The Beeb offered up two pre-Christmas guilty pleasures this week: Dicken's 'Little Dorrit' and a seventh, albeit short series of 'Spooks' (MI-5 in the US & France). The first new episode served up none other than the dashing Richard Armitage; a bitter-sweet offering, as one thing is clear... unlike '24's Jack Bauer, Spooks do not necessarily live to see another day and my fears for Adam Carter (Rupert Penry-Jones) were duly realised.

Since early Series 1, when Helen (Lisa Faulkner) met her torturous end in a chip fryer, a number of popular characters have been despatched in a variety of gory ways. Incidentally, the real-life MI5 faces a shortage of female recruits, reportedly 'put off' by the shortened life-spans of the fictional Spooks.... such was the power of the series 4 & 5.

Today I snapped this [not great] photo of MI6's HQ while heading South over Vauxhall Bridge on the way to Camberwell, while crossing my fingers for another great series of Spooks.