On the Brink
Encyclopedia
"On the Brink" is the fifth episode of series seven of the British
espionage
television series Spooks
, and the 60th episode overall. It was originally broadcast on digital channel BBC Three
on 10 November 2008, and repeated on frontline channel BBC One
on 17 November. The episode was written by Christian Spurrier, his first writing credit for the series, and directed by Edward Hall
. Set during the credit crunch
, in this episode, Section D chief Ros Myers
(Hermione Norris
) works undercover to stop Alexis Meynell (Paul Rhys
), a banker who is attempting to bankrupt the country. Later, Ros discovers Meynell's motive.
The idea behind the episode came from the financial crisis of Northern Rock
in late 2007; the producers wanted to set up a story about a bank collapse so severe it could result in an economic collapse. The episode was filmed in May 2008, with a lot taking place in London's Blue Fin building. About six million viewers saw the episode from both BBC One and Three broadcasts; the BBC One ratings were steady despite heavy competition from I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! on ITV1
. Critical reactions towards the episode were positive for including a change in plot.
(Peter Firth
) asks the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Gillian Calderwood (Selina Cadell
) to freeze Meynell's assets, but is turned down due to lack of evidence. To get the evidence they need, Ros is sent undercover to the London Stock Exchange
, where Meynell is targetting the bank Highland Life. After starting a rumour about the bank, he starts betting against it. When the chairman of Highland Life, Francis Debham (Simon Williams
), attempts to keep the bank afloat, Meynell doubles his position, bankrupting Highland Life. Ros uses the opportunity to swipe a memory card from Meynell's mobile phone
, containing his secure email
account that could prove his guilt. However, they find nothing relevant. Lucas North
(Richard Armitage
) relays this to Ros and tells her to get closer to Meynell.
Ben Kaplan
(Alex Lanipekun
) breaks into Meynell's office to learn of deals between Highland Life and Salma, a Russian bank that according to Elizabeta Starkova (Paloma Baeza
), has connections with the Russian mafia
. It is also revealed Highland Life owes Salma £65 billion. It was this reason that earlier in the episode, Denham committed suicide
. In order to get Meynell to trust her to become part of his plan, she sleeps with him. Later, Calderwood receives a call from Asa Darlek (Stephen Noonan), Meynell's associate from Salma, and threatens to either have the £65 billion paid back, or he will go public to inform the country the true extent of its debts. Ros presents a third option; have Calderwood announce she will back Highland Life, while at the same time she will convince Meynell to bet against it. Such a plan would financially ruin Meynell. The next morning however, Darlek realises she is MI5 and threatens to kill her if Calderwood does not back down. Ros fights the gun off and Calderwood goes ahead with her statement. Later, Lucas releases Elizabeta as an asset. Meanwhile, Jo Portman
(Miranda Raison
) believes Boscard (Gus Gallagher), her captor from the end of series six, is still alive after seeing several hallucinations of him. Later, Ros puts her mind at rest when she shows Jo photographic evidence Boscard is indeed dead, and it was Jo who killed him.
Running on a tip that Connie James
(Gemma Jones
) may have leaked the top secret Sugarhorse to the Russians due to her affair
with Hugo Prince, one of only five people to know about the operation, Harry has officer search her home. Harry later finds a tape left by Prince in a Big Ben souvenir. Prince left a message that there is a leak in Sugarhorse, but Connie is not responsible. Later, Harry admits to Lucas that in "The Tip-Off
" he was lying about not knowing what Sugarhorse and asks him to recall anything during his interrogations. Lucas eventually recalls the word "Pilgrim" uttered several times. He did a background check and informs Harry that "Pilgrim" is the codename for Bernard Qualtrough
, the same man apparently helping Harry find the mole.
