Category:Jo Portman

Joanna "Jo" Portman is a fictional Field Operative in the Counter-Terrorism department at MI5, featured in the British television series, Spooks, also known as MI5 in the United States. A former journalist, she joined the team in the fifth episode of Series 4 after being recruited by Adam Carter. She is by far the most empathetic member of the team.

Throughout series 4 and 5, she is shown to be having a growing relationship with fellow MI5 member, Zafar Younis, although this has been kept to subtle flirting, Zaf did offer that she moved in with him after she explained that she was having trouble keeping secrets from her roommate when she was drunk. It is unknown if she took up the offer, although Adam said that she should. It is also hinted that she cares very deeply for her mother, who is ill.

At the end of Series 6, after Adam and Jo have been captured by the Redbacks, Jo pleads with Adam in their holding cell for him to kill her before the gang torture her. The episode concludes with Special Forces storming the house where they are being held, just as the gang are preparing to carry out the torture, and with Adam sitting against a wall with a seemingly lifeless Jo in his lap. In episode 1 of Series 7 it is revealed that Adam did not kill Jo - she merely pretended to play dead. However, traumatized by the ordeal she is taking a leave of absence. At the end of the first episode she rejoins section D.

After she rejoins with section D, Jo finds it hard to readjust back to her duties. In particular, her attention is distracted when she imagines seeing one of her former captors, despite the fact he is long since deceased, cross paths with her during several important missions. After several members of the team take note of her compromised mental state, Ros offers to talk to her and reminds of how hard it is for a woman to engage with this area of work. It is during this discussion that it is discovered Jo was not just tortured during her encounter at the end of Series 6, but she was raped. After her discussion with Ros, she seems, for the moment, more composed and prepared for the duties that await her, but as yet her the true consequences of what happened to her remain to be seen.

As ever though, Jo remains a dedicated member of the team, and despite her occasional lapse from concentration, is committed to the Grid and to her colleagues.