3.5 DVD Commentary

[lwhite53]

Info from 3.5 DVD commentary: (Simon Crawford Collins and David Oyelowo)
-David: scene in shooting range "most fun I've ever had on spooks;" finally got to play with guns.
-SCC: ep 5 favorite of s3.
-Ruth home alone watching "Red Shoes" -- quite sad.
-Ruth's house -- classic scenario of their houses not fitting with their incomes. SCC: all the cheaper houses were boring.
-Very little of Adam in this ep (by onscreen minutes) but he has a clear presence nevertheless.
-Unusual ep for having a lot of personal story in it -- a bit of a one off.
-David: "Some people were kind of a bit worried that we were going down the emotional route with the characters but I think we had earned it by this point."
-In the meeting room scenes -- actors always trying to get their lines in the right order; quite tense and intense.
-David W. script -- lots of tongue twister lines, especially for Harry.
-Almost relationship between Danny and Sam petered out at end of s2 -- felt that Danny's feelings for Zoe gave the show more than a relationship between Danny and Sam would have.
-Storyline of Ruth's infatuation with man being surveilled came from one of the show's original ex-spy advisors -- not uncommon for this to happen in real life.
-David: on the edge in this ep with whether Harry and Adam are "goodies" or "baddies" (spying on Ruth and talking Danny into assassination) -- moral dilemmas.
-Tomato ketchup scene -- Richard Harrington (Will) kept making Keeley crack up; a very funny man on set.
-Why was Zoe sick on ferry? Lots of options -- was she pregnant, too much junk food (Pringles), etc; decided not to clarify.
-Barnaby Kay (John Fortescue) -- NW's boyfriend, at the time (now husband). They found it "cringy" to do the restaurant scene together. Very awkward, although that worked well for their characters.
-Ep intimated that secret services are prone to condoning assassinations -- quite a controversial idea.
-All ferry dialogue dubbed -- too loud outside to use original recorded sound.
-One of the reasons Danny agrees to do the assassination is because he's in love with Zoe; lets her off the hook.
-One of tricky things in the ep was infusing the phone conversations between Danny and Adam with tension -- mainly done with lighting.
-Danny seeing himself as the man to be killed -- emphasizes his moral dilemma.
-NW -- had somewhat mixed feelings about playing this "dateless" character.
-Scene in ferry bar -- all the people in the scene with Danny and Newland were spooks crew because the ferry was absolutely empty.
-Malcolm got his "Bond" moment as Giles.
-David: "Scenes where I have to drink hard are always hilarious to me, having never taken a swig of whiskey in my life."
-Adam talking to Danny -- great for him because it shows his experience; where audience starts to believe in him and he really becomes the leader of the team.
-Needle sticking into bed when David first tries to inject Newland -- absolutely live, happened just that way and they decided to keep it in.
-Tension in "needle" scene was real -- David hates needles.
-Danny telling Zoe about Will's brother -- cruel revenge because she doesn't love him; lines very coldly delivered.
-Next morning, Ruth disappointed with herself for letting moment with John go by -- lacking courage to take advantage of the moment.
-At end, Zoe needs Danny and he refuses to engage with her; doesn't give an inch.
[Throughout commentary, very funny back and forth patter between SCC and David about David leaving the show.]

[JHyde]

Lots of good points in this one, lwhite53. Thanks, as always.

The thing about Adam is very true - you really feel his presence in this one even though he's all the way back in London.

The point about the lighting is very true. It really adds to the tension in those last few scenes a lot.

I'm not surprised NW had mixed feelings about this episode. Ultimately, she makes it work - but I know a lot of Ruth fans don't like it much. almh's away at the moment, but I know she in particular reviles at this one.

[lwhite53]

(25-04-2010 06:10 AM)JHyde Wrote:  I'm not surprised NW had mixed feelings about this episode. Ultimately, she makes it work - but I know a lot of Ruth fans don't like it much. almh's away at the moment, but I know she in particular reviles at this one.

Simon CC did say that a lot of the men involved in/attached to the series volunteered to "fix" Ruth/Nicola's "lonely" and "dateless" status. I'll just bet they did!

[JHyde]

HEHE - yeah I bet!

She's a smart girl, NW. I think especially for other smart women, there's a wincing that comes with this storyline because it's horribly sad but for Ruth I really could see it happening.

[Tea Lady]

Vey interesting. Some of the things on the commentary I just posted on the rewatch thread. Harry certainly did come across as a bit of a bad guy in this episode. Thanks for posting.

[HellsBells]

Thanks for posting lwhite ! I had always wondered if this was actually filmed on a ferry.

[lwhite53]

(26-04-2010 01:40 PM)HellsBells Wrote:  Thanks for posting lwhite ! I had always wondered if this was actually filmed on a ferry.

Yeah, it was and they actually had a couple of days off when they arrived in wherever it was (Holland?).

[HellsBells]

So it was actually going some where ! I thought it might have just been moored at the port.

[JHyde]

Too expensive otherwise! They'd be more likely to get permission to do it that way and these boats are rarely in port for more than a day.