The episode was written by Christian Spurrier, his first writing credit for the series. He joined the Spooks writing staff in January 2008. Producer Katie Swinden wanted to base an episode on the economy, which at the time was facing a recession following the financial crisis of the British bank Northern Rock
just months before. After trying a few different stories, the producers settled on a story about a bank collapse that is so severe it could result in an economic collapse. Spurrier did research on banking climate in the City of London
in March 2008, and realised the economy was going down, but also wanted to exaggerate the numbers for the episode. Ros was chosen to lead because the character had a background in business. In some of the original drafts of the episode, John Castle
would return as Jocelyn Myers, Ros' father, but later on the producers realised they did not need him. The producers also wanted to include some jeopardy in the climax, namely adding a gun to a head or a bomb, which created the scenes where Darlek threatened to kill Ros. Spurrier felt he had a "lot of juggling" in writing three separate storylines; the main plot, the Sugarhorse subplot and Jo; but did a lot of learning how to write a Spooks script as he wrote it.
The character of Alexis Meynell was inspired by Howard Brenton
's writing for "The Russian" in the fourth series. Spurrier wanted him to always suspect Ros, but at the same time be intrigued by her. The producers enjoyed casting Paul Rhys for the role as his performance was "fantastically scary." In playing Asa Darlek, Stephen Noonan had to abandon his Liverpudlian accent and sport a Russian one, which Noonan worked hard on. Director Edward Hall
provided the voice for Hugo Prince.
The episode was filmed throughout May 2008. The helicopter shots of the city were filmed before principal photography of the seventh series started. Almost all scenes where shot during the day, including the scenes set during the night. The second day of the shoot for the episode took place at a house not belonging to the crew, used as the home of Connie James. The Blue Fin building in London provided several locations for the episode, mostly the stock exchange room. Real life traders were used to film scenes set in the floor. Swinden noted that the traders were "interesting guys" to work with, and told the producers the story was "very close to home." The producers borrowed two expensive cars, more prominently an Aston Martin DB9
convertible, which were driven by Armitage and Norris. Armitage was asked to drive the car for only 10 yards, but the actor ended up getting carried away by wheel-spinning and driving the car around a city block
. Another car was a Bentley
used for Denham's suicide. Because it was on loan, Firth's options on acting as if he was trying to save Denham was very limited without having to damage the car.
from 10:30 pm on Monday, 10 November 2008, after the broadcast of the fourth episode on BBC One
. The episode would later be repeated on BBC One the next week on 17 November 2008 during the 9 pm to 10 pm time slot
, except in Northern Ireland
, where it was withheld until 10:35 pm. According to overnight figures, the first look on BBC Three was seen by 691,500, a 6.1 per cent share on its timeslot. The BBC One repeat was viewed by 4.95 million, with a 20.3% audience share. Though it went against I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! on ITV1
, which attracted over eight million viewers, Spooks ratings remained steady from the previous week. According to the final numbers from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, the episode was viewed by 0.79 million from BBC Three, and later 5.21 million from BBC One, together adding up to 6 million.
The episode received positive reactions from television critics. Gerard O'Donovan of The Daily Telegraph
called it "another pertinent, brilliantly written episode" and reacted positively towards the episode's "new kind of threat: the economic terrorist." O'Donovan also praised Paul Rhys' acting for "giving his villainous all." He also noted a somewhat Doctor Who
reference, as one of the antagonists is named "Darlek" (akin to Dalek
). Mof Gimmers of TV Scoop also noticed the reference, stating "true to his name, he did (almost) shout 'exterminate' at the end." Gimmers praised the episode for having "a refreshing change from the usual theme of this series," Rhys' performance and the sub plot of the Sugarhorse story arc, adding "definitely one of the best stories so far in what has been an impressive series, if a little heavy on the Islamic terrorist side at times. With three episodes to go the Sugarhorse story is building nicely to a crescendo."
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
television series Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
, and the 60th episode overall. It was originally broadcast on digital channel BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
on 10 November 2008, and repeated on frontline channel BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 17 November. The episode was written by Christian Spurrier, his first writing credit for the series, and directed by Edward Hall
Edward Hall (director)
Edward Hall is an English theatre director and an associate director at The National Theatre. Hall is known for directing Rose Rage, a stage adaptation of Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays. He also runs an all-male Shakespeare company, Propeller...
. Set during the credit crunch
Late-2000s financial crisis
The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...
, in this episode, Section D chief Ros Myers
Ros Myers
Rosalind "Ros" Sarah Myers was a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division in MI5. She is portrayed by British actress Hermione Norris. The character was a former MI6 officer who works with MI5 in the...
