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

[sadwidow28]

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.

Was she an MI5 woman? I assumed she was a journalist with a bit more initiative than the one leading the chat in the office...

It went to some strange places in tonight's episode, I'm hoping to read a few recaps and pick up stuff I probably missed!

I am really like this

Danny is just beautiful poor boy needs looking after

I thought the sex scenes were shown as a couple falling in love and vulnerable usually gay sex is just passionate not loving (ok I mean making love snort) not sure about he sex toys but I think 15 year olds know more than i did at that age

Love Jim Broadbent (not sure he is on Danny's side) and Charlotte Rampling

I thought it was a cyanide pill or something, in the sweet. I think the warehouse might have been somewhere he used to squat back when he was having hard times? That was so strange the pretend parents, then the real ones. Why not just lunch, I'd have hated to stay in either house overnight.

I feel I'm being reeled back in to thinking Scottie is a good guy but I suspect he isn't.

I'm completely mystified, and there's no one here to explain to me what's happening. Where was it when he was underground near the beginning and stuffed something up a pipe? What was that under the white hanky that was red and glowing until he scraped the red off and it was a grey capsule? Am I too old and senile to follow a drama like this? I used to be clever at school; what has happened to me?

I think this show wants to make us all feel stupid so that it can feel quite secure in how clever itself is

The cold house was in Scotland, I think, so he had to be invited to stay. I'm mystified too but I am clinging on to the hope that all will be made clear in due course. Three more episodes!

I thought the youngish black woman was a journalist too. Her boss was Lysa Arryn from Game of Thrones, btw.

Even though I don't have a scooby as to what's going on I still love it. They're all so weird and captivating. And it's all so tense and ominous.

I would like it to gather a teensy but of pace next week though.

I am not quite sure what is happening

But it's all very moody, complex and stylish just like a spy thriller should be

This recap from last week is quite good: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/nov/09/london-spy-recap-episode-one-whitehall-wonks-hidden-trunks

Hmm ... I might have enjoyed that, without all the creepy corridors and Weeping Angel statuary.

Has no one noticed that Alex had a completely different accent to either set of "parents". I don't believe he belonged to either of them originally.

Intriguing.

Yes he sounds Eastern European/Russian to me, though Alistair is a Scottish name. Perhaps he went to school or university abroad?

What I gained from this episode was:

The notebook is from Danny's past and seems to be an old/longstanding hiding place.

The thing from the laptop is some kind of twiddly thing that needs a combination to open. Couldn't work out what this was.

The red ""glowing" thing was a sweet with something that looked like a pill capsule inside.

Alex clearly had a damaging upbringing as a child!

Danny believes the attic was staged but Alex's mother seems to think it was genuine and Alex is good at acting.

Jim Broadbent is not all he seems. I'm not convinced he is no longer MI6.

I'm not sure who the American with the sweet enshrouded capsule is. American secret service?

Encryption device?

CIA?

And we're apparently no further on with the missing eight months of their relationship.

I think it will all be to do with Jim broadbent. I don't think Alex/Alistair's mother did believe it about the loft, I thought it was all part of the elaborate lie and to stop Danny from pursuing things.
I believed Danny when he said about Alex being a virgin and how you can't fake that.

Bit of a shame that there seems no prospect of a happy ending for Danny ending up with Alex! (Now that would be a twist....)

And last week did I imagine it or did Danny have a weird thing at work where his handheld computer thingy led him to a box - was that how he got the keys to the apartment? So it was like he was supposed to find what he found?

Thursday, sorry for the delay. The Lobster is OK; worth seeing if just for Olivia Colman. It's deliberately provocative and mean; made me think of an adolescent saying outrageous things just to get a response.

There are definitely some laughs as well as some shocks. It has trenchant things to say about both society's view of singledom and its view of coupledom.

Ben looks lovely. Did I mention that?

Haven't watched this week's LS yet so am averting my eyes from the discussion until I have!

Yes, I think the keys were in the mystery box in the warehouse.

This episode created more mysteries than it solved :)

Although it pushed the original mysteries along, which is good!

I believed Danny when he said about Alex being a virgin and how you can't fake that.

I did too but I didn't entirely disbelieve his mother either.

There's a clip from episode three up on iPlayer now, where Scottie is talking about Alex having discovered a secret that all the global intelligence agencies want kept quiet - so now Danny is up against them all and not just British intelligence. So Lester from The Wire (as he shall forever be to me) is presumably CIA and was strongly encouraging Danny to avoid fuss in the same way that Frances (presumably MI6) was?

I've seen people theorising much of this is a test and they might want to try to recruit Danny but I don't really see that - and as Scottie says, romantics tend to make poor spies...

Mark Gatiss is in next week's episode - looking forward to that!

I thought the pill hidden in the red sweet was cyanide too, what with the veiled threats and 'life insurance' card.

Is Alex's accent maybe not an accent so much, as just a very stilted way of speaking?

I am also utterly flummoxed, but really enjoying it.

Completely confused but still really enjoying it. Charlotte Rampling was brilliant. And the fake parents were so weird and scary. I don't trust that Scottie much.

Whilst I'm finding it confusing, I'm not finding it "WTF" confusing IYSWIM. Whilst I've no idea what's going on, it does make sense.

I think Scottie will definitely turn out to be a baddie. Would be a waste of Jim Broadbent if he just remained a kindly older man throughout.