Spooks = Reality... Sort of?

[Tomsdouble]

It must be hard to walk the line (I know, cliche alert) between good telly and reality. I think Spooks does it very well which is why I love the show so much. There must be loads of stuff going on (or has gone on) about which we know next to nothing and we won't know for many years to come. I have just bought the unofficial history of MI5 but it's a huge tome with tiny print so if I glean any interesting info I'll plonk it up here! Who knows, some of this info could be straight out of a Spooks storyline but we'll either never know or not know for a long long time....

I remember reading years ago that when Spooks started the cast were given the opportunity to meet real agents or rather former agents, who I gather were fairly senior. That won't give us much insight as viewers but it must have been interesting for the actors themselves.