The Best Episodes of Spooks
Every episode of Spooks ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Spooks!
Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.
Top Episode Ratings Summary
The best episode of "Spooks" is "The Mole", rated 8.9/10 from 257 user votes. It was directed by Sam Miller and written by James Moran, Christian Spurrier. "The Mole" aired on 11/24/2008 and is rated 0.1 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "The Suffering of Strangers".
8.9/10 257 votes#1 - The Mole
Season 7 Episode 7 - Aired 11/24/2008
Harry is imprisoned and accused by MI5 of being the Russian mole. Lucas disappears to Moscow in a bid to gather intelligence and get to the bottom of Harry's arrest, whilst the rest of the team tries to prove his innocence on the Grid. But with so much evidence against him and a traitor among the team, things aren't looking good for Harry.
Director: Sam Miller
Writer: James Moran, Christian Spurrier
8.8/10 318 votes#2 - The Suffering of Strangers
Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 12/13/2004
It's Fiona's birthday, and she's not going to forget it! While inspecting a possible Islamic terrorist safe house, they are kidnapped. With the threat of his son's, his wife's and Danny's life, Adam must choose who won't live to see another day, Fiona or Danny? The prime minister's life is in danger. Will MI5 give into the kidnappers demands? But then to everybody's surprise... Danny makes the ultimate sacrifice.
Director: Alrick Riley
Writer: Ben Richards
8.7/10 244 votes#3 - Nuclear Strike
Season 7 Episode 8 - Aired 12/8/2008
With the Russians launching a nuclear strike on London, the only person who can help the team in this desperate hour is the traitor amongst them. With the Russians hunting them down, the team ushers their traitor through London in a desperate bid to reach the codes, and the bomb, in time.
Director: Sam Miller
Writer: Neil Cross
8.6/10 479 votes#4 - I Spy Apocalypse
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 7/7/2003
Tom's skills as leader are tested to their extremes when they take part in an Extreme Emergency Response Initiative Exercise (EERIE) to test their response to nuclear, chemical or biological act in central London, but when the power in the grid is cut and Harry starts to feel ill, they soon begin to suspect it's for real.
Director: Justin Chadwick
Writer: Howard Brenton
8.6/10 356 votes#5 - Project Friendly Fire
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 10/11/2004
Tom Quinn has disappeared after shooting his boss Harry Pearce. He also stands accused of assassinating the Chief of Defence Staff. Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee Oliver Mace uses this a pretext to launch a punitive investigation of MI5. Zoe, Danny and the team must prove Tom innocent and save the service from government takeover.
Director: Jonny Campbell
Writer: Howard Brenton
8.6/10 312 votes#6 - Gas and Oil (Part 1)
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 9/17/2006
The government introduces Draconian emergency measures in response to a series of terrorist attacks. MI5 fears that influential establishment figures are behind the attacks and may be planning a coup.
Director: Omar Madha
Writer: Ben Richards
8.6/10 288 votes#7 - Deportation
Season 10 Episode 6 - Aired 10/23/2011
Harry finds himself facing deportation to America following the death of CIA agent Jim Coaver. After some new evidence comes to light about the recent attacks on the United Kingdom and the government's proposed alliance with Russia, Ruth and her former colleagues in Section D free Harry from CIA custody. Harry's suspicions see him going to another of his former Cold War adversaries.
Director: Bharat Nalluri
Writer: Jonathan Brackley, Sam Vincent
8.5/10 378 votes#8 - Smoke and Mirrors
Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 8/11/2003
Tom ignores Harry's demands to end his relationship with CIA officer Christine Dale. Christine hands Tom a secure communication which she has accidentally received from high up in the CIA. It says that an American assassin has come to the UK for a hit and that the CIA are going to take him out, without informing Five or any of the security services. Tom can't tell Harry what he knows so enlists Danny and Zoe to help him. However, things start to go wrong and tonight's episode is all 'Smoke and Mirrors'. Will the truth be uncovered before something goes terribly wrong? Has Tom gone bad?
Director: Sam Miller
Writer: Howard Brenton
8.5/10 287 votes#9 - New Allegiances
Season 7 Episode 1 - Aired 10/27/2008
The team steps in when a British soldier is kidnapped by Al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, an old protégé of Harry's returns to the fold after eight years in a Russian prison - but whose side is he really on?
Director: Colm McCarthy
Writer: Ben Richards, Neil Cross
8.5/10 220 votes#10 - Cybershell
Season 9 Episode 6 - Aired 10/25/2010
Relations between the CIA and MI5 are stretched after an American drone is hacked in Afghanistan whilst in British care, leading to the loss of American lives. Beecher - head of the CIA in London - arrives on the Grid to oversee installation of the US's advanced cybersecurity system, 'Cybershell', to prevent any future disasters. Lucas, out in the field, is tasked with protecting and delivering Daniella Ortiz to the Grid, the young ex-hacker turned White House cryptographer who holds the installation codes. When the Grid is hacked and locked down, the team is plunged into a nightmare. Will they escape and prevent the theft of all CIA and MI5 intelligence? Will Lucas be able to protect Ortiz when the hackers decide to cut out the middle man?
