http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2009/nov/04/spooks-overblown-nonsense-top-tv

With perhaps a little less fanfare than usual, but no less crash-bang-wallop once the titles roll, Spooks returns to BBC1 tonight, allowing viewers a glimpse of the impossibly good-looking MI5 officers who are apparently single-handedly keeping the country safe from the clutches of evil terrorists.

It's ridiculous stuff of course - the designer clothes, massive bomb plots every week, distinct lack of boring paperwork, and the glossy grid itself (at least I presume Thames House doesn't look like that in real-life, although my invitation to inspect the premises has strangely got lost in the post). Most ludicrous of all, of course, is idea that MI5 has only five members of staff available to counteract the combined forces of world evil. Well, I say five. But they might be down to four given that Harry Pearce has apparently spent the last year wrapped in a bodybag in the boot of a car, while the writers waited for the next series to kick off.

So will Harry survive? Given Spooks's propensity for inflicting horrible deaths on key characters - Helen (Lisa Faulkner) in the deep-fat fryer, Danny executed after being held hostage, Zaf tortured, and Adam blown up in a car bomb - that is by no means certain. And that is also, for me at least, what makes Spooks such consistently good watching. (Best for us to draw a veil over the beyond wrong BBC3 spin-off Spooks Code 9, I think). Despite the at-times cartoonish action sequences, and the fact you pretty much know that Britain is not going to fall into the clutches of whichever evil regime/double-crossing CIA officer is after us this week, there's also the possibility that one of the team might be quite merrily sacrificed.

The never-ending supply of new officers - Harry's team are basically the MI5 equivalent of the Sugababes, only with added death/new lives in hiding – also helps to keep the series fresh, of course, which is presumably how we've managed to reach the giddy heights of series eight. That and the short series - eight episodes mean things move along at a fair old lick, rather than limping through 20+ episodes at a snail's pace (I'm thinking of you here, FlashForward).

So do you think the suits/grid/forever saving the world shtick has had its day? Or are you excited and planning an evening on the edge of your sofa as we find out what happened to Harry? Those in the latter camp might like to check back this evening for our episode-by-episode Spooks blog. Those in the former camp … unleash your hatred below.