MY SPY FAMILY

Full Name:	The Bannon Family
Nationality:	British,Russian
Organization:	None
Occupation	Former Agent

Creator:	Paul Alexander
Time Span:	2007 - 2010

ABOUT THE SERIES

Dirk and Talia Bannon are former spies.

Dirk had worked for British Intelligence. Talia had worked for Russian Intelligence.

They had for several years back in their operational days been each other's arch-nemesis. Until they fell in love, that is. And then they decided they wanted to make a life with each other and they wanted that to include children so being active agents was not a good idea so they resigned from their respective services, got married, and settled down.

Now that many years have passed since their retirement, it might be safe to think they have moved on with their lives but watching these two, and their three offspring, shows they have either kept up their previous employment from time to time (pure speculation but ...) or they just have trouble letting go. This includes Dirk still dressing to the nines as though he is to spend the evening in a high-society casino and Talia remaining fond of her form-fitting black sculking outfit.

Their three children are normal, although each unique in his/her own way, but the three have been trained in all manner of spycraft and self-defense from the time they were old enough to learn. All the neat gadgets that their parents had used (?and maybe still were using?) come as nothing new to this trio. The children are:

Spike - the eldest who is a whiz at coming up with his own very nifty spy gadgets. He is likely around 15-16 years old and is a running battle with his geography teacher, Mr. Vong.
Elle - the middle child who very much takes after her mother in her skills with hand-to-hand fighting as well as her grasp of spycraft.
Boris - the youngest who seems to prefer to be in the background, unnoticed by virtually everyone, while he perfects his skill at setting booby traps. When Boris talks, which is seldom, it is always in Russian so only his mother understands him.

TELEVISION


Number of Episodes:	46
First Appearance:	2007
Last Appearance:	2010
Network:	Boomerang

REGULAR CAST
Milo Twomey	Dirk Bannon [ 1-3 ]
Natasha Beaumont	Talia Bannon [ 1-3 ]
Joe Tracini	Spike Bannon [ 1-3 ]
Alice Connor	Elle Bannon [ 1-3 ]
Ignat Pakhotin	Boris Bannon [ 1-3 ]
Vas Blackwood	Des [ 1-2 ]

According to the entry in Wikipedia: "My Spy Family is a British live-action family comedy series created by Paul Alexander. The series is a co-production between Kindle Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting System Europe, with Decode Enterprises handling distribution. The series aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the UK, TG4 in Ireland, Panda Biggs in Portugal, and Cartoon Network in France, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Romania, and South Africa. All the music is written by Glenn Keiles, excluding some songs heard in the "Intelligence Agency Cafe," which have been co-written with other songwriters."

The episodes lasted approximately 22 minutes each, 30 with commercials. It lasted three seasons.


1	The Lock-In Affair Episode S1-1, first aired 09/01/2007 Director: Tom Poole Writer: Daniel Peak The Wizard of Oz is put up at school. Spike tries to bluff his way out while Elle is cast as a munchkin. This calls for Dirk and Talia to get involved to change things for the better.

2	The Friends Disunited Affair Episode S1-2, first aired 09/08/2007 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writer: Paul Alexander Dirk is hired by Des to find out who's stealing from the cafe. However Dirk takes it too far and is fired and the two old friends fall out. Dirk decides to replace Des as best friend with Spike. Meanwhile Elle and her friends are having conflicting interest in the same boy.

3	The Dirky Dancing Affair Episode S1-3, first aired 09/15/2007 Director: Tom Poole Writer: Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

4	The Charity Begins at Home Affair Episode S1-4, first aired 09/22/2007 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writer: Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

5	The Bullets Over Batley Affair Episode S1-5, first aired 09/29/2007 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writer: Mark Robertson [plot unknown]

6	The Prefect Storm Affair Episode S1-6, first aired 10/06/2007 Director: Tom Poole Writer: Paul Alexander Spike 'volunteers' Travis as a prefect, then regrets it when Travis gets drunk with power and becomes a classroom tyrant. Meanwhile, Talia is excited at the prospect of Dirk taking her on a 'romantic' trip to the crocodile-infested waters of the Brazilian rain forest - but her excitement fades when she learns that Dirk wants to take Spike with them.

