High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Lucas North, formerly known as John Bateman, is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks (known in the United States as "MI5"), which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. North is portrayed by British actor Richard Armitage. The character is introduced in Spooks` seventh series as the former head of Section D, who was captured and imprisoned during an operation in Russia. He returns to the UK after eight years and is eventually reinstated into MI5. He is described as having once been the best in his field, and he is now trying to regain his former brilliance.