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Ruth Evershed arrived on the grid after getting a secondment from GCHQ. For her it was a dream come true. She always longed to get a taste of the MI5 life and she was determined to be a success.

Background[]

She grew up in Exeter. Her father, James was a GP and died when she was 11 years old. After his death she was sent away to boarding school and her mother, Elizabeth remarried. She had a stepbrother called Peter Haigh two years her senior, who worked in Royal Protection (assigned to Princess Diana) and who had a relationship with Angela Wells.

She studied classics at Oxford, Corpus Christi College. She speaks several languages (including French, Spanish, Arabic, Persian, Ancient Greek and Latin) and plays piano and violin to Grade 8. She sings in a choir during her later series' in Spooks. In series 3 Ruth decides to "get intel" on her crush. She later poses as Malcolm's sister at a scratch requiem.

Personality[]

She was enthusiastic, dedicated and an invaluable member of the team. She was there to find the facts the team needed, and her research always hit the spot. Ruth was brilliant, but also completely eccentric. Her excitement at working for MI5 sometimes got the better of her, and her colleagues were sometimes rather taken aback by her enthusiasm for new projects. There was a spark between Ruth and Harry Pearce for some time. They went on a date in The Cell but Ruth ended the 'relationship' afterwards because the rest of the team knew about it and she couldn't cope with them being talked about.

Storyline[]

Series 5[]

In The Message, Ruth witnesses the suicide of Mik Maudsley, a worker at Cotterdam Prison which was under investigation after a fire which occurred there, killing seven terror suspects. She is suspected of Maudsley's murder and evidence proving this was faked by Oliver Mace, in order to persuade Harry to join a group that supports torture. Although Harry is willing to go to prison to save her, instead she fakes her own death so that he can continue to fight for MI5. Meeting for their final goodbye, Harry tries to declare his love for Ruth but she tells him to leave it as "something wonderful, that was never said." She and Harry share a goodbye kiss as she leaves on a barge to venture into the unknown.

Series 8[]

Ruth returns to the series in Episode 8.1 after 3 years of absence and has taken up residence in Cyprus. However, her peaceful life was destroyed however after a group of men tried to capture but she successfully evades them and heads back to Britain to seek help from Section D however she is captured after Stephen Hillier informs Mani (an intelligence officer working for MI6) where her safe house is, Ruth and her new family are then used as leverage against Harry to gain a supply of uranium. Her husband was executed before the team could rescue him.

Since Ruth does not have legal guardianship, his son returns to Cyprus to live with his aunt. Although devastated, Ruth returns to the grid full-time in Episode 8.3, quickly slotting back into her old role while remaining ambivalent about the cost of involvement. At the end of that episode she is left distraught after friend and colleague Jo Portman is killed in a hostage situation. With Harry's support, she moves on and works alongside the team in its operations against the growing threat of Nightingale.

Series 9[]

In Episode 9.1 Harry asks Ruth to marry him after Ros Myers' funeral. Ruth declines, but later reveals her refusal isn't because she doesn't love him, but that, after all they had gone through together they had already become soul-mates, and didn't need to demonstrate it in such a way. Ruth also convinces Harry to reconsider his resignation.

In Episode 9.8 she is captured, handcuffed and gagged by Lucas North as he causes a distraction that enables him to get her into his truck, as a hostage for Harry to deliver to Albany. He secures her to a chair and gags her again, but after giving his demands he ungags her, and when she asks to speak to Lucas he says he is not there. She nearly dies from an anesthetic drip, though Maya, Lucas's girlfriend, convinces him to tell the team where her location is after he gets the file.

Series 10[]

She leaves the Grid, at Harry's urging, to go and work as the Home Secretary's Security Advisor, although she remains involved in Section D's operations.

in Episode 10.5 When Harry is suspected of the murder of Jim Coaver, Ruth vows to give evidence he declines and apologises for her becoming involved again. She reveals that she's put in an offer on a house in Suffolk yet she can't picture herself living there. Harry encourages her to move on with her life. He kisses her and then leaves a tearful Ruth standing alone.

Ruth is the last ever character to be killed in Spooks. Just after she asks Harry to retire from the service with her in Episode 10.6, a showdown with Sasha Gavrik takes place. Sasha, who had been attempting to kill Harry, believed that Harry is responsible for Elena Gavrik's death. Ruth insisted that she gave Ilya Gavrik the key to the room where Elena was being held so he could kill her, and that Harry played no part in it. As she tries to stop him advancing on Harry, she walks straight into Sasha who is holding a shard of glass and is accidentally stabbed. Sasha is disarmed by Dimitri Levendis but Ruth collapses in Harry's arms. While the team attempt to call for help, Ruth begins to slowly slip away while Harry tries to keep her talking until help arrives. He asks about the house she bought in Suffolk. She tells him that she couldn't picture herself living there without him and he says they will, together, have a life but she passes away in his arms soon after telling him they "were never meant to have those things". Dimitri attempts to revive her with an adrenaline shot but it's too late. Harry is left grieving over her as he kisses her goodbye. It's not clear what the cause of death is, whether it was shock, blood loss or a collapsed lung as Erin Watts later says.

Later Harry visits the house Ruth had bought in Suffolk and then also visits the memorial which lists every MI5 officers name he has lost is engraved into the glass. R.Evershed is now added to that list.

Trivia[]

  • According the The Personnel Files, Ruth sent Harry a postcard after her exile 'via a series of intermediaries'. It read:

You did the right thing. We both did the right thing. Salus populi suprema lex Grand tours are less fun alone. But I am well and safe. Look after yourself. I think of you often. Quos amor versus tenuit tenebit Stubborn Mule (The latin translates as: 'Let the good of the people be the supreme law' and 'True love will hold on to those whom it has held')

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