7	The Tenth Flask Affair Episode S1-7, first aired 10/13/2007 Director: Tom Poole Writer: Daniel Peak Dirk spends his days doing nothing and Talia grows worried that he is bored. She seeks advice from Des what to do to get Dirk back in the game. They make him believe that a flask containing rocket fuel from a failed mission has resurfaced.

8	The Truffles Are Forever Affair Episode S1-8, first aired 10/20/2007 Director: Tom Poole Writer: Brian Lynch Dirk has been sent a box of truffles from agent 000 which make the family go bananas.

9	The 'Up Horoscope!' Affair Episode S1-9, first aired 10/27/2007 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writers: Trevor Neal, Simon Hickson Elle joins the school news paper and Dirk joins the neighbourhood watch.

10	The Inspector Foils Affair Episode S1-10, first aired 11/04/2007 Director: Tom Poole Writer: Julie Gearey Talia is horrified when she sees Elle doing a dance routine and tries to make Elle do a martial arts routine instead. Spike tries to get rid of Mr. Vong when a School inspector is coming. However Dirk kidnaps the inspector and takes her place.

11	The Vladimir Spensky Affair Episode S1-11, first aired 11/10/2007 Director: Tom Poole Writer: Daniel Peak Elle tries to make Dirk eat healthier and Spike gets to play a game of chess with the world's greatest chess player, Vladimir Spensky.

12	The Spy Who Didn't Quite Love Me Enough Affair Episode S1-12, first aired 11/17/2007 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writer: Mark Robertson [plot unknown]

13	The Albovian Affair Affair Episode S1-13, first aired 11/24/2007 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writer: Paul Alexander Dirk is writing his memoirs and Talia fears that he remembers that he was tortured by her and then brain washed to forget it.

14	The Love Is the Drug Affair Episode S2-1, first aired 09/06/2008 Director: Angelo Abela Writer: Joe Williams [plot unknown]

15	The Des Res Affair Episode S2-2, first aired 09/13/2008 Director: David Sant Writer: Paul Alexander Chaos ensues when Des equips the Bannon house with a fully automated security system that shares his crush on Talia.

16	The Quiz Night Affair Episode S2-3, first aired 09/20/2008 Director: David Sant Writers: Trevor Neal, Simon Hickson The Bannons and Desmonds are going head-to-head in a school quiz.

17	The Batley’s Got Talent Affair Episode S2-4, first aired 09/27/2008 Director: Frank W. Smith Writer: Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

18	The Live and Let Dine Affair Episode S2-5, first aired 10/04/2008 Director: Angelo Abela Writer: Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

19	The Talia's Day Affair Episode S2-6, first aired 10/11/2008 Director: David Sant Writer: Connal Orton [plot unknown]

20	The Persuasion Affair Episode S2-7, first aired 10/18/2008 Director: Frank W. Smith Writer: Chris Reddy [plot unknown]

21	The Knowledge Is Power Affair Episode S2-8, first aired 10/25/2008 Director: David Sant Writers: Gary Lawson, John Phelps [plot unknown]

22	The Stroganoff Night Affair Episode S2-9, first aired 11/01/2008 Director: Frank W. Smith Writer: Trevelyan Evans Talia is upset that Dirk has forgotten how she saved him from starvation with her Stroganoff. To make it up to her, Dirk decides to make one for her. Unfortunately he has a reunion the same evening.

23	The Laughing Lord Affair Episode S2-10, first aired 11/08/2008 Director: David Sant Writers: Trevor Neal, Simon Hickson [plot unknown]

24	The Mum's the Word Affair Episode S2-11, first aired 11/15/2008 Director: Frank W. Smith Writer: Paul Alexander Vong chooses Spike to accompany him on the annual cultural trip, and plans to finally get himself a 'NIFTY' award nomination.

25	The Who's the Daddy Affair Episode S2-12, first aired 11/22/2008 Director: Frank W. Smith Writer: Paul Alexander A misunderstanding with Spike's birth certificate leads him to believe Mr. Vong is his real father.

