Collateral Attractions: Hermione Norris

During location filming for Spooks 7 in Moscow. Source: Radio Times

Departing slightly from my usual “all Mr. Armitage, all the time” coverage, I wanted to move briefly to a mention of something I’ve discovered because of his work. I’m going to call these “collateral attractions.” At the moment one of the most important of these is Ros Myers in Spooks 7, as played by Hermione Norris.

I was just blown away by this character the second I set eyes on her (to quote Harry Kennedy). I am impressed by her incredible gravitas and power. So is Mr. Armitage, apparently.

The place where I’d been viewing Spooks 7 on the web has disappeared, so I’ll summarize instead of putting up pictures.

My favorite Ros Myers moments:

Spooks 7.1: Ros immobilizes her attacker in Moscow–after discovering him in the reflection on a winebottle–with a FORK. Then, in London, she does the same thing with a pen.

Spooks 7.2: She takes Lucas out with a Taser.

Spooks 7.3: She runs that whole operation to disable the suicide bombers without blinking an eyelid, and then SCHOOLS the Home Secretary.

Spooks 7.4: Lucas asks her which she’s better at, the real thing or faking it. I think she manages both in the bomb scene!

Spooks 7.5: She games Alexis Meynell to save the British economy. She’s as cool as a cucumber and ready to have her head blown off to save England. Plus points for disarming Asa Darlek.

Spooks 7.6: She calmly walks up to the limousine with Claude Denizet, offs his assassin, pushes the disabled assassin into the backseat of the limo, climbs in after him, and tells Denizet to keep his mouth shut.

Spooks 7.7: She figures out who the Sugarhorse mole is. Brains as well as bravado!

Spooks 7.8: Once again, she’s ready to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save London.

Ros is amazing. My first sight of her was one of less then a handful of times in my life when I’ve wished I could be tall, thin, and physically powerful. It’s not how she looks, it’s how she uses her body. I only wish she’d been able to see her way to getting together with Lucas!

As for the actress: My best friend tells me that Hermione Norris was fantastic in “Wire in the Blood.” And now I see that she played the title role in “Clarissa” way back in 1991. I’m looking forward to exploring more of her work.

~ by Servetus on April 9, 2010.