4.5 DVD Commentary

[lwhite53]

Info from 4.5 DVD commentary [Jeremy Lovering - Director, Andrew Woodhead - Producer, Ron Ryan (?) - DVD director]:

-Opening panorama of London with Harry and Clive -- shot from British American Tobacco building.

-Snowed continually during the week of filming -- were constantly sweeping snow away prior to shooting.

-Hicks entering Clive's house -- whole scene shot at night. All lighting artificial to make it look like daytime. Matched lighting to exterior when Hicks walks into back yard.

-Hick's hidden under the branches -- really cheesy but it worked.

-Show titles get better every year.

-Ep engineered to introduce new character (Jo).

-Byplay between Harry and Ruth -- starting to develop in s4, becomes much more substantial in s5. Real sparkle between them.

-Hardest thing about spooks is to get a balance between the lighter moments and the serious spy stuff.

-Scene between H and R, discussing Clive's death -- shot in silhouette. Can't really see characters so you concentrate more on the dialogue.

-Meeting between Harry, Juliet, Woodring -- shot at bandstand at Lincoln's Inn. Location has nice spooks feel. Shot 6 or 7 times to get the circular motion that Lovering was looking for.

-Ruth and Hicks had a relationship in the past, which is why he comes to her when he's in trouble.

-Harry Pierce never wears pajamas, even in the middle of the night.

-Scene between Harry and Ruth on the phone -- extremely well written. Hicks upstages H and R dialogue -- moving around in background, looking in fridge, drinking. Had to film scene several times as Hicks kept dropping things out of fridge and NW kept laughing.

-H disappointed that R's call is not just an invitation to her place.

-Woodring's involvement is revealed to the audience early in the ep because it raises the danger tremendously for the spooks team. He's so high up that he has the power to kill any of them -- puts them all in jeopardy.

-Woodring -- head of Military Intelligence.

-Very bold lighting in this ep. Also very dark ep -- shot early in filming schedule (winter), lots of shadows.

-Harry and Juliet walking on Embankment (first time) -- friend of Anna Chancellor's saw her there and walked into the shot to greet her.

-Everyone trying to escape from Debra Langham.

-Raymond Curry (writer) -- great intro of Jo's character.

-Question in first scene between Adam and Jo -- how much should they flirt?

-NW and Doug ?? (Hicks) -- worked really well together onscreen. Play their scenes like an old couple that has a lot of history together.

-Why does Jo try to get in touch with Adam -- because she fancies him or because she's intrigued by him? No one was really sure why, other than it suited the story.

-Adam and Fiona searching Clive's home -- not blocked, except for a couple of shots. Put RPJ and OS in a room with a cameraman and let them go to it.

-Hicks in car with Zaf -- what makes the scene work is the London points of view seen through the windows -- bus stop, police at accident scene, cyclist riding past.

-Hick's office -- interior of British American Tobacco company.

-MR auditioned 3 or 4 times before she was cast as Jo Portman.

-Man following Ruth in hallway of Thames House -- had to be shot 15 times because they couldn't get the guy to do the walk properly.

-Scene between Harry and Ruth discussing Hicks -- added later because it was felt that the plot was not sufficiently clear. Needed to establish the link between Ruth and Hicks, and then to MI5 -- otherwise whole thing too serendipitous.

-Exterior safehose location -- Angel Sq, Islington.

-NW looking askance at eggroll -- so Ruth.

-Only lighting in shootout scene was a strobe.

-No police show up at shootout because the budget was depleted. Used flashing light to imply police presence.

-When Jo arrives home after shootout scene -- her hair is perfectly dry (even after spending hours outside in the snow).

-"You don't really work for a security company, do you?" -- Jo's figured out that Adam is a spy.

-Harry using recorded call signals -- added scene so that audience sees spooks find out who bad guy is.

-Scene between Harry and Woodring -- shows how much Harry cares. Harry as the moral guardian.

-Great HP ep.

-"Clive's job was to take his secrets to the grave" and "no tolerance with weaklings" -- very persuasive argument from Juliet.

-In earlier draft of script, Harry ends up shooting Woodring.

-At end of ep, a stalement between Harry and "the club."

-Harry's house and Woodring's house -- same location.

[Aria]

Thanks for posting lwhite53. Fascinating stuff. Would liked to have seen Harry in his P.J's

[JHyde]

Good commentary for this one. I love how that scene is shot in Harry's office between Harry and Ruth, in almost darkness.

I've always thought Jo was both intrigued by and attracted to Adam in the early days. It's a man who comes in a spins her a line and encourages her and after he leaves she seems to twig that he's good looking, to boot. So it's a bit of both and MR plays that balance really nicely, I think.

I also agree with Juliet that you sign on for silence when you sign with Five, but (of course) what Woodring does is the sort of stuff that should come out.

I also love Harry's little smile when he finds Clive's book in the post.

[Tea Lady]

Thanks lwhite53. I just wrote that I thought Harry's place was a flat, so I got that one wrong. I really did want to know what time of night it was that Ruth phoned. She had only just got in from work though so surely it could not have been that late, as in before midnight?

[Kazters]

ohh thanks ;-) i agree i think there was someting initialy on jo's part more than adams but the fact fiona was around nothing woul have happend. but i loved the scene with harry and ruth on the phone! both knowing what the other was thinking!

[lwhite53]

(06-07-2010 04:55 PM)Tea Lady Wrote:  Thanks lwhite53. I just wrote that I thought Harry's place was a flat, so I got that one wrong. I really did want to know what time of night it was that Ruth phoned. She had only just got in from work though so surely it could not have been that late, as in before midnight?

I'd think she and Gary talked for awhile before she called Harry, so given that she generally works late it could have been as late as midnight.

[A Cousin]

(06-07-2010 08:12 PM)lwhite53 Wrote:  I'd think she and Gary talked for awhile before she called Harry, so given that she generally works late it could have been as late as midnight.

Gary certainly had enough time to clean out her whiskey. Harry got the last of it and only a drop at that!