often broadcast on a Monday. The move would make the finale series a "special event" by placing it on a Sunday night. However, it emerged that the final series would face off against the second series of the highly successful ITV1 period drama series Downton Abbey, which averaged nine million viewers in its first year. The BBC however, defended the position by saying that "Downton and Spooks are very different shows and offer a real alternative for audiences." After the broadcast of the first episode, Spooks received overnight viewing figures of 4.62 million with a 17 per cent audience share. It lost out to Downton Abbey which received almost twice the viewers, with nine million and a 34.6 per cent share. Overnight ratings for the series ten premiere was down from the 5.58 million that tuned in for the series nine premiere episode. By the second week, overnight figures for Spooks went down nearly half a million to 4.15 million, as Downton ratings increased. However, despite being trounced by Downton Abbey, Spooks saw a gradual increase in viewership over the subsequent weeks, leading up to a boost of up to 5.13 million viewers for the final episode on 23 October 2011. With consolidated ratings factored in, the last series of Spooks was given a per-episode average of 5.41 million viewers. Critical reception Critical reactions to the series were polarised between positive and negative. Among the positive reviews, Peter Sharples of CultBox rated the series five out of five, commending it for looking "more cinematic than in previous years," adding "any reduction in budget certainly doesn't show, with the action scenes as impressive as ever". Sharples was also appreciative of the "pretty strong" new cast, including Pulver for "making a big impression as a tough action girl juggling responsibilities as section head with those of a single parent", and Streatfeild for being "amusingly cocky and insubordinate". Sharples also commented that "ultimately Series 10 belongs to Peter Firth and Nicola Walker (more so than ever in the final, heartrending moments), confirming that it is they who held Spooks together and, pushed even more to the fore, elevate the series to a new level". Sam Wollaston of The Guardian's review was mostly a response to John le Carré who branded Spooks as "crap" for its lack of a true representation of MI5; "Lighten up J le C, no one thinks it is actually