British TV spy series "Spooks" gets silver screen makeover

May 6, 2015 12:00 PM

LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - The agents of Britain's MI5 hit the silver screen this week in a film adaptation of popular British television spy drama "Spooks".

"Spooks: The Greater Good" stars some of the original drama cast, such as Peter Firth, as well as new faces including "Game of Thrones" actor Kit Harington.

The BBC series, which ran from 2002 to 2011, won many fans as well as numerous awards and Harington says the film stays true to the spirit of the spy show.

"I think 'Spooks' always wanted to be a film. It wanted to have the big explosion. It wanted to have the sweeping shot of London. It wanted to have bigger action scenes," he said during a promotional interview.

"So, what's similar is that it's still a gritty, spy thriller based in London and still in a very real world. What's different is that it's bigger on scope. We got to do things in this that they couldn't do in the TV show."

The film follows Firth's character, Sir Harry Pearce, as he tries to find a traitor inside MI5 who may have helped a convicted militant escape from custody in London.

Pearce has to go underground to get the help of Will Holloway, played by Harington, whom he decommissioned from the service years before, to find out who betrayed the agency.

"Spooks" was known for killing off major characters, especially at unexpected times, also a feature in popular HBO series "Game of Thrones."

"It pre-dated 'Thrones' and it did things that we're ('Game of Thrones') now credited for (doing in) changing drama," Harington said. "I think there's always shows before really huge ones that do that and I think 'Spooks' did do that."

"Spooks: The Greater Good" hits UK cinemas on Friday. (Reporting By Francis Maguire; Writing by Francis Maguire and Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Mark Heinrich)