Television dramas, with their extended runs and episodic nature, have the ability to let us emphasise with characters to an extraordinary degree. It is one of television’s strongest and harshest tricks to kill off what – to us – are surely immortal beings. Detective Huey in Due South, Tasha Yar in Star Trek: TNG, Doc Greene in ER – heck, even the destruction of Babylon 5 brought a tear to the eye.
Now Spooks, which has been ticking along as little more than a slight update to Bugs lately, has done it again with the death of Danny. Something was definitely up, the season finale and all that, and the show hasn’t been affraid of shock tactics from the start.
And, for once, it gripped me.
