Is Spooks telling us the truth? - Radio Times, October 2004

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Is Spooks telling us the truth? - Radio Times, October 2004

John Naughton asks an expert if the spy drama's plots ring true.

"In the current climate it seems only reasonable to enquire if [Spooks plots reflect] how things really are in MI5 - or is it giving us cause to worry/hope unnecessarily?

One man well equipped to answer is Nigel West, author and "unofficial historian of the secret services". West is the professional pen name of ex-Tory MP Rupert Allason. Having one foot in the world of fiction and the other in the very factual world of the secret services, he's ideally placed to comment on the authenticity of Spooks.

Sadly, for West, none of Spooks rings true. By all means enjoy the show - just don't expect to learn much from it. "I had high hopes for Spooks," he sighs. "I was aware that they'd gone to Diligence [a corporate intelligence consulting firm run by ex-spies] for help, but I've yet to see a plot that's convincing. I understand one has to cut corners for artistic and plot reasons, but it was a disappointment.

"The thing that the writers haven't understood," he continues, "is that MI6 is an instrument of political power. Everything it does is authorised by a minister. MI5, on the other hand, has always been independent. The idea that a minister could tell MI5 what to do, or go and investigate a person, is nonsense.

"MI5 is entitled to conduct investigations without ministerial reference, and it's very important that it should do so. Because the moment you get a politician saying, 'I don't like the cut of that man's jib; investigate him,' you're on the way to a Gestapo state."

West accepts, however, that interest in espionage (and espionage dramas) has burgeoned since 9/11: "After the Cold War had come to an end, I remember being asked why we needed an intelligence service. Budgets of intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic were slashed to the bone, but that process has now been reversed."

For West, the benchmark of spy dramas on TV remains an ITV show of the late 1970s, The Sandbaggers, which starred Roy Marsden and ran for three seasons before the untimely, and somewhat mysterious, death of its ex-naval officer creator, Ian Mackintosh (possibly a drama in itself).

Yet while West remains unconvinced by Spooks, he seems sure enough that the security services remain as shrouded in mystery today as they have ever been.

"Ninety-five per cent of what takes place the British public doesn't hear about," he says emphatically. "They certainly don't hear about the successes. When somebody is arrested - let's say at customs - that may be the culmination of three years' surveillance, but that individual will never be aware of the scale of resources deployed against him. That's a good thing."

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Now take a look at our full Spooks guide.

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