Spooks is a British television drama series, produced by the independent production company Kudos for BBC One. The title derives from a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 intelligence officers at Thames House. In the United States and Canada the show is aired under the title MI-5, due to the racial connotations of the word "spook" in those countries. The programme was created by writer David Wolstencroft.

The programme regularly attracts popular guest actors, with performers such as Hugh Laurie, Jimi Mistry, Andy Serkis, Andrew Tiernan, Anton Lesser, Alexander Siddig and Anthony Stewart Head having appeared.

For much of the first series Matthew MacFadyen's character (Tom Quinn) wears dark glasses, this was actually due to a burst blood vessel sometimes just visible.

The lamp shades hanging from the ceiling of the Grid in season 1 are actually bins from Ikea turned upside down.

During production all files relating to spooks were labeled "Prawn" to "throw people off the scent".

The scene in episode 1 ("Thou Shalt Not Kill") where the cat escapes from the house was based o a real MI5 training exercise, as was the scene in series 2 episode 1 ("Legitimate Targets") where an old school friend almost identified Zoe whilst she was on an op.

Several of the episodes have different titles in the US - for example, the season 1 finale "The Lesser of Two Evils" became "Mean, Dirty, Nasty", and the season 2 finale "Smoke and Mirrors" became "Pit of Secrets".