Director: Julian Holmes
Writer: Jonathan Brackley, Sam Vincent
8.5/10 208 votes#11 - Dead Drop
Season 9 Episode 7 - Aired 11/1/2010
Lucas is plunged further into the depths of his past when Vaughn takes his manipulations to a new level. Ruth is approached and followed by an imbalanced council snooper who is convinced he's found a dead drop. She initially keeps her distance from him, but when her curiosity gets the better of her she ends up trapped in a situation not even he could have predicted. Lucas and Harry come face to face in the pursuit of the truth.
Director: Edward Hall
Writer: Anthony Neilson
8.4/10 267 votes#12 - The Book
Season 4 Episode 5 - Aired 10/6/2005
A neo-conservative group murder an ex-minister to cover up his past and then they hunt down the journalist who is threatening to blow the story and is under MI5 protection.
Director: Jeremy Lovering
Writer: Raymond Khoury
8.4/10 278 votes#13 - Gas and Oil (Part 2)
Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 9/17/2006
MI5 has foiled an attempt to murder the Home Secretary, but the plotters use the new emergency powers to imprison Harry. The team must try to frustrate the coup before Harry is executed.
Director: Omar Madha
Writer: Ben Richards
8.4/10 257 votes#14 - The Message
Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 10/2/2006
The government publishes its report on the investigation into the death of seven terrorist suspects in a fire at a prison. Harry suspects a cover-up, then discovers that one of his team has been implicated.
Director: Kenneth Glenaan
Writer: Zinnie Harris
8.4/10 212 votes#15 - Infiltration
Season 6 Episode 8 - Aired 11/27/2007
Ros is in grave danger after Bob Hogan discovers she's a traitor. Meanwhile, Harry's brought before Yalta's chief, whose identity shocks him to the core.
Director: Stefan Schwartz
Writer: Neil Cross
8.4/10 219 votes#16 - The School
Season 6 Episode 10 - Aired 12/18/2007
Hardliners opposed to the peace between Iran and the West have targeted a London school. Jo is captured by Redbacks, the mercenaries who abducted Zaf.
Director: Alrick Riley
Writer: Ben Richards
8.4/10 252 votes#17 - Uranium
Season 8 Episode 1 - Aired 11/4/2009
Harry is still missing, and there is one question on everyone's mind: is he dead, or alive? Section D discovers that Harry thwarted a clandestine operation to smuggle weapons-grade uranium into Iraq to justify the war. Now the rogue officers who masterminded the operation want their uranium back, and they are prepared to go to any lengths to get it. If Harry isn't dead already, is it too late to save him?
Director: Alrick Riley
Writer: Ben Richards
8.4/10 219 votes#18 - Cat and Mouse
Season 9 Episode 8 - Aired 11/8/2010
The team faces their toughest challenge ever: tracking down Lucas North, their Section Chief, friend and one of the best agents MI5 has ever had. Harry decides the team are too close, and brings in a specialist to help with the hunt. But it will not be easy to find a man who has nothing left to lose, and as the search becomes increasingly desperate, Harry and Lucas become embroiled in a deadly game of cat and mouse.
Director: Edward Hall
Writer: Jonathan Brackley, Sam Vincent
8.3/10 448 votes#19 - The Lesser of Two Evils
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 6/17/2002
Patrick McCann, an IRA leader claims to have information about a nuclear attack on the UK mainland, can MI5 trust the IRA enough to give them what they want in return; 36 hours free of surveillance, free to do whatever they wish?
Director: Andy Wilson
Writer: David Wolstencroft, Howard Brenton
8.3/10 298 votes#20 - Persephone
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 11/15/2004
Zoe is tried for manslaughter when an MI5 operation results in the murder of an undercover police officer.
Director: Justin Chadwick
Writer: Ben Richards
8.3/10 298 votes#21 - The Special (2)
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 9/13/2005
Zafar and Adam race against the clock to uncover the latest bomb. As a new ultimatum is issued and Tash mysteriously disapears, the team is forced to deal with the possibility of a mole within their own organisation.
Director: Antonia Bird
Writer: Ben Richards
8.3/10 275 votes#22 - Syria
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 10/20/2005
The Syrian foreign minister tries to establish subversive contacts with MI5 at the opening of a cultural centre in London. Fiona is desperate to lead this mission and must confront her Syrian past.
Director: Omar Madha
Writer: Raymond Khoury
8.3/10 274 votes#23 - Diana
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 11/10/2005
A former officer is convinced that MI5 killed Princess Diana and is determined to force the team to prove it.
Director: Julian Simpson
Writer: Howard Brenton
8.3/10 223 votes#24 - Accidental Discovery
Season 7 Episode 6 - Aired 11/17/2008
A teenage boy accidentally stumbles upon a government conspiracy and is instantly absorbed into the world of MI5, ending up on the run. Lucas and the team battle to protect the boy from those who wish to silence him. Harry receives a cryptic message from his asset in Russia which could be the key to bringing down the high-level MI5 mole.
Director: Edward Hall
Writer: David Farr
8.2/10 311 votes#25 - The Special (1)
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 9/12/2005
When a devastating bomb explodes in central London, causing multiple deaths, a terrorist group with a hatred for human life claim responsibility. With their leader facing extradition, the bombers announce that crippling attacks will be launched at ten hour intervals until he is released.
Director: Antonia Bird
Writer: Ben Richards