26	The Bum Deal Affair Episode S2-13, first aired 11/29/2008 Director: David Sant Writer: Paul Alexander Elle starts a modeling agency while Talia thinks that Elle has the looks for the catwalk.

27	The Back in Batley Affair Episode S3-1, first aired 09/05/2009 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writer: Paul Alexander After coming back from their summer holiday the Bannons find that things have changed including Boris becoming the new ruler of Russia; Travis getting a new best friend who's a Battlestar Galactica fanatic and a missing Des who's gone to Bermuda for a year leaving Talia in charge of his cafe.

28	The Des Mondi Code Affair Episode S3-2, first aired 09/12/2009 Director: Tom Poole Writer: Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

29	The 1950s Affair Episode S3-3, first aired 09/19/2009 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writers: Trevor Neal, Simon Hickson [plot unknown]

30	The Cammy Loves Spikey Affair Episode S3-4, first aired 09/26/2009 Director: Tom Poole Writer: Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

31	The Chat Show Affair Episode S3-5, first aired 10/03/2009 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writer: Daniel Peak Talia hurts her leg and succumbs to daytime television. Spike's name turns out to be Marion and appears on Talia's favorite TV show.

32	The Back Scratch Affair Episode S3-6, first aired 10/10/2009 Director: Tom Poole Writers: Trevelyan Evans, Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

33	The Spy Pod Affair Episode S3-7, first aired 10/17/2009 Director: Tom Poole Writers: Paul Alexander, Clare Trenholm [plot unknown]

34	The Hoop Loop Snoop Affair Episode S3-8, first aired 10/24/2009 Director: Tom Poole Writers: Trevor Neal, Simon Hickson [plot unknown]

35	The Black Widows Affair Episode S3-9, first aired 10/31/2009 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writer: Paul Alexander Elle joins the scouts ""Girls Garrison"" but Talia doesn't like the soft approach, so she shows up and takes over as Supreme Leader and brings a new regime.

36	The Fakers & Adders Affair Episode S3-10, first aired 11/07/2009 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writers: Paul Alexander, Clare Trenholm [plot unknown]

37	The Trophy Affair Episode S3-11, first aired 11/14/2009 Director: David Sant Writers: Mark Oswin, James Griffiths [plot unknown]

38	The Election Affair Episode S3-12, first aired 11/21/2009 Director: Angelo Abela Writers: Gary Lawson, John Phelps [plot unknown]

39	The Schoolboy Spy Affair Episode S3-13, first aired 11/28/2009 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writers: Trevor Neal, Simon Hickson [plot unknown]

40	The Awful Aunty Affair Episode S3-14, first aired 12/05/2009 Director: Angelo Abela Writer: Glen Dolman [plot unknown]

41	The Thick-Skinned Spike Affair Episode S3-15, first aired 12/12/2009 Director: Dominic MacDonald Writers: Trevor Neal, Simon Hickson [plot unknown]

42	The Mothers in the Hood Affair Episode S3-16, first aired 12/19/2009 Director: Angelo Abela Writer: Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

43	The Cheating Affair Episode S3-17, first aired 01/02/2010 Director: David Sant Writer: Matthew Broughton [plot unknown]

44	The Boris Bounces Back Affair Episode S3-18, first aired 01/09/2010 Director: Angelo Abela Writer: Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

45	The Pen Is Mightier Affair Episode S3-19, first aired 01/16/2010 Director: David Sant Writer: Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

46	The Brought to Book Affair Episode S3-20, first aired 01/23/2010 Director: Angelo Abela Writer: Paul Alexander [plot unknown]

MY COMMENTS

Somehow I completely missed this series when it ran originally starting in 2007. I reckon with my children already long grown and having no other reason to keep up with what was on the channels devoted to them, I never learned it existed.

This many years later and seeing a couple of episodes on YouTube, I can see that, IMHO, I did not miss anything. Then again, I am probably 50+ years beyond the desired demographics so I doubt anyone from that production company will lose any sleep over my not thinking too highly of it.

GRADE

My Grade: C+

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