I’ve been such a good girl. Thanks to my vigilant efforts I have very little idea about what is in store for series nine of Spooks. I know there are new characters but I don’t know which of them will be Grid based. I even watched the GMTV interview with Richard Armitage with finger poised over the mute button (consequently I barely heard any of it). I’ve stayed away from the series nine threads on the Spooks Forum. I’ve not read Ian Wylie’s blog post. Press releases, write ups, interviews – they have all been ignored. A photo from a radio interview, though, is safe territory.
Listening to said interview however, will have to wait! I seem to have taken my spoiler avoidance to an extreme level. I don’t even want to be exposed to teasers. I want a pure blackout. Perhaps my aim is unrealistic. Why I’ve set my heart on such a high standard of S9 ignorance I’m not sure. I outlined the bulk of my reasoning in this recent post. I guess another part of the problem is that one man’s teaser is another man’s spoiler. Therefore the disparity in how individuals define each means that exposure to any material on S9 risks seeing something that I’d rather not. My enjoyment of season 8 of Spooks was sullied slightly by prior knowledge, I don’t want that to happen with series 9.
If Spooks had six million die hard fans who were guaranteed to tune in this Monday night, I reckon the BBC and Kudos would be content with minimal publicity and releasing no teasers. The only reason publicity drops juicy nuggets of intel on S9 is to capture the interest and attention of those who need to be reminded about Spooks and enticed to tune in. You and I need no such enticement. The knowledge that the airing of a new series of Spooks is imminent is enough cause for excitement!
Observing the excitement level for Spooks 9 reach fever pitch over the past week has been fun. It’s reminded me of the excitement I felt in my teenage years when I would impatiently await my favourite band’s next release. There was no internet back then. So I had to annoy the workers at the local record store instead (who, incidentally, had never heard of the bands I was seeking release date info on). So all this buzz has made me a tad nostalgic for the heady days of riot grrl and “grunge” as the popular press dubbed it. I never imagined that a new series of a TV show could excite as much as the imminent release of a Babes in Toyland record!
It’s very strange to me how my fandom has shifted into the domain of TV over the past 10 months or so. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m an absolute music freak, so to have my time occupied by television shows rather than the world of music is a complete surprise to me. Since Spooks season seven tipped me over into fantragic territory, and since starting this blog, I’ve become much more interested in television drama in general. Prior to this, although I was a certified Whovian, apart from Doctor Who and Dexter I did not own any other TV series on DVD. Torchwood, Robin Hood, Spooks and Six Feet Under are now among the titles filling the spaces on my shelves that CDs once occupied. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my music, but now I am finding the time to indulge and develop my passion for both.
Has becoming a Spooks fan changed your appreciation of television drama?
