Anthony Neilson the writer was explaining why there wasn't much Dimitri in this episode or Beth for that matter, and as a series as a whole. He was saying it was just very difficult to write for characters that had not been cast yet and you hadn't got much information on their background. Hence they concentrated writing for the characters they did know.

With regards to revisiting what happened to George and Nico in series 8, NW was glad they did this. NW said she felt this had been brushed aside a little too easily in the previous series.

As for Harry and Ruth, Anthony says this episode helps explain why Ruth turned down Harry's marriage proposal and that they were glad Ruth did turn Harry down, because for the fans, the feeling of frustration lasts longer than being pleased about something.

NW was also commenting that the chaos which surrounds filming helps get the most out of their scenes. As the actors don't know what scene is coming next and only get the script on the day, they act for the moment, instead of acting for what they know is coming in the next few scenes.

NW, Anthony and Andrew Woodhead did all seem a little down on Series 8 in the commentary and felt it had moved too far away from the characters. They felt Spooks had also moved too much towards TV's 24 instead of John le Carre. They had deliberately tried to move it back to le Carre in Series 9 and will move it further there in Series 10 (perhaps because of budget issues as well.)

Anthony will also be writing for Series 10 and it sounds like he will be writing very much with Nicola in mind as he loves writing for her. He made a comment towards the end of the episode when Ruth had just shot the bloke and is handing the gun over to Harry. Anthony says this is the point they set up Ruth's character for Series 10. This is an important stage in the progression of Ruth's character, he says.

Another interesting comment, right at the end of the commentary, is when the advert appears for episode 9.8. They all say how much they are looking forward to this episode and, "the new spy's in there as well." (I took from this that Alec is now a permanent fixture.)

The scene where Harry kills the old HS, was actually a lot longer and was cut when edited. When Harry gets up from the chair and walks towards the door, he is startled by a dog. Not wanting to leave the dog for 24hrs without food, as the HS's wife doesn't arrive until the next day, Harry goes into the kitchen and feeds the dog. One of the writers actually joked that Harry did this, not because he felt sorry for the dog, but because he was afraid the dog would eat the HS.

The writers complained quite a lot about the scene where Ruth goes into Harry's office and he tells her he resigned. They said the best line was cut. After Harry says "I don't want to feel like I'm covered in blood anymore," and then he stops Ruth trying to talk him out of it, Ruth turns away from Harry to walk out of his office. But she then turns back to Harry and says, "but we are born covered in blood Harry." The writers couldn't believe that line was cut.

I hope for the later, but I would not at all surprised if TPTB think that viewers can tolerate brains and gore being splattered all over someones face but not the image of childbirth as a metaphor.