The series eight finale of the British espionage television series Spooks was originally broadcast on BBC One on 23 December 2009, and is the 72nd episode in the overall series. The episode was written by Ben Richards and directed by Alrick Riley. The episode continues the "Nightingale" story-arc, a shadow organisation bent on changing the geopolitical map. In the finale, Nightingale attempt to provoke a nuclear war between India and Pakistan, and Section D have a week to prevent it.
The episode was based on actual reports of conflict between the two nations. Hermione Norris made her final appearance as Ros Myers; the producers intended to leave her fate open in order for the audience to debate whether or not she survived the hotel explosion at the end of the episode. It was viewed by under six million viewers after its original broadcast, and received overwhelmingly positive reviews, particularly due to the reveal of Nightingale's plot and the cliffhanger, questioning whether or not Ros survived the hotel explosion.
Background
The finale continues the story-arc involving a multinational shadow organisation bent on changing the geopolitical map. Referred to as "Nightingale", actor Richard Armitage has said that "India, Pakistan and China feature heavily. But everyone, including Russia, America and Britain have a finger in the pie." In the sixth episode it is revealed that CIA liaison and Lucas North's (Armitage) lover Sarah Caufield (Genevieve O'Reilly) is part of the organisation, and flees when Lucas confronts her. In the previous episode, Section D discover that Nightingale is manipulating Hindus and Muslims to attack each other in an attempt to further tarnish relations between India and Pakistan; Section D is able to prevent the attacks in the British, but it is later revealed that Nightingale succeeded in setting up similar attacks throughout the rest of Europe and the United States.
Plot
An Indian submarine is forced into port at Karachi by the Pakistan Navy. Knowing it is a Nightingale plot – Pakistani General Azim Ali is a member – Section D learn they have a week to stop a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. News of this shocks the team, particularly Tariq Masood (Shazad Latif), who has family in Lahore. Ruth Evershed (Nicola Walker) discovers the name of a prominent Nightingale operative, Hans Lindemann. While Lucas North and Ros Myers work to bug Lindemann's office, Sarah Caufield returns, having been ordered by CIA Head of European Operations Russell Price (Mark Aiken), also a Nightingale member, to kill Lucas. Instead, Sarah warns him to leave the country before escaping.
Ruth meets a Chinese contact, Heng (Roger Yuan), who tells her that both countries will fail the negotiations and that war is inevitable. He is shot dead by an assassin in front of her. Tariq finds Sarah staying at a hotel under an assumed name. Lucas and Ros apprehend her after Lucas distracts her and Ros shoots her in the leg. At a hospital, Sarah reveals to Lucas that Nightingale wants India and Pakistan to go to war in order to "contain" the future, where Nightingale believes the Taliban will take over Pakistan and gain control of nuclear weapons, though the war will kill several million innocent lives in the process. As Lucas leaves the room momentarily to call Ros, an assassin kills Sarah; Lucas captures him and learns that Price arranged the hit.
To prevent negotiations from succeeding, Price rigs the Summit hotel with explosives. To prevent Pakistani President Mudasser (Nicholas Khan) and Home Secretary Andrew Lawrence (Tobias Menzies) from escaping, he paralyses both of them. Learning Price is in the hotel, Lucas and Ros arrive and capture him. Since disarming the bomb is impossible, Ros threatens to leave Price behind when the bomb explodes unless he divulges the room both politicians are held. Although Price eventually discloses the room number, Ros leaves him in the room where the bomb is anyway. Lucas is able to carry Mudasser safely out of the hotel, where he recovers and orders the release of the Indian submarine, preventing the war. However, Ros is still in the hotel, struggling to pull Lawrence to safety. As Lucas runs back to aid her, the hotel explodes, killing Lawrence, Price and Ros.