(Hermione Norris
Hermione Norris
Hermione Norris is an English actress.Norris attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in the 1980s before taking small roles in theatre and on television. In 1996, she was cast in her breakout role of Karen Marsden in the comedy drama television series Cold Feet...
) works undercover to stop Alexis Meynell (Paul Rhys
Paul Rhys
Paul Rhys is a British television, film and theatre actor.Rhys was born in Wales and studied at RADA, leaving with the Bancroft Gold Medal in 1987. While there, he obtained his first major screen role, in Absolute Beginners . Since then he has seldom been off the stage and screen...
), a banker who is attempting to bankrupt the country. Later, Ros discovers Meynell's motive.
The idea behind the episode came from the financial crisis of Northern Rock
Northern Rock
Northern Rock plc is a British bank, best known for becoming the first bank in 150 years to suffer a bank run after having had to approach the Bank of England for a loan facility, to replace money market funding, during the credit crisis in 2007. Having failed to find a commercial buyer for...
in late 2007; the producers wanted to set up a story about a bank collapse so severe it could result in an economic collapse. The episode was filmed in May 2008, with a lot taking place in London's Blue Fin building. About six million viewers saw the episode from both BBC One and Three broadcasts; the BBC One ratings were steady despite heavy competition from I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! on ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
. Critical reactions towards the episode were positive for including a change in plot.
Plot
Section D believes banker Alexis Meynell is trying to bankrupt the country. Sir Harry PearceHarry Pearce
Sir Henry James "Harry" Pearce KBE is the fictional head of the Counter-Terrorism department of MI5, featured in the British television series, Spooks...
(Peter Firth
Peter Firth
Peter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
) asks the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
Gillian Calderwood (Selina Cadell
Selina Cadell
Selina Cadell is an English actress. She is the sister of the late actor Simon Cadell and granddaughter of the actress Jean Cadell.....
) to freeze Meynell's assets, but is turned down due to lack of evidence. To get the evidence they need, Ros is sent undercover to the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
, where Meynell is targetting the bank Highland Life. After starting a rumour about the bank, he starts betting against it. When the chairman of Highland Life, Francis Debham (Simon Williams
Simon Williams (actor)
Simon Williams is an English actor known for playing James Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Frequently playing upper-class roles, he is also known for playing Dr...
), attempts to keep the bank afloat, Meynell doubles his position, bankrupting Highland Life. Ros uses the opportunity to swipe a memory card from Meynell's mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
, containing his secure email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
account that could prove his guilt. However, they find nothing relevant. Lucas North
Lucas North
Lucas North, formerly known as John Bateman, is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks , which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. North is portrayed by British actor Richard Armitage...
(Richard Armitage
Richard Armitage (actor)
Richard Crispin Armitage is an English actor famous for his roles as John Thornton in North and South, Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, and Lucas North in Spooks...
) relays this to Ros and tells her to get closer to Meynell.
Ben Kaplan
Ben Kaplan
Ben Kaplan DSO, portrayed by Alex Lanipekun was a starring character in the British spy series, Spooks.- Appearances :Ben Kaplan first appeared in Series 6, Episode 5 as a freelance journalist who was in a relationship with Jo Portman. He tried to expose what was going on with MI5's and Section D's...
(Alex Lanipekun
Alex Lanipekun
Alex Lanipekun is a British Actor of Nigerian and Italian/English origin. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art but left early to join the cast of the BBC drama Spooks as journalist come spy Ben Kaplan. In 2007 he won the prestigious Carleton Hobbs Award, joining the BBC Radio Drama Rep...
) breaks into Meynell's office to learn of deals between Highland Life and Salma, a Russian bank that according to Elizabeta Starkova (Paloma Baeza
Paloma Baeza
-Biography:Baeza lived in Mexico during her childhood. Her Mexican father and her English mother were hippie musicians. In 1975, when Baeza was 5 months old, her parents married in London and they went to Mexico City. They divorced nine years afterwards....
