Spooks' Nicola: 'It's not Pride and Prejudice!'

Nicola Walker chats about Ruth, Harry and the killing-off of Spooks' characters... How would you describe Harry's state of mind in this episode? "You never see Harry as unbalanced as he is in this episode of Spooks. It's quite strange." How do you feel about Ruth potentially being killed off? "The storyline where characters are killed are always really amazing. There's always the vain side of an actor that enjoys the big moment of going out in a blaze of glory." How do you view the proposal Harry made in the opening episode? "The proposal took place at Ros’s funeral, which tells you the tone of it! It's not a romantic proposal in the traditional sense because of the circumstances. It's not Pride and Prejudice!" Is Spooks a hectic shoot? "We end up reacting on a daily basis to the scripts rather than planning long in advance. Which has a real fear factor to it - terrified actors mumbling lines in corners! It evolves organically as it unfolds." How would you describe the tone of the series this year? "It's very paranoid. There isn't a single character who trusts the person standing next to them."

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.