The title derives from a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 intelligence officers at Thames House, though Freemasons' Hall in Covent Garden is used for filming. In the United States and Canada the show is aired under the title MI-5. The programme was created by writer David Wolstencroft. As of the final episode in Series 5 in November 2006, there have been a total of 46 episodes.

Each episode ends with a scene freezing suddenly into a black-and-white negative image, which cuts directly to a trailer of the next episode, then the Kudos and BBC logos in the very last frame (or merely the logos if the episode is the finale of the series). The series continues to air with no credits on BBC One, to maintain an atmosphere of the anonymity of real-life spies and the drama of each episode finishing within a couple of seconds of the final frame, although episodes aired on BBC Three, one week ahead of their BBC One showing, have a brief credit sequence (which is then removed for the BBC One version). The final episode of each series is not previewed on BBC3. Full credit sequences are available online for every episode to date.

The programme regularly attracts popular actors, with performers such as Hugh Laurie, Jimi Mistry, Andy Serkis, Andrew Tiernan, Anton Lesser, Alexander Siddig and Anthony Stewart Head having appeared.

• Spooks at bbc.co.uk

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