Spooks Region 2 DVD box sets
On 28 February 2011, the entire Series 1 to 8 Region 2 DVD box sets for Spooks will be re-issued.
The company which used to produce the Spooks DVD box sets for Kudos was Contender Home Entertainment Group. Contender was taken over by E1 Entertainment Group (“E1”) in July 2007. Since existing stock of the old Spooks DVD box sets was getting low, we assume that E1 took this opportunity to re-issue the Series 1 to 8 box sets which now shows the new name of the Group which produced the box sets. We believe this is why in recent months, fans were unable to order old DVD box sets from vendors such as Amazon.
The good news is that the box sets are once again available to fans. The bad news is that most of the box sets will be re-issued at a new price of between £25.99 to £29.99. The lone exception being Series 1, which will be re-issued at a very reasonable £12.99. This is unfortunate since up until late 2010, one could still purchase Series 1 to 7 DVD box sets for Spooks at the very reasonable price of £11.99.
It would appear that no new artwork will be used for the re-issued DVD box sets. It is unlikely that the re-issued box sets will contain new or additional Extras. Features such as the episode commentaries would have been done at the time the show was filming and if an Extra isn’t already there, then it would be difficult to come up with it now, so many years after the fact. In addition, to request an actor to participate in an Extra, it would have been written into his contract. So again, if the requirement was not previously there, it would be highly unlikely for Kudos to renegotiate an old contract just so that an actor/actress is asked to come back and do more Extras.
One would hope that with the re-issued Series 1 to 8 box sets, they will take the trouble to re-do the navigation menus in the earlier series, which were not only clunky (remember that stupid spy having to break into the grid and no one knowing quite where to click in order to access a particular feature?) but looks very outdated by now. If you have trouble navigating the clunky menus or locating the Extras in the earlier series, checkout HERE.
The Spooks Series 9 DVD box set will be released by Universal Playback. You can read about that release HERE.
Update 27 February 2011
As of today, Series 1, 2, 3, 5 & 7 are selling on Amazon UK at £12.50, that is, more or less the same price before the re-issue. Better grab these whilst you ca, because the prices on Amazon go up and down like a yo-yo on a daily basis. £12.50 per series is a very reasonable price for 6 to 10 episodes of top quality writing and acting. Remember, the low prices only apply once you’ve checked out your shopping cart, not whilst the item remains in your shopping cart/wishlist.
Availability on Amazon UK
Here are the links to the re-issued box sets which are available on Amazon. If you click on these links and complete the purchase within a specified time, this fansite will earn a small commission which will be donated towards charity. Read about the Shop for Charity feature HERE.