), has connections with the Russian mafia
Russian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
. It is also revealed Highland Life owes Salma £65 billion. It was this reason that earlier in the episode, Denham committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. In order to get Meynell to trust her to become part of his plan, she sleeps with him. Later, Calderwood receives a call from Asa Darlek (Stephen Noonan), Meynell's associate from Salma, and threatens to either have the £65 billion paid back, or he will go public to inform the country the true extent of its debts. Ros presents a third option; have Calderwood announce she will back Highland Life, while at the same time she will convince Meynell to bet against it. Such a plan would financially ruin Meynell. The next morning however, Darlek realises she is MI5 and threatens to kill her if Calderwood does not back down. Ros fights the gun off and Calderwood goes ahead with her statement. Later, Lucas releases Elizabeta as an asset. Meanwhile, Jo Portman
Jo Portman
Joanna "Jo" Portman was a fictional Field Operative in the Counter-Terrorism department at MI5, featured in the British television series, Spooks, also known as MI5 in the United States. She was played by Miranda Raison...
(Miranda Raison
Miranda Raison
-Early life:Born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, her father Nick Raison is a jazz pianist and artist, while her mother Caroline read the news for Anglia Television. She has two brothers and two sisters: Ed , Rosie, Sam and May. Her parents divorced when she was six years old, and her father remarried...
) believes Boscard (Gus Gallagher), her captor from the end of series six, is still alive after seeing several hallucinations of him. Later, Ros puts her mind at rest when she shows Jo photographic evidence Boscard is indeed dead, and it was Jo who killed him.
Running on a tip that Connie James
Connie James
Connie James played by Gemma Jones is a fictional British MI5 spy in the BBC television series Spooks.-Introduction to the Team:According the BBC website, Connie joined MI5 as a secretary when she was 19 in 1963. She was first seen in episode 2 of Series 6, brought in as a regular female lead...
(Gemma Jones
Gemma Jones
Gemma Jones is an English character actress on both stage and screen.-Early life:Jones was born in London, England, the daughter of Irene and Griffith Jones, an actor. Her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor...
) may have leaked the top secret Sugarhorse to the Russians due to her affair
Affair
Affair may refer to professional, personal, or public business matters or to a particular business or private activity of a temporary duration, as in family affair, a private affair, or a romantic affair.-Political affair:...
with Hugo Prince, one of only five people to know about the operation, Harry has officer search her home. Harry later finds a tape left by Prince in a Big Ben souvenir. Prince left a message that there is a leak in Sugarhorse, but Connie is not responsible. Later, Harry admits to Lucas that in "The Tip-Off
The Tip-Off
"The Tip-Off" is the third episode of series seven of the British espionage television series Spooks, and the 58th episode overall. It was originally broadcast on digital channel BBC Three on 28 October 2008, and repeated on frontline channel BBC One on 3 November. The episode was written by...
" he was lying about not knowing what Sugarhorse and asks him to recall anything during his interrogations. Lucas eventually recalls the word "Pilgrim" uttered several times. He did a background check and informs Harry that "Pilgrim" is the codename for Bernard Qualtrough
Bernard Qualtrough
Bernard Qualtrough is a fictional British spy appearing in series 7 of the BBC television drama Spooks . The character was played by Richard Johnson....
, the same man apparently helping Harry find the mole.
Production
Northern Rock
Northern Rock plc is a British bank, best known for becoming the first bank in 150 years to suffer a bank run after having had to approach the Bank of England for a loan facility, to replace money market funding, during the credit crisis in 2007. Having failed to find a commercial buyer for...
just months before. After trying a few different stories, the producers settled on a story about a bank collapse that is so severe it could result in an economic collapse. Spurrier did research on banking climate in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
in March 2008, and realised the economy was going down, but also wanted to exaggerate the numbers for the episode. Ros was chosen to lead because the character had a background in business. In some of the original drafts of the episode, John Castle
John Castle
John Castle is an English actor. Castle has acted in theatre, film and television. He is well known for his role as Postumus in the 1976 BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius and for playing Geoffrey in the 1968 film, The Lion in Winter. He also played Dr...
would return as Jocelyn Myers, Ros' father, but later on the producers realised they did not need him. The producers also wanted to include some jeopardy in the climax, namely adding a gun to a head or a bomb, which created the scenes where Darlek threatened to kill Ros. Spurrier felt he had a "lot of juggling" in writing three separate storylines; the main plot, the Sugarhorse subplot and Jo; but did a lot of learning how to write a Spooks script as he wrote it.
