Second season of 'Spooks' announced

Jane Tranter, the head of Drama Commissioning at the BBC, has commissioned a second season of MI5 drama Spooks, it was announced today.

The drama, which provoked controversy during its first season for a particularly graphic scene involving a character perishing in a deep fryer, is returning with those members of the original cast who survived intact - along with newcomer Natasha Little.

Tranter said: "Spooks was such a big hit with viewers earlier this year that I am delighted to see it returning.

"With gripping storylines and an array of fantastic talent the new series is set to build on its popular and critical acclaim and complements other returning dramas such as Cutting It, Born and Bred and Waking the Dead."

Jane Featherstone, Head of Drama at the series' independent producers, Kudos, explained: "We discovered with the first series that Spooks can tell stories no other long-running British TV drama can tell.

"There were times when we found our fiction blending imperceptibly with the news. Episode two, for example, was about race issues and at the time it was broadcast, the national news followed with a story about race riots.

"This new, longer series builds on that. Threats to national security have never been greater and our team of spies have to match the growing sophistication of an often unseen enemy."