Real world vs Fictional world This is a little strange In March 2009 he began filming for Series 8 of Spooks which began airing in November 2009 In July 2010 he finished filming series 9 which began airing in late September 2010 His real name was revealed in episode 7 as John Bateman Bateman had murdered the real Lucas North shortly before North s admission to MI5 and had taken his place I do not know enough about him or Spooks to separate out real world from fiction