LIKE a lot of people, I love programmes where the levels of crime, deception and intrigue are so complex and twisted they have only one effect - they leave you wondering what the hell is going on. Programmes like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 24, Emmerdale...
As for Spooks, for me, it's never become what they call Appointment TV.
While most thrillers like to play up their cinematic influences, Spooks looks like one long car ad. Everything is shot in loving shades of midnight blue, silver and grey.
The men all look as if they stepped out of an ad for Hugo Boss or Gillette. As for the women, they are all icy blondes that could pass for estate agents. Apart from the Old Etonians in charge, none of them looks like a spy.
That said, I enjoyed the last episode although it would have been even better if Adam (Rupert Penry-Jones) hadn't miraculously found The Magic Key in his pocket and either he or Ros (skull-in-a-dress Hermione Norris) had drowned. (The shot of Norris drifting lifelessly towards the bottom was, well, spooky.)
After a good storyline about an environmental terrorist taking control of the Thames flood barrier, the tension was spoilt somewhat by a terrible CGI of the water rising.
It was a neat idea to portray the river Thames as a grey, dormant monster capable of causing mayhem.
I also enjoy the tips you pick up in Spooks. If you're being chased by MI6 for example, move to open ground, places like Hampstead Heath or Hyde Park, which has so many exits, one Spook said, you "might as well be on the moon".
Last week there were even rare signs of humour, ironically coming mostly from Norris, a woman who could single-handedly lower the temperature of the freezers at Iceland.
"Safe houses. So lifeless," commented a Serbian war criminal-turned-state witness as he looked round the typically sterile, anally retentive room so common to this show.
"Actually I live here," muttered Norris, a woman so impassive she makes the average shop mannequin look like Pete from Big Brother. It's notable that no actors' names appear before the credits in Spooks. This is not a series for actors. Their job is mostly to be cold, aloof, neutral.
Plot is all and, although last night's series finale was rather right-on, the premise that the British government might agree to "stop fighting climate change" in order to "maximise economic, military and political influence" in a world devastated by the ensuing climate change was suitably alarming - like an espionage version of Dr Who.
Improbably, the spooks at MI6 didn't know Adam had agreed to step down from all duties because of his "nervous collapse".
"He's experiencing chronic flashbacks, suicidal impulses and manic episodes," said his shrink. "His condition is rooted in survival guilt. He wishes he were dead and his wife were still alive."
But apart from that he was OK. Generally, Rupert Penry-Jones is just too bland and suave to carry a series.
In fact it's hard to sympathise or empathise with any of the characters in Spooks given that most of what they do is either undemocratic or plain illegal. My main problem with last night's story was that I was rooting for the terrorist.
"Liars, every single one of them," spat Anthony Flanagan, reprising his recent role as the unhinged ex-soldier in Cracker as he referred to politicians the world over.
Spooks is also still mired in the cliches of spy dramas from the 80s - details like the way spies still flash their car headlights when they rendezvous in the woods. And 24 moved on from nasty Serbians about three series ago.
Meanwhile, I'm loving The State Within. Just don't ask me to explain what's going on though.