Spooks

Spooks is a British television drama series, produced by the independent production company Kudos for the BBC One network. The title derives from a popular slang term for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 agents. The programme was created and is chiefly written by David Wolstencroft.

Foreign sales

In the United States, the series is screened on A&E, a specialty cable channel, under the title MI-5. This is partly due to the fact that the word 'spook' is an old racist slang term for African Americans, and the network did not wish to risk the possibility of causing offence, and partly because in the US, 'spook' is more generally associated with the CIA. Series 3 began in the U.S. immediately after the U.K. run ended and wrapped up with Episode 10 on March 12, 2005. The first two series were shown on A&E as a single 16-episode season. Due to the need to insert commercial advertising breaks, the episodes shown on A&E are heavily edited versions, with each 59-minute installment being edited down to roughly 45 minutes for US showings, often causing some narrative problems for American viewers. The full versions are, however, available on DVD in that country. Its modest success in America is reminiscent of the 1960's "golden age" when several British spy/action dramas such as The Avengers, The Prisoner and Danger Man (retitled Secret Agent in the U.S.) successfully rebroadcast in the States.

Related Topics:
United States - A&E - African American - CIA - DVD - The Avengers - The Prisoner - Danger Man

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In Canada, the series is also screened on BBC Canada, a specialty digital cable channel, under its original BBC title Spooks. It is shown uncut and unedited on BBC Canada. BBC also shows Spooks on their entertainment channel BBC Prime in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Related Topics:
Canada - BBC Canada - BBC Prime

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The program is also aired as Spooks in Australia and New Zealand on ABC and TVNZ respectively. In Sweden it airs as Spooks on SVT1, in France the programme is called MI-5 and broadcast on Canal Plus, in Belgium Spooks was broadcast on the Flemish public channel Canvas and in the Czech Republic as MI5 on ?T1. In Israel it was aired under two different names (MI-5 and Intelligence Agency) on the Israeli Broadcasting Authority Channel 1 and on cable.

Related Topics:
Australia - New Zealand - ABC - TVNZ - Sweden - SVT1 - France - Canal Plus - Belgium - Flemish - Canvas - Czech Republic - ?T1 - Israel - Israeli Broadcasting Authority

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