Shell
** Even though he'd been captured and tortured gruesomely by a number of rival intelligence agencies, Adam Carter was able to remain optimisitc about his work {{spoiler|until his wife was shot dead by her ex-husband, a Syrian agent}}, which pushed him into an [[Heroic BSOD]] that he never really got over.
* [[Shoe Phone]]. Subverted in "Nest of Angels". An Algerian agent listens politely when he's shown a number of disguised communication/bugging devices for his mission to infiltrate a radical Islamic group. The next scene shows him dumping this highly compromising equipment into a canal.
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* {{spoiler|[[Villain Protagonist]]}}: Lucas.
* [[The War On Terror]] (first British series to feature it)
* [[Well
* [[Western Terrorists]]: This trope is fully [[Justified Trope|justified]], as [[MI 5]] is (or at least, it ''was'' when the show started) concerned with domestic security akin to the American FBI, and not exclusively terrorism. The first series was written prior to 9/11 (although some cursory references were inserted after the fact) when Irish splinter groups, xenophobic race-baiting, and economic rioting were the prime sources of potential turmoil.
** And to be fair, some of these would be justified post-9/11 as well, given a quick glance at [[Real Life]].
* [[Will They or Won't They?]]: {{spoiler|Ruth and Harry.}}
* [[Would Hit a Girl]]: Jo, in particular, seems to get roughed up a ''lot''.
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