3.8 DVD Commentary

[lwhite53]

Info from 3.8 DVD commentary [Simon Crawford Collins and Olga S.]
-Very unusual spooks ep -- Howard Brenton keen to write an ep about celebrities and they finally let him do so.
-Riff and B's house -- dripping with opulence, location was a house for sale in Kensington (for 27 million pounds).
-Classic spooks opening -- several story lines and you're not really sure where they're going.
-B -- tricky role to play, double-layered because she was in on the kidnapping. She was a very unpredictable character.
-RPJ -- very smartly dressed in this ep.
-Costume designer loved the ep -- got to use really outlandish clothes for B.
-One of the most comic eps in spooks because the whole team is so far out of their depth in this celebrity world -- starts out slightly ridiculous and then turns terribly dark.
-Difficult to cast role of B --saw lots of very pretty girls but Rebecca had an edge that the others didn't. She was actually quite scary in the audition.
-Contrast between RPJ and Andy Serkin is great in their scenes together.
-Riff's hair was a wig -- worked "ok."
-Andy S. very genuine and sincere in scene with new song -- made it even funnier.
-"Crisp packet full of puke" -- HB loved the line. SCC surprised it made it through to the final edit.
-Despite comic moments, significant pathos in Riff and B's relationship and story.
-HB weaving various stories together -- world of politics, celebrity and journalism all cross-over.
-Harry's role -- 2 or times per ep, he comes up with a really quirky line ("Do you understand atomic theory, etc"). PF so good and has so much presence that Harry has gradually become more and more central.
-John Sylvester -- character "nicely damaged but also scarily self-obsessed." Much more concerned for himself than for the girl he hurt. Same as B and Alfie -- the connecting link between the two stories.
-Great rivalry between Harry and Oliver Mace.
-"Tags and digital ghosts" in mobile phones -- classic spooks technology babble, no idea if it's really true.
-It was important to see Fiona in "new home" scene after eps 4 and 7, where she was all business -- here she's quite domestic.
-Harry and John Sylvester -- rare that H gets physical but when he does he means business.
-Harry leaving Sylvester's office and Mace appearing -- great effect. Mace spying on and following Harry.
-Ep about "punters" being manipulated by the media -- mixed response from audience.
-Andy S. unshod for most of ep -- he'd just finished playing Gollum and wasn't used to wearing shoes again yet.
-"Cocaine" was glucose -- snorting it was gross, "after you do it 100 times, it turns into a big lump in the back of your throat."
-Andy S -- "brilliant job bringing the passion of an anguished parent."
-Danny -- not much of a role in this ep.
-Fiona is ambitious to the point of recklessness -- very driven, will do anything to succeed, doesn't have any sense of self-preservation -- why Adam is so worried about her. You don't find out why she's like this until next series.
-Detail with electromagnet rendering tracking devices useless -- true if magnet is strong enough.
-As horrific as B's action's were, Fiona is genuinely concerned about her. B is a victim of the whole celebrity circus, not inherently evil.
-Riff in night club -- more in control than he's been through entire ep. Slashing his poster photo -- very sinister image and very effective dramatically.
-Phone call between Riff at club and B at home -- everything falling to pieces for B, inexorable sense of doom.
-Riff killing B and then himself -- bit of a Greek tragedy.
-Stories tied together at end -- Riff and B's "suicide" and Sylvester's resignation on televised news. Media manipulation.

[JHyde]

I'd really have liked to listened to this commentary - what was SCC's attitude to this one? I mean, did he sound like he could hardly believe this episode got made? I really do think that if it divides us as much as it does, it probably did the same on the cast and crew.

I think RPJ plays his disbelief a little too well at times in this one - I suspect he might have been a naysayer. I know he wasn't terribly keen on Adam's character until 3.9, so this could well have been one of the episodes in series 3 that made him roll his eyes.

[Silktie]

Thanks, some interesting stuff here. So the poor actors actually had to snort that stuff? Blimey. I generally enjoy SCC's commentaries, he can be quite funny and seems to have a genuine high regard for most of the writers, directors and actors on the show.

[Tea Lady]

Thanks lwhite53 for posting. I guess Mace must have been following Harry then, I never thought of that.

[lwhite53]

SCC did say the audience reaction to this ep was mixed but he never gave any indication that he (or any of the other producers) had a problem with it. HB wanted to do this kind of story and they liked the idea of showing how the media manipulated info (both in printing/airing it and in sometimes keeping it quiet until it could be be more influential) and used the various segments of society.