5. Spooks: Tom Quinn
I only got into
Spooks last year and I loved every minute of...well some of series nine went off the rails but I thought it was back on form for the final tenth outing. The problem is, the BBC should never have cancelled it. With its high turnover (or bloodbath if you prefer) the cast was kept fresh - kind of like
Doctor Who, but instead of regenerating the main character was shot or blown up. The BBC followed
Spooks with
Hunted last year, but that was really just a
Spooks wannabe and that was swiftly cancelled. And there hasn't been anything else quite like it since.
Luther is the next best thing (another show I recently got into) but that is just four episodes every 1-2 years. The solution: Bring back
Spooks. Or failing that, a spin off. My suggestion would be to reuse Matthew Macfadyen's Tom Quinn. The leading character for the first two series, he was one of the few to escape alive in early series three, but made a welcome return cameo in the final ever episode as an 'outside contractor' hired by Harry Pierce to assassinate a renegade Russian criminal. That could be the basis for a whole new spin off. Tom, reunited with his CIA love Christine Dale working covert operations that no one in the British government would acknowledge. A sort of Dexter meets Bond, only with Tom's gritty demeanour. Throw in a few cameos by Harry Pearce and the surviving MI5 unit (Dimitri, Erin and Calum) and we could have a global-trotting hero. Perhaps even bring Keely Hawes' Zoe (the actress is married to Matthew Macfadyen) for an episode or two. A great way to continue the show but with a whole new spin.