After the new series of ‘Spooks‘ premiered last Monday many reviews could be found. They’re quite favourable and also Sophia’s addition to the cast was received mostly positively:
Hermione Norris’s refreshingly stern Ros Myers has been replaced by the busty, smouldering Sophia Myles as Beth Bailey – a former independent contractor hankering for a job at MI5. Like North, her cocky, self-assured demeanour screamed “mole” and we were merrily invited to distrust her from the start.
It’s all fairly daft (well, as far as we know – MI5 may actually be dealing with these kinds of preposterous events every day), but happily Spooks remains as tight, gripping and exceptionally watchable as it was in series one.
• The TelegraphIt’s the marriage of slick, if slightly implausible, action and the suggestion of a world forever on the brink of going to hell that gives Spooks its edge.
• Metro (they also strangely had a problem with Beth’s cleavage)The highlight of the night – and any other night, come to think of it – was the start of the ninth series of Spooks (BBC1) which is still as compellingly watchable and implausible as ever. I say implausible, but then you never really know.
• GuardianThe new ones especially worked tremendously well. Replacing Ros would be an impossible feat, but I really like Sophia Myles’ Beth Bailey; she’s sparky, clever, and fun, and she has bucketloads of chemistry with Lucas.
• Unpopcult
There’s also a funny rather Beth-centric review at The Arts Desk and another one at The Independent and The Guardian’s Vicky Frost is back with her witty Spooks blog.
The episode attracted 5.58 million viewers which was less than other ‘Spooks‘ series premieres in the past pulled in – but with an audience share of 23.2% it was still the most watched programme of the evening (source: Digital Spy).
The official ‘Spooks’ Website was updated for the current series and Sophia’s charcter has her own profile page here: Beth Bailey. Here’s a not so spoilery look out for next week’s episode by Ian Wylie: Spooks – The One With the Lift. And the new description for episode 4 which will air on October 11, 2010, 9pm is now also available at the BBC Press Office (SPOILERS).
