'For Queen. For Country. For Kicks.': Post-apocalyptic patriotism, youth and gender in Spooks: Code 9 (BBC Three, 2008)

Spooks: Code 9 was commissioned for BBC Three as a youth-oriented science fiction/espionage spin-off series, derived from BBC One’s long-running spy series, Spooks (2002-). While the seasoned London-based spies of the original Spooks repeatedly succeed in defending a present-day Britain from terrorist attacks, S:C9’s young MI5 recruits find themselves in a post-apocalyptic Britain, following a nuclear explosion at the 2012 London Olympics. This article analyses the representation and intersection of youth, gender, genre, and patriotism in S:C9 in the context of the aftermath of the 2005 London bombings, economic recession and youth unemployment.