Unofficial site for the British actor Richard Armitage | The Hobbit, Captain America: The First Avenger, Spooks, Strike Back, Robin Hood, North and South, Vicar of Dibley | Latest news, pictures, artwork and multimedia
Jonathan Brackley, Sam Vincent, David Farr, Richard McBrien
Directed by:
Paul Whittington, Michael Caton-Jones
Produced by:
Lachlan MacKinnon
Broadcast:
starts Monday 20 September 9pm BBC1
Duration
8 x 1 hour episodes
Distributor:
BBC
Cast:
Harry Pearce - PETER FIRTH
Lucas North - RICHARD ARMITAGE
Ruth Evershed - NICOLA WALKER
Beth Bailey - SOPHIA MYLES
Dmitri Levendis - MAX BROWN
Tariq Masood - SHAZAD LATIF
Vaughn Edwards - IAIN GLEN
Home Secretary - SIMON RUSSELL BEALE
Maya Lahan - LAILA ROUASS
Broadcast Information
For US residents: Spooks/MI-5 series 9 is available on Netflix's Watch Instantly. All 80 episodes are currently available.
DVD release
Series 9 in the UK: the DVD was released in the UK on 28 February 2011. Links on the RA on DVD page.
Series 9 in Australia: Spooks series 9 is available from EzyDVD and the ABC Shop from 1 June.
Series 9 in the US: MI-5 volume 9 DVD was released by Amazon US on 12 July. Links on the RA on DVD page.
Series 9 in Canada: the DVD will be available from BBC Canada on 12 July 2011.
Series 7 and series 8 DVDs in France: these DVDs are now available in French and English language and with French subtitles. Series 7 details on Amazon France – Series 8 details on Amazon France. All previous series of Spooks (MI-5) are also being released on DVD this month.
Introduction
Series 9 of the award winning BBC spy drama saw Richard return as agent Lucas North. When the series ended, the BBC showed a caption to confirm that series 10 will return in 2011. This was previously confirmed by Controller of BBC Drama commissiong, Ben Stephenson, during his speech to launch the Autumn/Winter drama schedule in October. We have no official confirmation if Lucas will return to a possible series 10. The lack of a body at the end of series 9 and Richard's busy schedule in 2011 will lead many to wonder if a return is possible.
Trouble playing videos on this site - see the FAQ page
18 Sep 2011
The BBC have several clips from series 8 and 9 on their redesigned Spooks page. The clips only play in the UK.
07 Mar 2011 Will Martin from Cultbox has interviewed the lead writers of Spooks series 9, Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley, to ask them about writing for Spooks and specifically about the exit storyline for Lucas. "Giving Lucas a heroic exit would have been the safer thing to do, and Kudos are admirably rigorous about not taking the easy option."
27 Feb 2011
Video interviews with Richard and the Spooks cast:
Cultbox have 4 short video interviews on their site with members of the cast, namely Peter Firth, Richard Armitage, Sophia Myles and Max Brown, to promote the release of the Spooks series 9 DVD.
There is a longer interview with Richard in his Spooks trailer on the MSN TV site, followed by an interview with Nicola Walker (thanks to Viktoria for the link). Here's some screencaps, click to enlarge:
24 Feb 2011
The Spooks online video game mentioned in yesterday's news gets a write-up on Entertainment-Focus.com with two new high quality pictures of Lucas North. Thanks to Bccmee for the link.
Many thanks to Entertainment-Focus.com for sending me the pictures of Lucas in HQ extra large - click the thumbnails below to see the full size.
23 Feb 2011
There's a short clip of Richard in this promotional video for the Spooks series 9 DVD on youtube:
This video has been uploaded by Becomeaspook.com, which is an online video game tied with the release of the series 9 DVD.
21 Feb 2011
Three pictures of Richard filming Spooks series 9 episode 1 have emerged on Flickr, with thanks to Violet and also the Spooks Fan Blog for the links: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3. The photos were taken on April 8, 2010 and are copyright of 'Anyhoo'.
18 Feb 2011
Spooks series 9 DVD (region 2) is released on Monday 28 February and here is the press release from the publicists. A review of the DVD is here on Cultbox: "the cast’s performances are as strong as ever, with the ever-reliable Peter Firth proving yet again why he’s so vital to the show as boss Harry Pearce, alongside Richard Armitage on outstanding form as troubled agent Lucas North."
You can pre-order the DVD from Amazon or Play.com - more information on the RA on DVD page.
The producers of the Spooks 9 DVD, Universal Playback, have a photo gallery with two previously unseen photos of Richard as Lucas North similar to those on the bottom of this page of the Spooks Promo gallery. I've doubled the size of the pictures from that site, which you can view by clicking on the thumbnails below. A better version of one of their pictures is already in the gallery - #913.
23 Jan 2011
Spooks 9 DVD Extras: details of the extras included on the series 9 DVD boxset have been released by Cultbox. They include 2 documentaries 'The Cost Of Being A Spy' and 'The Downfall Of Lucas North' and episode commentaries with Nicola Walker, executive producer Andrew Woodhead, Sam Vincent, Jon Brackley and writer Anthony Neilson. It is released on 28 February 2011. DVD ordering information on the RA on DVD page.
25 Nov 2010
Amazon have a trailer advertising the extras on the Spooks 9 DVD and there's a few shots of Richard talking to camera and playing Lucas North. You can watch it on the Amazon UK site (click the video thumbnail under the DVD picture).
Or watch this youtube clip that was uploaded from the Amazon clip:
A picture of Richard taken during Spooks filming was posted on Digital Spy. Also in the picture are DS's journalist Catriona (who wrote the interview posted above) and Richard's co-star Laila Rouass.
Click to enlarge:
14 Sep 2010
TV magazines previewing Spooks 9
Richard appeared on the front cover of two of the television magazines and many of them chose Spooks as their pick of the day for Monday 20 September. Read all the articles on the Spooks Reviews page.
2 Sep 2010
The BBC Press Office has revealed that episode one of Spooks series 9 will be broadcast week beginning 18 September. No exact date and time has been given. There is an interview with Richard (with some spoilers) about what we can expect from Lucas in this series, plus episode one information (spoilers again). Here are all the links:
Thanks to Simply Sophia Myles for this picture of Lucas and Beth (Sophia) from an episode of Spooks 9 (click to enlarge):
18 July 2010
Filming in Wandsworth Town Hall, London
Richard was filming Spooks at Wandsworth Town Hall on Sunday 18 July and he met some fans who had patiently waited for a sighting. More than one crew member confirmed that Spooks series 10 has been commissioned and will start filming in February 2011.
Marguerita of the C19 and AA forums has kindly shared a photograph that she took. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge.
This picture was taken during a break in filming later in the afternoon. They were filming a flashback scene to 1995 and the town hall was masquerading as an embassy building in Dakar, Senegal.
25 June 2010
News from Twitter
A few journalists interviewed Richard today to talk about Spooks at the PPRTV offices. David Stephenson, TV editor for the Sunday Express, announced this on twitter so there will be audio to listen to when the press embargo is lifted (probably September). Also TV.com have announced that their interview with Richard cannot be posted until September, however the lady that conducted the interview has posted a picture of Richard which is in this tweet and also here:
