Series 3
The third series of Spooks originally aired on BBC Once from 11th October 2004 to 13th December 2004. It comprised 10 episodes.
Episode 1: Project Friendly Fire
Air date: 11th October 2004
Synopsis: Following Harry's shooting, Oliver Mace of the JIC, shuts down Section D and begins an investigation, determined to find another traitor. Tom is working for himself undercover as a homeless person, and tracks down Herman Joyce, where he kills him and drops the body off at MI5, proving that Joyce did fake his death five years ago. But Mace still doesn't clear Tom. At the hospital, Ruth poses as Harry’s lover to get a message to him about the JIC investigation. He returns to work, hiring Adam Carter from MI6 to help the team prove Tom's innocence. They learn that Joyce's wife plans to meet him in London. Adam pays her a visit and is able to record the conversation, proving she and her husband set Tom up, before killing herself. Tom is reinstated to MI5, while Christine Dale resigns from the CIA.
Episode 2: The Sleeper
Air date: 18th October 2004
Synopsis: Harry activates a sleeper agent, Professor Fred Roberts, to help catch a terrorist group trying to obtain the hypothetical red mercury to create nuclear weapons. In order to ensure he works for them and gets attention from the terrorists, MI5 ruin his life by arresting him and putting him in debt, causing him to lose his family. Tom has a crisis of conscience, believing what they are doing to Roberts is wrong and tries to sabotage the operation. As a result, Harry decommissions Tom from MI5. Fortunately, the team are to apprehend the terrorists.
Episode 3: Who Guards the Guards?
Air date: 25th October 2004
Synopsis: In an episode full of cricket analogies, Danny is assigned to protect Zuli, a controversial writer. A Pakistani double agent working for MI6, Harakat, is wounded while a team of assassins attack the group. Adam wishes to meet a source about the attack, but on the way, he is followed by MI6 "watchers"; Adam eventually evades them. He soon discovers that Oliver Mace made a deal with a terrorist group to allow the assassination. Danny forges a friendship with Harakat, who is soon assassinated by a hidden MI6 assassin. Meanwhile Harry, needing to replace Tom, asks Adam to join Section D.
Episode 4: A Prayer for My Daughter
Air date: 1st November 2004
Synopsis: While attending the latest round of Middle East talks, the UN’s chief negotiator, whom Adam is fond of, is kidnapped and later found murdered. MI5 suspect a link with a shadow group known as the November Committee; but become involved in a race against time when it appears a pro-Palestinian British MP is next on the assassins' hit list. The case is complicated further when a possible link is discovered between the organisation and Harry's estranged daughter Catherine Townsend. Harry orders Danny to keep an eye on Catherine. He does that and more – he ends up sleeping with her. It is revealed that the man who organised the assassinations is a media mogul, David Swift. After finding the evidence they need, Adam uses his wife, Fiona to blackmail him into resigning, by faking a sexual assault case against him. At the end of the episode Harry and Catherine are on much better terms. .
Episode 5: Love and Death
Air date: 8th November 2004
Synopsis: Danny and Zoe follow a rogue scientist on a North Sea ferry with the hope of dissuading him from selling biological weapons to North Korea. However, when the Grid learns he’s already been paid; the two are ordered to kill him. Zoe is unable to perform the task due to sea sickness so it falls to Danny to carry out the task, injecting the scientist with a lethal dose of insulin. Meanwhile Ruth has been listening to several MI5 surveillance tapes of a man who she seems to have developed an affection for. Sam, who’s looking into the situation for Harry, and Malcolm convince Ruth to meet up with him. They have a nice evening together, but leave separately; it’s not going to work out. At the end of the episode Zoe breaks up with her fiancé, believing he broke his promise not to tell anyone about her job.
Episode 6: Persephone
Air date: 15th November 2004
Synopsis: Zoe goes on trial, charged with incitement to murder, following the unforeseeable death of an undercover police officer during an operation to take down the Turkish mafia. It is revealed that during the operation, the leader worked for Al-Qaeda, so Harry and Adam instructed Zoe to have another member kill him. The undercover police officer, who Section D had no idea about, was killed in the process. Ultimately, despite assurances that she will only be given a slap on the wrist, she is found guilty and sentenced to up to 10 years imprisonment. Danny is able to persuade Zoe to run away to Chile with a new identity.
Episode 7: Outsiders
Air date: 22nd November 2004
Synopsis: A computer hacker has laced poison into several batches of paracetamol. While Section D works to find the party responsible, the hackers wipe out several bank accounts. This is followed by manipulating traffic lights, and redirecting the subsequent 999 calls to sex chat lines. Their first belief that Islamic extremists are responsible is debunked; the man responsible was Andrew Forrestal, an old friend of Ruth’s, drafted in to help Section D with the operation. When Ruth works out that Forrestal is responsible he kidnaps her and ties her up in his house. Forrestal demands his ransom in diamonds and, due to the seriousness of the threat, they are coated with genetically modified cobra venom. Forrestal takes the payment and dies. Ruth is later found unharmed. Meanwhile, Danny has trouble dealing with the loss of Zoe. In the end, he tells Will where she is and Will subsequently moves to Chile to be with Zoe again.
