 Born John Bateman, the character later known as Lucas North was raised in rural Cumbria, where his father was a Methodist minister. During his time at Leeds University he lived with Maya Lahan (Laila Rouass). While enrolled at Leeds he visited Dakar, Senegal, where he engaged in shipping cannabis to Hamburg in exchange for money. When he was caught the authorities took the shipment and his money, stranding him in Dakar. To gain enough money to get back to the UK, he worked in a casino. While working there John Bateman was approached by Vaughn Edwards (Iain Glen), who persuaded him to deliver packages for him. One of the packages delivered by Bateman was a bomb that exploded at a British Embassy, killing 17 people. To escape the country Bateman killed a friend of his named Lucas North. North had just made it past the first battery of tests for admission to MI5. Bateman assumed North's identity and left Maya behind. Bateman / North would later suppress these memories, believing that Vaughn was solely responsible for the bombing and for his friend's death. He would later join MI5 in place of the real Lucas North and become head of Section D. He was also once married to Elizabeta Starkova (Paloma Baeza). During an operation in Russia, Lucas North was captured and imprisoned for eight years, during which time he was often subjected to torture.
