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London Spy starts on BBC Two - Monday 9 November - 9pm

505 replies

sadwidow28 · 05/11/2015 13:27

A new 5-part thriller is starting on BBC 2, 9th November at 9pm

A romance between an MI6 code genius and an ordinary man promises happiness. But tragedy strikes when the spy dies in suspicious circumstances, forcing his lover to pursue the truth behind his death.

Have a look at the trailers and write-ups and see if you fancy watching it and joining in this MN thread.

''You might be the most innocent person I know'' - This is a clip from episode 1: On a walk by the sea, Danny flirtatiously questions whether Alex did background checks on him before going on their date.

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sadwidow28 · 30/11/2015 22:00

Oh No!!!!! SCOTTIE !!!!!!!!

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JustCallMeDory · 30/11/2015 22:01

That was the most romantic code and I was super wrong

Poor old Scottie. But so happy to see more of gorgeous Alex shallow

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sadwidow28 · 30/11/2015 22:04

But Dory, I have spent hours looking for clues to the code. Hours I tell you!

That code never even occurred to me as a possibility. I wanted a phone number or coordinates - or something equally as clever.

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scratchandsniff · 30/11/2015 22:05

Nooooo poor Scottie! Guess it was never going to end well for him.

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sadwidow28 · 30/11/2015 22:08

I realise now why Scottie said to Danny, "How do they kill an alcoholic? With alcohol. How do they kill a drug addict? With drugs. How do they kill a depressive? [answer hung in the air]"

The answer was 'suicide'.

Clever!

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EnthusiasmDisturbed · 30/11/2015 22:23

Oh no poor Scottie :(

I was confused by the theory as Danny looked to be

MrsHooolie · 30/11/2015 22:28

Does anyone know how many episodes are left?

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sadwidow28 · 30/11/2015 22:29

Yes Enthusiam - me too. I couldn't understand why numbers were applied to particular groups of people e.g. 44 = heterosexual.

I followed the part about there being a connection between experiences from genuine people i.e. not liars.

So anyone sending an email about the zoo, would have other emails reporting similar excursions with children e.g. a park, picnic, swings. So someone using 'zoo' as a code wouldn't use 'park', 'picnic', 'swings' in other emails.

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sadwidow28 · 30/11/2015 22:31

MrsHooolie - one more! Finishes next Monday.

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MuchasSmoochas · 30/11/2015 22:32

Ooh that was good! Yes Alex talks like a German trying to be vair posh. But he is posh as he's walking out with Prince Harry's ex. Not stalking him honest. It was a bit contrived with the code but happy to play along. Poor Scottie. Was really hoping the "doppelgänger" was Alex's and he was in the loft instead of our boy. Only criticism is Danny's hair is looking a bit solid? He needs to jeuige it up a bit.

givemushypeasachance · 30/11/2015 22:37

I still haven't totally given up on Scottie being a bad 'un. He could be faking his death, or he could have been having his arm twisted to help "Them" and now has been tidied away so as not to cause problems. Pretty much one of the conspiracy of four has to be up to No Good - it's not Danny obviously, Marcus professor chap seems too numbers focused and literal to be very good at lying (Alex was really pretty rubbish at lying - it was always obvious he was holding back but you don't get the same thing with Marcus). Claire - maybe. There's evidently some painful memories between her and Scottie, but would she go along with betraying him to his death? Not convinced.

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sadwidow28 · 30/11/2015 22:38

The first online review is in for episode four. I do love the Guardian review but it hasn't been posted yet.

DO NOT OPEN LINK IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED EPISODE FOUR YET

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London Spy, episode 4, review: pretentious drama saved by its actors

The Telegraph, 30th November 2015

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JustCallMeDory · 30/11/2015 22:54

No, no, Scottie was a good 'un in the end. He was behind Danny all the way.

I hated the strange-voice-on-the-mobile-phone start to the episode, but as always it grabbed me in the end.

I nearly cried along with Alex at his 'I don't want to... I don't need to' line. So Alex shagged the doppelganger not knowing he'd been set up, but doing it for Danny (secretly) - to prove that he wasn't only with him because Danny was his first. sigh. Told you I was over-invested.

So - how's it all going to wrap up next week??

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sadwidow28 · 30/11/2015 23:14

To be honest Dory, if we had not spotted that his credit title was 'Doppleganger' I wouldn't have said that Riccardo Scamarcio (the Italian escort) looked like Danny. (See uploaded image)

In many of his promo pics (which some of us looked at when we got the clue) Riccardo Scamarcio DID indeed look like Danny Whishaw but the similarity when the restaurant scene was played would have simply escaped me.