Episode 8: Celebrity
Air date: 29th November 2004
Synopsis: MI5 are called in to investigate the kidnapping of baby Alfie the son of knighted rock star Riff. After the kidnappers eventually make contact, MI5 plants put tracking devices in with the ransom, but are disabled after the kidnappers put them under magnets in a scrapyard. Fiona is transferred to Section D to go undercover and befriend the baby’s mother, though Adam grows concerned after she begins using cocaine so as not to blow her cover. The baby is found dead, having been dropped from a height. Eventually, it is learned that Riff's wife set up the kidnapping to get them some publicity; she never meant for Alfie to die. Upon learning this, Riff kills his wife, then commits suicide. Meanwhile, a politician is forced to consider resignation over a missing girl with whom he was having an affair.
Episode 9: Frequently Asked Questions
Air date: 6th December 2004
Synopsis: Mercenary Robert Morgan is arrested after he is found digging on the site of a decommissioned Soviet weapons stash. The team are tipped off that an attack might be planned. Adam and Danny use every possible interrogation method, until finally threatening his sick daughter to reveal the location of the attack. Meanwhile, Harry confides in Ruth that he has been asked to apply for the upcoming vacancy of Director General of MI5. He doesn’t want the job, but can’t say no to applying so he tasks Ruth help him fail gracefully.
Episode 10: The Suffering of Strangers
Air date: 13th December 2004
Synopsis: On Fiona's birthday, she and Danny are taken hostage by an Iraqi extremist cell, who threaten to kill them unless the Prime Minister changes his pending speech regarding Iraq. Adam calls his old colleague, Zaf Younis, in to help out. Soon after Adam is held against his will by a female member of the cell. When Danny and Fiona kill one of their captors during a failed escape attempt, Adam is told by the cell leader either Danny or Fiona must die as retribution, and that Adam must choose. Before Adam can make that choice, Danny provokes the cell leader into killing him, saving Fiona. Danny’s death hits the team hard but they must keep working to ensure Fiona gets out alive. Adam soon learns that the plan was that during the meeting the PM is hosting, the female cell member will detonate a bomb that is placed inside her. She surrenders after no longer wishing to die, and gives Adam Fiona’s whereabouts. Special Forces are able to save Fiona and kill the remaining cell members before Fiona can be burned alive.
Episode 1: Project Friendly Fire
Air date: 11th October 2004
Synopsis: Following Harry's shooting, Oliver Mace of the JIC, shuts down Section D and begins an investigation, determined to find another traitor. Tom is working for himself undercover as a homeless person, and tracks down Herman Joyce, where he kills him and drops the body off at MI5, proving that Joyce did fake his death five years ago. But Mace still doesn't clear Tom. At the hospital, Ruth poses as Harry’s lover to get a message to him about the JIC investigation. He returns to work, hiring Adam Carter from MI6 to help the team prove Tom's innocence. They learn that Joyce's wife plans to meet him in London. Adam pays her a visit and is able to record the conversation, proving she and her husband set Tom up, before killing herself. Tom is reinstated to MI5, while Christine Dale resigns from the CIA.
Episode 2: The Sleeper
Air date: 18th October 2004
Synopsis: Harry activates a sleeper agent, Professor Fred Roberts, to help catch a terrorist group trying to obtain the hypothetical red mercury to create nuclear weapons. In order to ensure he works for them and gets attention from the terrorists, MI5 ruin his life by arresting him and putting him in debt, causing him to lose his family. Tom has a crisis of conscience, believing what they are doing to Roberts is wrong and tries to sabotage the operation. As a result, Harry decommissions Tom from MI5. Fortunately, the team are to apprehend the terrorists.
Episode 3: Who Guards the Guards?
Air date: 25th October 2004
Synopsis: In an episode full of cricket analogies, Danny is assigned to protect Zuli, a controversial writer. A Pakistani double agent working for MI6, Harakat, is wounded while a team of assassins attack the group. Adam wishes to meet a source about the attack, but on the way, he is followed by MI6 "watchers"; Adam eventually evades them. He soon discovers that Oliver Mace made a deal with a terrorist group to allow the assassination. Danny forges a friendship with Harakat, who is soon assassinated by a hidden MI6 assassin. Meanwhile Harry, needing to replace Tom, asks Adam to join Section D.
