Thou Shalt Not Kill (Spooks)
"Thou Shalt Not Kill" focuses on MI5's activities in stopping an anti-abortion group who have smuggled 20 explosive devices to be used against family planning doctors.
Danny Hunter (David Oyelowo) learns from one of his assets, "Osprey" (Kelly Rolfe), that the group responsible have smuggled 20 bombs into the country from Ireland.
By the time Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) signs the extradition forms, Kane has evaded MI5.
Senior case officer and team leader Tom Quinn (Matthew Macfadyen) attempts to persuade her to stop Kane, believing she has little regard for any life.
During the interrogation, Tom promises to send her to a state in the US where the death penalty does not apply in exchange for the locations of every cell she runs in the UK.
After she cooperates, Tom goes back on the deal and delivers Kane to CIA liaison Christine Dale (Megan Dodds), who returns her to Florida to be executed.
A scene where a cat escaped during Zoe's operation to bug Kane's cottage, and the ensuing search in the rain mirrored an experience during Wolstencroft's early career.
[2] Among the main cast, Peter Firth was attracted to appearing on Spooks after hearing of Howard Brenton's involvement in the series.
[3] The cast were advised by ex-MI5 officers in order to help give insight into how the characters operate in the spy world and how their personal lives would be affected by it.
In the audio commentary for the episode, Nalluri stated he was not inspired by the American series 24, which also uses split screen, as he was not yet aware of the show.
[8] Nancy Banks-Smith of The Guardian called it "one of those shiny and insubtantial series," adding that "all that leaping out of bed at dawn on the pretext that you have to go and sell a house tends to wear thin."
"[9] Thomas Sudcliff of The Independent felt it was a "different kind of spy drama" with "a literal description, derived from the sort of rueful story you could imagine being told at an MI5 staff social," and "a lot of bullshit too, naturally.
Alison Graham of the Radio Times said that after the episode, the series "looks like it's going to be great fun," but "it's presumably not meant to be taken too seriously, because surely life in MI5 can't be this exciting?
