MI-5

Sometimes the television Gods smile down upon us and grace us with quality programming. With all the crap on the tele right now, it's refreshing when you stumble upon something so good it leaves you salivating for more. I must admit that I don't watch a lot of dramatic shows because the quality is ...well...just not that good these days. It's not that there there are no drama's out there, but I'm not wanting to watch dramatic shows that are a blend of comedy/irreverant satire. I just want good old classic drama shows that are smartly acted, written, suspenseful that make me sad when the hour is up and leave me wanting for more.

So imagine my surprise when I accidently stumbled upon MI-5 (a.k.a "Spooks" in the UK). I should have known it was going to be a gooder because it's British Drama and it's televised on PBS, my favorite channel for quality programming. But I had NO IDEA I would go all mad love over it.

Where do I even begin? First of all, and i'm not going to lie...the good looking guy sucked me in. I have hearted Rupert Penry Jones since his commanding (read: sexy) performance in the BBC adaptation of Persuasion. And in researching the show, it appears that the first couple of seasosn, the show starred Matthew McFadyen (see picture in post below), another Austen film alumni. How thrilling.

But sexy guys (and he his sexy), however tempting and enticing, are not enough to keep me glued to the show. And for the record, I'm not normally into suspense type shows involving secret agents and espionage and counter terrorism. I like happy romantic stuff or trashy reality t.v. But MI-5, based on the British Intellegence Organization, has challenged my notions of what I enjoy.

This show kept me glued to the screen, sitting on the edge of my sofa, holding in my breath wondering what was going to happen next. And the thing with this show is that it's not always as you predict. In fact, in one episode, it can result in a happy ending and they are the hero's of the hour. In another, it could all go wrong or a main character can die. You just don't know. And it's fast paced and intellegent, but not so that it swoops above your head in a cloud of confusion. And while it helps to watch previous episodes for underlying arcs, each episode is more or less stand alone and so it's not difficult to jump into.

So anyways, I needed to let the world know that great shows do exist and to watch MI-5 (Sunday's on PBS...and quite possibly on other stations like BBC or A&E but I don't know as I have peasent basic cable).