The character of Alexis Meynell was inspired by Howard Brenton
Howard Brenton
-Early years:Brenton was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, son of Methodist minister Donald Henry Brenton and his wife Rose Lilian . He was educated at Chichester High School For Boys and read English Literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. In 1964 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal...
's writing for "The Russian" in the fourth series. Spurrier wanted him to always suspect Ros, but at the same time be intrigued by her. The producers enjoyed casting Paul Rhys for the role as his performance was "fantastically scary." In playing Asa Darlek, Stephen Noonan had to abandon his Liverpudlian accent and sport a Russian one, which Noonan worked hard on. Director Edward Hall
Edward Hall (director)
Edward Hall is an English theatre director and an associate director at The National Theatre. Hall is known for directing Rose Rage, a stage adaptation of Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays. He also runs an all-male Shakespeare company, Propeller...
provided the voice for Hugo Prince.
The episode was filmed throughout May 2008. The helicopter shots of the city were filmed before principal photography of the seventh series started. Almost all scenes where shot during the day, including the scenes set during the night. The second day of the shoot for the episode took place at a house not belonging to the crew, used as the home of Connie James. The Blue Fin building in London provided several locations for the episode, mostly the stock exchange room. Real life traders were used to film scenes set in the floor. Swinden noted that the traders were "interesting guys" to work with, and told the producers the story was "very close to home." The producers borrowed two expensive cars, more prominently an Aston Martin DB9
Aston Martin DB9
-DB9 Volante:The Aston Martin DB9 Volante is the convertible version of the DB9 coupe. It is built by hand in limited numbers and has enhanced styling. It is powered by the same 6.0 litre, DOHC 48 valve V12 as the DB9 and is completed with 470 bhp and a top speed of 186 mph...
convertible, which were driven by Armitage and Norris. Armitage was asked to drive the car for only 10 yards, but the actor ended up getting carried away by wheel-spinning and driving the car around a city block
City block
A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
. Another car was a Bentley
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
used for Denham's suicide. Because it was on loan, Firth's options on acting as if he was trying to save Denham was very limited without having to damage the car.
Broadcast and reception
The episode was originally broadcast on the digital channel BBC ThreeBBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
from 10:30 pm on Monday, 10 November 2008, after the broadcast of the fourth episode on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. The episode would later be repeated on BBC One the next week on 17 November 2008 during the 9 pm to 10 pm time slot
Time division multiple access
Time division multiple access is a channel access method for shared medium networks. It allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. The users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, each using its own time slot. This...
, except in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, where it was withheld until 10:35 pm. According to overnight figures, the first look on BBC Three was seen by 691,500, a 6.1 per cent share on its timeslot. The BBC One repeat was viewed by 4.95 million, with a 20.3% audience share. Though it went against I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! on ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
, which attracted over eight million viewers, Spooks ratings remained steady from the previous week. According to the final numbers from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, the episode was viewed by 0.79 million from BBC Three, and later 5.21 million from BBC One, together adding up to 6 million.
The episode received positive reactions from television critics. Gerard O'Donovan of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
called it "another pertinent, brilliantly written episode" and reacted positively towards the episode's "new kind of threat: the economic terrorist." O'Donovan also praised Paul Rhys' acting for "giving his villainous all." He also noted a somewhat Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
reference, as one of the antagonists is named "Darlek" (akin to Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
). Mof Gimmers of TV Scoop also noticed the reference, stating "true to his name, he did (almost) shout 'exterminate' at the end." Gimmers praised the episode for having "a refreshing change from the usual theme of this series," Rhys' performance and the sub plot of the Sugarhorse story arc, adding "definitely one of the best stories so far in what has been an impressive series, if a little heavy on the Islamic terrorist side at times. With three episodes to go the Sugarhorse story is building nicely to a crescendo."
External links
- Series 7, Episode 5 at bbc.co.ukBbc.co.ukBBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...
- Episode 5 at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...