I just have to boast about this.* I’ve been enjoying the excellent sixth series of Spooks on BBC1 (Tuesdays – MI5 in the US) – I’ve been a big fan of the show since the second series, and would get around to renting the first season on DVD were it not for the thought of seeing Lisa Faulkner getting her face burned off with boiling oil. It’s a great spy show with interesting characters (though Adam has got to be the most obvious spy ever – his “disguises” as a gardener, builder, phone company man or whatever tend to be somewhat undermined by his perfect hair, cut-glass accent and the giant microphone protruding from his collar), a healthy dose of cynicism, 24-style split-screen shots and more tension than the Humber bridge.
All in all, Spooks has consistently been one of the best home-grown BBC programmes over the past few years, and you never know who they’re going to kill off next.
But I’ve been getting an extra thrill from series 6 because the over-arching story was drafted in Scrivener and some of the episodes were scripted in Scrivener, too, by author Neil Cross (whose new novel, Natural History – which was also mostly composed in Scrivener! – has been getting some great reviews).
Now, if Neil has used Scrivener to kill of Zaf, I am going to be most upset – talk about turning your tools against you…
* Yes, I know: technically I have nothing to boast about, as it’s a bit like saying, “I have to boast that I loaned this bestselling author my pen and he used it!” But it still gives me a warm feeling inside (and it’s not the wine, this time).