1.3 and 1.4 DVD commentary

[lwhite53]

1.3 DVD commentary:
-Tom in sunglasses throughout ep -- Matthew had a burst blood vessel in his eye, had to wear dark glasses.
-Scene with Harry and Danny clearing out Helen's stuff after her death was almost cut because of time, but they decided to keep it because it showed a piece of Harry's character -- that his officers were important to him and he got upset when something happened to them, even if he didn't necessarily show it.
-Meeting with Johnny Marks -- first time Harry is off the grid and sets tone for H's character -- he has an interesting and colored past, he's done some underhanded things and he can be absolutely ruthless.
-What's not said in the scene is almost more important than what is said -- gives evidence that there's more to Harry than meets the eye.

1.4 DVD commentary:
-Tom -- spy as con man; for a spy it's more natural to lie than tell the truth. He doesn't let Ellie all the way in because it's psychologically dangerous to do so -- once he starts to tell the truth, where will it stop?
-Peter Salter -- "fallen angel." The "bad apple" scenario which is a nightmare for all security services.
-Different style of writing for this ep (Howard Brenton) -- scenes hold for much longer than is usual for spooks thus far.
-Creation of Jools Siviter -- Hugh Laurie's comic playing the heavy gives the character great depth. Also gives Harry and Tom someone to loathe and brings them together.
-"Red herring" tramp -- (Jools, Harry and Tom walking to shop) -- thrown in to get audience wondering, really meant nothing to the plot.
-Harry -- suppresses all sense of the personal in his work; "that in a curious way, is his success."
-Dead ground map -- actually exists and is continually updated to show unsurveilled areas of the UK.
-Phantom agent sub-plot -- a real problem in security services; if found out, officers not prosecuted -- retired or sent off to the boonies to serve out their careers.
-Clear bond between Tom and Peter, both know how it has to end, which sets up the suicide -- teacher has one last thing to teach student.

[Tea Lady]

Oh yes, I did wonder about that tramp. They way he looked round after passing through them on the street.

Glad they kept the Helen scenes in. They havnt learnt from this though in later series. Spooks may be plot driven most of the time but we still like to see some emotion from our main characters.