There’s been some discussion on Twitter recently about this picture from the set of Spooks: The Greater Good (I don’t know who first Tweeted it but today’s discussion included Violet, Perry and Frenz).
Specifically the discussion has been about who that might be in the background there doing some modifications to a cell phone. The Dude said he was doing a cameo that would be widely talked about, and if that is indeed an undead NotLucas North sitting there the talking I’ll be doing will be mostly of the non-verbal eye rolling variety. If I get verbal at all it’s likely to be sweary.
I love NotLucas as much as the next fan, but if that’s him then my suspension of disbelief is going to be stretched to Pluto. NotLucas was a lot of things: broken, smart, determined, fan service, close personal friend of most of London’s female population. What he wasn’t, though, was Sherlock Holmes. There is no way he took a dive from a building that tall and survived.
In order for me to believe that he survived one of two things has to be true, and neither of them are really good options. Either Harry Pearce let the guy who killed RealLucas North among others in a bombing, lied to him personally for close to a decade and tried to kill Ruth go for some inexplicable reason (and wouldn’t that have come up in his disciplinary hearing?), or the lab at MI-5 — who should have confirmed that it was indeed NotLucas and that he was indeed dead — is run by Pinky and the Brain. Actually, that might explain a couple of things.
So is that The Dude? Look closely (it’s a tough job, I know, but someone has to do it). What do you think?
FunkyBlueDandelion 
Sep 17, 2014 @ 19:05:18
people think background guy is Lucas? Sorry, I don’t see it. I’ve been wrong before, though.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 19:42:43
So have I been wrong plenty of times.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 19:06:18
No it’s not him – in my opinion – hair is all wrong for starters.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 19:47:05
I don’t think it is, either, but for me it’s the ears.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 19:12:38
I just zoomed to 200% and I don’t think it is him. Just my two cents. I’m with you on the on how unbelievable it would be (you said it much more cleverly:).)
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 20:04:03
As far as I’m concerned they tossed believability with John Bateman but that’s just me.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 20:08:02
I felt insulted by the whole premise of John Bateman.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 20:08:40
Maybe I’m wrong, but I remember reading that Armitage had worked really hard to make Guy’s death look so convincing that there was no way the character could be brought back (that was apparently at a point when there was still a possibility of series 4 of RH). I also felt in the runup to Spooks 9 that Armitage often looked a bit sheepish when talking about the plot. But he was under contract then and obviously no professional casts aspersions on his own projects. I am hypothesizing that his remarks about a Spooks film being a great idea notwithstanding, he wouldn’t want (or feel obligated) to be in a film where his character’s very existence was simply implausible. And now he doesn’t have to, I think; he has plenty of exposure and enough money.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 19:13:48
Tried to make a smiley inside of a parenthesis and obviously it didn’t work!
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 20:05:42
The smileys here at WP are bedeviling.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 19:22:51
that looks like they’re working on props…why would Richard be working on props? I personally don’t think it’s him (the set of the shoulders, among other things, doesn’t look right to me) but as far as the Spooks storyline goes, the only way Lucas could possibly appear in the movie is through a flashback. I file the “Lucas Lives!” storyline in the same category as “Thorin Lives!” 😛
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 20:08:37
A flashback would be awesome, I agree. Props dudes is a good call, too. I was looking at it as terrorists making bombs maybe.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 20:18:28
Richard appeared, uncredited, in a Spooks episode before he was Lucas/John so he might do it again but he said that he did a “cameo in a movie based on a well known novel by Lewis Caroll” so he was not referring to Spooks there. And no, don’t think it is him in the picture, not his hair, not his hands. Apparently wishful thinking for some folks (would not put it past him to be an extra, a face in the crowd on a train platform). And no, John Bateman was never plausible for me either. Shows how the writing can deteriorate on a long running program.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 20:20:57
He was essentially an extra in that early appearance; that’s not exactly the same thing as a cameo, although they share the quality of being brief. One of the usual characteristics of a cameo is that you recognize the actor and that’s what’s cool about it; someone important drops in to play a tiny part.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 20:32:24
I was trying to remember if he said that the Carroll project was the cameo but was too lazy to actually go look. 😉
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 20:33:28
He did refer to it as a cameo.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 20:42:45
See, I’m glad there are people with better memories than me on it.
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 21:15:34
MHO, not him … ears, hairline, hands. But the tracksuit looks familiar. 😉
BTW, love the filename!
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Sep 17, 2014 @ 21:22:41
Shhhhh….you’re gonna get me in trouble, lol!
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Sep 18, 2014 @ 00:12:42
I think there is a likeness from the angle shown, but I doubt it will turn out to be Lucas/NotLucas from the plot plausibility issue. It would sell tickets, though, so it’s not completely out of the realm of possibilities. I suppose RA could have more than one cameo appearance up his sleeve. Now I’m kind of excited to find out what the man’s face looks like, whoever he is. Could be potentially hilarious when revealed. =)
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Sep 18, 2014 @ 09:42:29
It totally could, you’re right!
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Sep 18, 2014 @ 13:32:09
Hands seem all wrong
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 07:52:16
The hands were actually what made me look twice.
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 07:18:24
Not convinced it’s him. But if it was, flashback?
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 07:54:23
Possibly, but even that would require them to ignore their own mytharc. ‘Cause, you know, they’ve never done that before. 🙂
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:30:25
Lucas North had infinite pasts. Spooks as science fiction.
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:38:31
I’ve got a crack headcanon that Lucas North and John Porter exist in the same universe and are twins. Maybe they’re actually triplets.
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:34:42
Or aliens. Or zombies. Is Joss Whedon involved in this one? He could make that work. 😉
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:37:09
you have that personal connection to him, back from that conversation years ago, so def ask!
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:45:59
@Serv…Alyssa or me?
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:44:47
@alyssa…THAT is an awesome head canon! You realize I’m gonna be stuck there for days now because you said that, right?
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:45:36
Good. Maybe fanfiction will ensue. 🙂
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Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:47:47
Lol, right after I finish the “Guy and Vasey get roughed up by the Vegas mob” fic I’ve been not writing for three years.
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Sep 21, 2014 @ 14:47:22
I have a base jumping parachute scenario for Lucas/John in my fan fic that is still percolating. Ha!
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Sep 22, 2014 @ 00:46:09
Ooooh, can’t wait to read that, Grati!
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Sep 21, 2014 @ 15:15:02
Lucas and Porter hmm…. BTW on close observation I think the nose is all wrong!
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Sep 22, 2014 @ 00:47:31
The nose is a whole ‘nother discussion, dude!
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