On Sophia Myles leaving [ spooks ]

Its too bad Sophia Myles is no longer part of the cast of the long lived [ spooks ] series. I was very excited about her joining the show mainly from her role in the very best episode of Doctor Who yet (in my opinion). She had a short run with [ spooks ] and her role as Beth Bailey was fun.

That Doctor Who episode was The Girl in the Fireplace which was one of the few and finest David Tennant episodes that was written/directed by the guy who currently helms the series, Steven Moffat. That episode seemed like a template for much of the Matt Smith and Amy Pond era Doctor (but all that is for a different blog post).

The lead writers of Spooks, which returns for a tenth and final series later this month, have described the departure of actress Sophia Myles after just one series as "a shame".

Myles played former private contractor Beth Bailey in last year's Series 9, but the character will not appear in the new series, having been "decommissioned".

The actress also played Madame de Pompadour in Steven Moffat's 2006 Doctor Who episode, 'The Girl in the Fireplace'.

In an exclusive interview with CultBox, writers Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley revealed: "Beth was... a type we hadn’t really seen on the Grid before. There were plans to explore that a lot more, show her torn between her new sense of public service and the pull of her lucrative past."

They added: "So it’s a shame it didn’t work out - but on the other hand, it gave us an opportunity to create Erin and Calum."

Erin Watts, Section D's new leader, will be played by Lara Pulver (True Blood, Robin Hood) and Calum Reed, a new IT supremo, will be played by Geoffrey Streatfeild (Ashes To Ashes).

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I remember the very night that I first saw her in the Girl in the Fireplace I was awestruck. It was relatively early after we finished the show. As I started to distract myself online my wife turned on the television and as usual the only interesting thing on was on PBS. This turned out to be not interesting enough for her and she retreated to bed, but the audio of the film attracted me and I discovered it was a version of Dracula I hadn't seen. Of course it was the 2006 version staring Sophia Myles as Lucy Westenra! Almost immediately I confirmed it was the same girl and I have been a fan ever since.

So, Erin and Calum, eh? Hmmmm.