How did you feel about Season 9?

[EagleEye]

It is interesting to read so many positive and negative views of S9. I agree a little with both sides.

We had some very convoluted storylines, it felt to me that we needed two or three more episodes to swell the story arcs out in this series.

Was it miserable and unbelievable - I would say definitely NOT, I certainly felt this was actually a step up from S8.

I felt that Beth Bailey is a good, solid character introduction to the team; alas it was a shame that her character didn't get a chance to shine through this series, let us see what S10 brings. Dimitri Levendis has promise and are we going to see Alec White taking up the reigns of Lucas/Adam/Tom??? I think that Vincent Regan can bring a lot to that character and this would be an interesting element providing that the writers can toughen him up!

It would be devastating to see Harry Pearce bow out, but I speculate that S10 will sadly be the final series and I surmise that we will see Harry at the helm through this next series and culminate either with the retirement of Harry and either the marriage of Harry and Ruth; or perhaps more in Spooks fashion, the demise of one of these characters, leaving the other a hollow-shell!

I felt that a character a strong as Lucas North and a performance as compelling as the one Richard Armitage brought to the screen deserved a more powerful exit. Despite some opinions, I rather liked the element of the "damaged" past which turned John Bateman into Lucas North. I liked the interesting notion of a life so wound tight in a web of lies, coupled with the deeply compartmentalized true character (which is revealed to Lucas/John by Vaughn Edwards), that Lucas was almost schizophrenic and became more and more fractured through the series.

What I strongly feel is that this element of the storyline simply did not have enough time to work through. I felt the finale did become a little absurd in places where there were too many loose ends to tie up that it lost itself; the actual suicide of Lucas North itself became simply lost as the writers attempted desperately to cram a quart into a pint pot!

I liked the notion of the Maya Lahan character being part of the catalyst that fractured Lucas' identity, although I agree that the character or perhaps the performance by Laila Rouass was lacking any outward sign of passion or emotion and that caused the entire element of the sub-plot to become rather diluted.

Overall, I enjoyed it and I am thrilled that BBC have commissioned series 10 and I hope that it is well written and neatly and concisely concludes this fantastic series. This is by far and above one of the very best pieces of television to come out of the UK.