If anyone missed episode 4 of LONDON SPY, it is now on iplayer:

London Spy - episode 4

If anyone wants to check dialogue, the transcription has already been posted:

Transcription for London Spy - episode 4 via Forever Dreaming

London Spy starts on BBC Two - Monday 9 November - 9pm
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sadwidow28 · 30/11/2015 23:22

DO NOT OPEN THIS REVIEW IF YOU DON'T READ/WATCH SPOILERS

The Radio Times has used photographs from the final episode.

Radio Times, 30th November 2015

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sadwidow28 · 30/11/2015 23:44

DO NOT OPEN IF YOU DON'T READ/WATCH SPOILERS

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London Spy - episode five

Radio Times, 30th November 2015

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sadwidow28 · 30/11/2015 23:56

DO NOT OPEN IF YOU DON'T WATCH SPOILERS

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It was a nice idea

BBC Two - trailer clip for London Spy, episode 5

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Gruach · 01/12/2015 00:26

Ahhh - that was quite good. Rather amusing. And a spot of self indulgence for the writer getting the name of one of his novels Child 44 into Marcus' coding lecture. (I haven't read it and no doubt there were other titles I wouldn't have known.)

So tense. And beautiful. Though I agree about Danny's hair.

Interesting that the Guardian reviewer finds the women under-drawn. I'm finding it very noticeable that in this particular story about love and friendship there's no place for young women. Charlotte Rampling and Harriet Walter representing womanhood is pretty singular and impressive.

Why, btw were Clare and Marcus in the club? Is it merely coincidence they were there when Danny got the call from Scottie. Or did they know?

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sadwidow28 · 01/12/2015 00:34

Why, btw were Clare and Marcus in the club?

Because they had agreed to meet 'off-the-beaten-track' and that is/was Scottie's favoured venue (that's where Scottie met Danny). However, with hind-sight, the eye winks between Claire and Marcus now suggest that 'the deed has been done' (Scottie's suicide).

I haven't found the link for The Guardian's review of episode four. Do you have it? Thanks

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Gruach · 01/12/2015 00:36

Here you go.

Fiderer · 01/12/2015 08:53

I thought the Big Reveal that Alex discovered an algorithm/mathy thing for detecting lies was hugely disappointing. The 9/11 connection & that it was from emails/texts etc. much more plausible.

Also we're being followed so let's all meet up in some unlikely club. As 2 of the 4 worked in the same university wouldn't it have been better to meet there & have Danny & Scottie try to get there without being tailed?

Poor Scottie. He & HW were lovely together.

squoosh · 01/12/2015 10:45

Poor Scottie Sad

I must confess I'm glad he was murdered rather than turn out to be a baddie.

DoubleDeClutchMuch · 01/12/2015 10:48

This series has lost its way IMO. Up to last night's episode it was intriguing - but last night's seemed to change pace and suspension of disbelief felt compromised.

The only one acting brilliantly was BW. ALWAYS totally plausible.

Everyone else, with the possible exception of SS as the police officer (though she's not in it long enough to really tell), seemed a bit hammy. Especially Scottie.
Which is crazy because he's a really great actor. (name escapes me ATM). And Harriet W and Adrian L - Ilove them all, they are brilliant. But they all felt ott. This can only be down to the script/plot, becasue what else is there? . Although that didn't stop BW from being exceptional!

squoosh · 01/12/2015 10:48

The sums bit had me scratching my head. If I'd have been in that warehouse I'd have done my best impressed 'Ooooh, wow' face but I wouldn't have had a scooby quite frankly.

The idea of a machine that can tell if a person is lying is terrifying though. And I'm not a politician or person of influence!

Panicmode1 · 01/12/2015 12:45

I agree with DoubleDeclutchMuch......I enjoyed it until last night's episode, which I thought was too slow and ridiculously convoluted.

If as was asserted in the previous episode, every single intelligence agency was after the information, there is no way on God's green earth that four of the principle 'suspects' who may know where the information was kept, would have been able to make it to an RV, however obscure a location without one of them being tailed.....

Anyway, will watch the last one, just because I want to know the ending. (And because I did 'enjoy' the writer's novel (Child 44) - in as much as you can enjoy a book about child murders....but it was well written and having lived in Russia, it was very well drawn.)