Since September 11th 2001 our telly boxes have been chock-full of government agencies kicking terrorist ass. As tragic as that day was, you can argue it's been bloody lucrative for Fox and the BBC and their hugely succesful 24 and Spooks franchises. Both shows continue to rumble on through our TV schedules, still pulling in high ratings regardless of the fact that pretty much all original cast members are no longer involved.
Another succesful show of recent years is Channel 4's youth drama Skins hugely popular with kids and adults alike for it's sex and drugs portrayal of youth culture. So hey, here's an idea, why don't these two shows have unprotected sex with each other at a house party after one too many Cheeky Vimto's?
The result of such fornication is BBC3's new show Spooks: Code 9 a time-wasting, patronising exercise lacking the charm and wit of the two shows it's trying to emulate.
So what's wrong with it? For a start the central premise makes little to no sense whatsoever. A nuclear bomb explodes in London in 2012 (Presumably during the Olympics though this is never made explicit...well it blows up in a stadium but noone says "Olympics") killing thousands and making sure that "nothing is the same again". But this is not the harrowingly realistic portrayal of the classic Threads, apparently this attack kills most of MI5's agents leaving a bunch of young whippersnappers to do the job of fighting terrorists who are also getting younger. (And if you didn't understand my explanation, it's pretty much word for word what's said on screen.) It's a paper thin premise that has little to no explanation, and I doubt whether it'll be elaborated on in further episodes.
The team all live together in the same house (How very This Life.) and spend their downtime drinking shots and flirting with each other. (Much like Torchwood, Skins and er...This Life.) None of the characters are particularly likeable, or particularly original; one character who's name I forget or don't care to remember (I've only just finished watching the bloody thing!) is an ex-thief with a heart of gold trying to find his missing family.
Cheer up Georgia, you'll be back in Doctor who soon enough....
Not even the beautiful Georgia Moffet can make me care about the character, my main concern for her is that she's wasting her time in such a woeful piece of television.
All in all it's another "youth" show that treats its audience like they can't sit still for 5 minutes. The direction of the fight sequences at the start are ropey at best, and it's a struggle to figure out exactly who's punching who, and the less said about the Union Jack transition effect between scenes the better.
Coming so soon after the unmitigated disaster that is Bonekickers, Code 9 is further evidence that the Beeb is hastily trying to come up with a replacement for Doctor who in the schedules. Roll on 2010, I don't think we've ever needed the Doctor as much as we do now.
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