Rating: 
Summary: I love this show, but... Volume 1
Review: This show is awesome! It has the BBC "slow burn" effect. It starts out so-so and then suddenly you're hooked. The uncut episodes are a must have. It really gives you a feel for how the show was supposed to be shown. The DVD menu is horrible. I mean really really bad. The most frustrating thing is that this is only six episodes. It's "Volume 1" not "Season 1". There's 14 episodes in all. So we have at least another collection to buy to get the whole season. Making the total cost over $80 (if there's two more volumes we'd break $100 bucks). A little much for only 14 episodes. They're lucky I love the show so much.
Rating: 
Summary: Mind numbingly awful
Review: This stunningly bad BBC confection can best be summed up by A&E's somewhat desperate use of Nickelback to trail the third series in the US: An unconvincing set of second hand ideas, thrown together without the wit to make it truly compelling, but with enough po-faced bravura to ensure a baffling degree of popularity.
Horribly bereft of irony, its attempts at action are feeble and the reviewer who mentioned Le Carre should really watch Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy again, very soon. George Smiley would run rings around these children.
Series 1 contains one of the most sickeningly manipulative twists ever committed by a cynical scriptwriter desperate for ratings, and each series ends in the most preposterous manner since Blake's 7 dispatched it's entire cast with monotonous regularity.
Saddled with the least convincing hard-man lead since Roy Dupuis' laryngitis-riddled performance in La Femme Nikita, this is thoroughly resistible nonsense.
Rating:
Summary: Red hot spy thriller!
Review: Tired of run-of-the mill American TV? MI-5 delivers gritty spy action English style. This is English drama at its best--with snappy dialogue, enthralling character development and realistic suspenseful plots. MI-5 demonstrates filmaking which employs intimate psychological insight with subtlety and flair. Each scene builds your understanding and identification with the characters. Can't wait for the rest of the series to come out on DVD!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant TV
Review: Tired of the drivel that gets served up on US TV? This series is well worth the investment. This BBC production called "Spooks" in England, but called MI-5 here, has smart acting and interesting plots without the need for gratuitous violence so rampant on American TV. Just one more example of why the BBC provides quality entertainment. Our only complaint is that the BBC is slow on making the next series available across the pond. C'mon BBC we are waiting..
Rating:
Summary: Top Notch Thriller in a Slick Package
Review: Watching MI-5 on A&E this fall caught me off guard. Not content to be just another stylish spy show, MI-5 is superbly written and cast. The DVD package is a real treat and goes above and beyond. Even navigating around the special features is entertaining, and becomes a mini story in itself. The bonus, of course is viewing each episode the way they were originally filmed, with material that was edited out for A&E's broadcast. This show is compared with 24, which I also enjoy, but MI-5 relies less on plot twists and more on serious issues, that are written intelligently. Here's hoping for more episodes being released on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Well done!
Review: What a terrific import to the parched desert of our American television scene. The stories are well-written, the acting is superb and believe it or not, there is real drama and tension in a show that's supposed to have it! There's a typical American knock-off coming to the screen soon that I've seen advertised--don't remember the title--but it looks like a poor version of this higher-quality effort. Sadly, another American low-rent "plastic fantastic" version that will last a couple of weeks. At least we have a show like "MI-5" to savor. This British spy series reminds me a lot of the elegance in story and execution that the old "Secret Agent Man" series had with Patrick McGoohan back in the 60's. McGoohan had a similar class and style that was superior to the American spy shows at the time. And the stories were much better crafted as well. Now how soon is season two of MI-5 coming out?
Rating:
Summary: When She was Good...
Review: When the BBC does it good, they do it very, very good. This is the BBC being very, very good. First: you're getting 6 episodes on 3 DVD's.
Second: These are brilliant! There are bombs, and ethical dillemas, cover stories, a great soundthack, an episode with Anthony Steward Head, more bombs, some irritated Irish (which sort of goes with the whole bombs thing), smart people, dumb people, love, nifty spy toys, ruthless people... There are no punches pulled in this series. There is a cliffhanger ending which kind of prompted me to go looking for season 2, which sadly isn't out yet. Well, I can wait. This is a terrific little series so far. I love it. Definitely a keeper... probably something everyone and their mother is going to want to borrow, then wind up getting a copy of for themselves.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Wow...did I get hooked on this show! It's so engaging that it's hard to stop watching! I am already drooling over the prospect of season 2 coming out on DVD (which will be this fall with 10 eps this time!). For fans, you should check out the website (they are currently filming season 3) and see what's happening: www.bbc.co.uk/spooks
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