Perhaps it was the Bond films that captured the public imagination for fictional spies in the 1960s, but Bond was not the only spy. On the small screen, you could watch the Man from Uncle, Mission Impossible and the Avengers. The Saint was also around as was the less popular Dangerman whose central character became No.6 in the The Prisoner, an dark and often unfathomable series of 1967 - 8. Later came undercover agent Shaft, the little known Wiseguy, which may have set the trend for the serial series style of programme, where one theme is followed over several episodes. As time progressed, naturally things became grittier and hard hitting, take for instance the X-files, with the undercover agents Mulder and Scully constantly battling against a government agency that sought to hide the truth from the general population. One of the toughest agents must be Jack Bauer in the series 24, who regularly ends up close to death and then an hour or two later is fully recovered enough to have another near death encounter whilst saving the USA from terrorists and at the same time rescuing his daughter from kidnap. How come she did not learn her lesson from the first time?



The BBC came up trumps with Bugs and its MI5 series, Spooks. Bugs was a high tech affair which eventually ran out of storylines, but nevertheless was hughely enjoyable throughout. Spooks started well and really captivated the British public, recruitment applications for MI5 increased significantly when the series first ran. It later settled into a regular formula, with key members being killed or sent into exile as the MI5 guys, who always put their country first, battled against terrorists, their scheming and power crazed MI6 sister department and dodgy government officials. After the success of the first series, they came up with the idea of Spy School, a reality show in which members of the public had to deceive family and friends whilst they trained as spies. It was a sort of thinking person's Big Brother! One by one, the contestants were eliminated but over the weeks it gave an interesting insight to the training and life of a real MI5 agent. Even though the series was a one off, you can still experience the training of an MI5 agent through companies like Spy Games Ltd, who run day and half day courses for adults and children. You get to use high tech surveillance equipment, learn evasive driving techniques, shooting - and more. It is even catching on in the corporate entertainment industry, for company 'jollys', team building, conference breaks and entertainment events for important clients.