Nuclear Strike (Spooks)

"Nuclear Strike" is the series seven finale and 64th episode of the British espionage television series Spooks. It was originally broadcast on BBC One on 8 December 2008. The episode was written by Neil Cross, and directed by Sam Miller. In the episode, Tiresias, the Russian equivalent of Sugarhorse, awakens a sleeper agent to detonate a nuclear suitcase bomb in central London. The Section D team use Connie James (Gemma Jones), an FSB mole who helped set up Tiresias, to help them stop the bomb. However, the team find themselves targeted by an FSB kill squad, who are unaware of the bomb threat.

The idea behind the episode came from an earlier series three episode about a series of Russian weapons caches throughout the United Kingdom set up during the Cold War. Cross also felt it gratifying to kill off Connie, a character he created in the sixth series. Filming took place during the summer of 2008, with much of it taking place in disused tunnels of the London Underground. The series seven finale was seen by six million viewers and a quarter of the television audience, a large increase of 900,000 viewers and four share points from the previous week. Critics reacted to the episode with near universal acclaim, for being a "superb season closer", "exciting" and "thrilling".