Episode 4: A Prayer for My Daughter
Air date: 1st November 2004
Synopsis: While attending the latest round of Middle East talks, the UN’s chief negotiator, whom Adam is fond of, is kidnapped and later found murdered. MI5 suspect a link with a shadow group known as the November Committee; but become involved in a race against time when it appears a pro-Palestinian British MP is next on the assassins' hit list. The case is complicated further when a possible link is discovered between the organisation and Harry's estranged daughter Catherine Townsend. Harry orders Danny to keep an eye on Catherine. He does that and more – he ends up sleeping with her. It is revealed that the man who organised the assassinations is a media mogul, David Swift. After finding the evidence they need, Adam uses his wife, Fiona to blackmail him into resigning, by faking a sexual assault case against him. At the end of the episode Harry and Catherine are on much better terms. .
Episode 5: Love and Death
Air date: 8th November 2004
Synopsis: Danny and Zoe follow a rogue scientist on a North Sea ferry with the hope of dissuading him from selling biological weapons to North Korea. However, when the Grid learns he’s already been paid; the two are ordered to kill him. Zoe is unable to perform the task due to sea sickness so it falls to Danny to carry out the task, injecting the scientist with a lethal dose of insulin. Meanwhile Ruth has been listening to several MI5 surveillance tapes of a man who she seems to have developed an affection for. Sam, who’s looking into the situation for Harry, and Malcolm convince Ruth to meet up with him. They have a nice evening together, but leave separately; it’s not going to work out. At the end of the episode Zoe breaks up with her fiancé, believing he broke his promise not to tell anyone about her job.
Episode 6: Persephone
Air date: 15th November 2004
Synopsis: Zoe goes on trial, charged with incitement to murder, following the unforeseeable death of an undercover police officer during an operation to take down the Turkish mafia. It is revealed that during the operation, the leader worked for Al-Qaeda, so Harry and Adam instructed Zoe to have another member kill him. The undercover police officer, who Section D had no idea about, was killed in the process. Ultimately, despite assurances that she will only be given a slap on the wrist, she is found guilty and sentenced to up to 10 years imprisonment. Danny is able to persuade Zoe to run away to Chile with a new identity.
Episode 7: Outsiders
Air date: 22nd November 2004
Synopsis: A computer hacker has laced poison into several batches of paracetamol. While Section D works to find the party responsible, the hackers wipe out several bank accounts. This is followed by manipulating traffic lights, and redirecting the subsequent 999 calls to sex chat lines. Their first belief that Islamic extremists are responsible is debunked; the man responsible was Andrew Forrestal, an old friend of Ruth’s, drafted in to help Section D with the operation. When Ruth works out that Forrestal is responsible he kidnaps her and ties her up in his house. Forrestal demands his ransom in diamonds and, due to the seriousness of the threat, they are coated with genetically modified cobra venom. Forrestal takes the payment and dies. Ruth is later found unharmed. Meanwhile, Danny has trouble dealing with the loss of Zoe. In the end, he tells Will where she is and Will subsequently moves to Chile to be with Zoe again.
Episode 8: Celebrity
Air date: 29th November 2004
Synopsis: MI5 are called in to investigate the kidnapping of baby Alfie the son of knighted rock star Riff. After the kidnappers eventually make contact, MI5 plants put tracking devices in with the ransom, but are disabled after the kidnappers put them under magnets in a scrapyard. Fiona is transferred to Section D to go undercover and befriend the baby’s mother, though Adam grows concerned after she begins using cocaine so as not to blow her cover. The baby is found dead, having been dropped from a height. Eventually, it is learned that Riff's wife set up the kidnapping to get them some publicity; she never meant for Alfie to die. Upon learning this, Riff kills his wife, then commits suicide. Meanwhile, a politician is forced to consider resignation over a missing girl with whom he was having an affair.
Episode 9: Frequently Asked Questions
Air date: 6th December 2004
Synopsis: Mercenary Robert Morgan is arrested after he is found digging on the site of a decommissioned Soviet weapons stash. The team are tipped off that an attack might be planned. Adam and Danny use every possible interrogation method, until finally threatening his sick daughter to reveal the location of the attack. Meanwhile, Harry confides in Ruth that he has been asked to apply for the upcoming vacancy of Director General of MI5. He doesn’t want the job, but can’t say no to applying so he tasks Ruth help him fail gracefully.
Episode 10: The Suffering of Strangers
Air date: 13th December 2004
Synopsis: On Fiona's birthday, she and Danny are taken hostage by an Iraqi extremist cell, who threaten to kill them unless the Prime Minister changes his pending speech regarding Iraq. Adam calls his old colleague, Zaf Younis, in to help out. Soon after Adam is held against his will by a female member of the cell. When Danny and Fiona kill one of their captors during a failed escape attempt, Adam is told by the cell leader either Danny or Fiona must die as retribution, and that Adam must choose. Before Adam can make that choice, Danny provokes the cell leader into killing him, saving Fiona. Danny’s death hits the team hard but they must keep working to ensure Fiona gets out alive. Adam soon learns that the plan was that during the meeting the PM is hosting, the female cell member will detonate a bomb that is placed inside her. She surrenders after no longer wishing to die, and gives Adam Fiona’s whereabouts. Special Forces are able to save Fiona and kill the remaining cell members before Fiona can be burned alive.