Great Spy Books: Fact or Fiction?

Peter Hennessy, the leading expert on state secrecy, asks how close the great British spy novels come to reality?

He also explores what they reveal about intelligence and security.

By drawing on official papers and what were once top secret intelligence documents, and by interviewing former diplomats and former officers in MI5 and MI6, he compares and contrasts fiction with real espionage.

Much of the appeal lies in their apparent authenticity.

But how much do James Bond or George Smiley resemble real spies? And is fact sometimes stranger than fiction?

Peter Hennessy shows that spy books in the early 1900s made a big impact, influencing Britain's first secret service bureau, the forerunner of MI5 and MI6. He traces the development of spy fiction from its early days to the more nuanced spy stories of Somerset Maugham in 'Ashenden' and of Eric Ambler's 1930s' novels.

Their more subtle approach is echoed by Graham Greene and John le Carre, whereas Ian Fleming's hero, James Bond, is part spy, part assassin.

Cold War novels reflect the deep fear of nuclear war and of betrayal by double-agents ('moles'), but can modern spy fiction achieve the same degree of intrigue and suspense?

Producer: Rob Shepherd

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2012.