Who is the Russian mole inside the Cabinet? Has our agent's cover been blown? If that's what you're wondering, as Tom Bradby's thriller Secret Service gets going, you're asking the wrong questions.
Far more intriguing is the puzzle of how come, out of all the dozens of le Carre-copycat, spy-by-numbers novels published every year, ITV happened to choose to adapt one by their very own News At Ten presenter. It's a mystery.
Secret Service can't have been picked for its originality. The plot is about as inventive as the title. The pacing, the twists, the moments of tension and the juxtaposition of international crises with domestic squabbles all arrive at predictable places, as though the storyline has been constructed according to a template.
It's all quite adequate, entirely (secret) serviceable. But unlike the far superior Day Of The Jackal, or even the recent reprise of The Night Manager, there's nothing here to make us gasp in surprise.
Gemma Arterton plays Kate Henderson, an MI6 agent who keeps a handgun and a selection of passports in her bedroom wardrobe. Without telling her boss, she has spent eight months planning an operation to eavesdrop on the chief of Russian intelligence while he's on holiday with his family in Malta.
Naturally, this involves lots of shots of the Mediterranean coastline, the churches and the winding stone streets, and general Maltese loveliness. Kate's team has set up its HQ in an apartment with stunning views and a sun terrace, which makes me suspect the security services must have a top-notch discount deal with Airbnb.
Their listening device, concealed in a box of cigars that the Kremlin man conveniently keeps beside him at all times, picks up top-secret info that stuns everyone in MI6: the Prime Minister is about to resign.
You might well scratch your head and think, 'That's not exactly a secret.' But this is fiction, and the PM (Steven Elder) isn't quitting because he's a two-faced, vacillating, bumbling back-stabber, caught out in an obvious lie.
No, this PM is at death's door. He's told nobody except his Home Secretary (Amaka Okafor) and his Foreign Secretary (Mark Stanley)... and one of them appears to have phoned President Putin's office with the news.
Funnily enough, Kate’s husband (Rafe Spall) happens to be the Home Sec’s advisor. Surely he hasn’t... but he wouldn’t.... it can’t be... well, let’s not speculate.
None of this is too taxing for the viewer. The script, by Bradby himself, explains each development after it happens, even reminding characters of their names and jobs. My favourite visual hint was a close-up of the Downing Street road sign, with a caption informing us that this was in Westminster, London.
And since he clearly has limitless clout at ITV, not only is Bradby able to appear himself, but he engineers cameos from Robert Peston, Susannah Reid and Ed Balls. What, no Ant and Dec?