Secret Service aired its epic conclusion tonight as MI6 officer Kate Henderson finally discovered the truth.
ITN presenter Tom Bradby’s 2019 novel Secret Service has been adapted for the small screen with ITV drip-feeding fans the hotly anticipated adaptation.
While the plot has remained mostly faithful to the book, Bradby has said changes needed to be made to reflect the current political world.
He told Radio Times: “Between the novel and the drama, the government changed, so we made one of the leading candidates to become prime minister a new kind of left-wing populist: charismatic and heavily to the left on tax, spend and social policy but right-wing on immigration.”
The finale debuted this evening, Tuesday, May 5, as Kate Henderson’s (played by Gemma Arterton) investigation came to a head in the fifth episode.
View 3 ImagesITV Secret Service cast: Politician Ryan Walker is played by actor Mark Stanley. (Image: ITV)
After receiving evidence that pointed to a top British politician working as a Russian asset, Kate has been determined to get to the truth before it’s too late.
She believed that the traitor could either be Ryan Walker (Mark Stanley) or Imogen Conrad (Amaka Okafor) who were both running to become the Labour Party ’s next Prime Minister.
By the last episode, it was Ryan who ultimately became the new Prime Minister, having walked away winning the Labour leadership.
This is because a video of Imogen had been leaked of her having sex in a hotel in Montenegro with a man who wasn’t her husband which damaged her reputation.
Kate thought that the mysterious man could be her superior Zak (Khalid Abdalla) but couldn’t tell as the man’s image had been deep faked to keep his identity a secret.
But in a shocking moment, Kate found out that the man Imogen was having sex with and the Russian asset she’d been looking for was none other than her own husband Stuart (Rafe Spall).
She came to the truth when Kate realised she was in Prague on a trip at the same time Russian SVR chief Igor Borodin was in the country which is when he recruited Stuart, the Home Secretary’s special adviser.
After convincing Stuart to meet her in Finland by the Russian border, she revealed that she knew everything.
He explained that he was shown the video in Prague with the Russians agreeing to erase him from it in exchange for information.
View 3 ImagesITV Secret Service cast: Stuart is played by actor Rafe Spall. (Image: ITV)
Initially, they just wanted gossip from within the Government but as time went on, they wanted more details about Kate’s job and what she’d been working on.
Rather than hand over her husband so he could go on trial for treason, Kate wanted to meet him by the Russian border so he could live there without their children finding out the shameful truth.
In the final scenes, Kate spoke to Sir Alan (Roger Allam), sharing that she hoped to arrange visiting rights for Stuart and their children in a mutual country at some point in the future.
Kate then tells Zak about wanting to leave MI6 but he said she should stay at SIS, adding that he would need help to keep an eye on Ryan Walker who he still had doubts about.
As a result, she was seconded to the Cabinet office to keep an eye on “hostile influences” and greeted the new Prime Minister as he arrived at Downing Street.
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Secret Service is available to watch on ITVX.