Spooks series 9 : Episode guide

This is a list of the episodes in the ninth series of Spooks, with brief plot summaries.

Episode 1

The team at Section D is in mourning following the death of Ros Myers, who was killed in an explosion while trying to save the Home Secretary. Harry Pearce is hit particularly hard by the loss. He wants revenge and will stop at nothing to get it.

One month later, Lucas North boards a ship in Tangier to track Abib, a Somali member of Al Qaeda. With Lucas is Special Boat Service (SBS) agent Dimitri Levendes, masquerading as the ship's captain. An unexpected interruption from what appears to be Somali pirates puts Lucas in mortal danger. His unlikely saviour is an Eastern European prostitute.

Meanwhile, Lucas is shocked when he is visited by an unwelcome ghost from his past.... (Video clip...)

Episode 2

Beth Bailey is thrown in at the deep end on her first operation with Section D. She goes undercover as an oil trader at a secret meeting of Britain's top oil dealers. After receiving intelligence that Robert Westhouse, an influential oil baron, is the subject of an assassination attempt, Beth is tasked with protecting him. But before they've even arrived at the meeting, the oil traders are attacked in a machine gun massacre, and there are only two survivors. Assuming the attack is related to the planned assassination, Section D tries to find the culprit.

Lucas is reunited with an old flame, Maya, whom he hasn't seen for 15 years. With emotions highly charged after so much time, how will Maya respond to Lucas re-entering her life? (Video clips...)

Episode 3

MI5 discovers that the Azakstan Freedom Front (AFF) is searching for a lethal (and illegal) nerve agent called Paroxocybin. Harry sends Lucas to help the Russians stop them. Lucas and FSB officer Viktor Barenshik manage to destroy the sample, but Lucas is shocked when the AFF members are then mercilessly killed by the Russian agents.

Later, Section D becomes aware that a member of the AFF, Aibek, has got away, and Harry makes the controversial decision to let him run. Soon it becomes clear that Aibek is on his way to London looking for a second sample of Paroxocybin held by a British scientist. Can Lucas, Beth and Viktor get to Aibek before he finds the sample? (Video clips...)

Episode 4

A Chinese snatch team arrives in London for a 48-hour visit and Section D is suspicious. Beth calls on the services of Kai, a Chinese Security Services agent who she has been grooming to help infiltrate security. Meanwhile Ruth goes undercover at QMK, a research facility, and discovers that the Chinese are looking for Jiang Li, a scientist who has discovered a de-salinisation technique worth billions. Desperate to get hold of Li, the Chinese will stop at nothing, but the UK cannot afford to lose an intellectual property of such value.

Then a bomb is reported at QMK and Ruth quickly evacuates with Jiang Li. However, it soon becomes clear that the bomb was merely a ruse to get Li out in the open. Who is working for whom? (Video clips...)

Episode 5

The American President is en route to London to chair secret talks between peace negotiators from Palestine and Isael. Beth Bailey and Dimitri Leven go undercover as Home Office liaison officers at the talks. Everything appears to be in place for the talks, when a journalist threatens to break the story. Ruth Evershed convinces her not to print it but it's clear that someone wants to wreck the peace talks. Section D searches for the source of the leak. Then Lucas North picks up the trail and the team discovers that the culprit's aim is assassination - of the US President. (Video clips...)

Episode 6

After a compromise of British security results in a fatal American drone attack on a US army camp, the head of the CIA travels to The Grid. Relations between MI5 and the CIA are fraught and Harry Pearce agrees that Section D and the rest of MI5 will use the USA's security system, Cybershell, to avoid further security breaches. White House cryptographer Daniella Ortiz has the codes to start Cybershell and Lucas North must ensure her safe delivery to MI5. But he has a tough decision to make, torn between the secret he is trying to hide and his loyalty to MI5.

Meanwhile Tariq discovers that the computer systems on the Grid have been hacked into by suspected Russian and Chinese hackers. Realising they have been discovered, the hackers lock down the Grid's computer systems, meaning that once Ortiz delivers the codes, Russia and China will have unlimited access to MI5 and the CIA's entire catalogue of intelligence. (Video clips...)

Episode 7

Ruth is approached by an official council snooper claiming to have witnessed covert activity. Although she initially dismisses his claims, she later finds out that he has applied to join MI5 four times but been rejected because of his mental instability. So she decides to visit his flat to follow up the lead. However, she becomes embroiled in a dangerous situation...

Meanwhile, Lucas comes face to face with Harry in a confrontation that will irrevocably change Section D. (Video clips...)

Episode 8

With Section D still in shock after the revelations about Lucas in the previous episode, a specialist is brought in to try and find him. A deadly cat and mouse game between Harry and Lucas ensues. (Video clips...)

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