Main content

Two spies turn double agents at the height of the Cold War standoff between East and West. Their deception happens as the superpowers edge towards nuclear war.

It’s summer 1982, and KGB spy Oleg Gordievsky travels from Moscow to take up a post at the Soviet embassy in London. East and west have a deep mistrust and misunderstanding of each other, and as a result, the Cold War, which has been rumbling on for almost 40 years, is heating up. The spying game and paranoia magnify the suspicion between superpowers, and an arms race threatens to bring the world to nuclear armageddon.

Including rarely heard archive interviews with Oleg Gordievsky and the unpublished letters of Michael Bettaney, as well as interviews with former aides to Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and former KGB, MI5 and MI6 officers, some of whom have never spoken publicly before.

3 months left to watch

58 minutes

SignedAudio described

Last on

Wed 15 May 202401:25

More episodes

Previous

You are at the first episode

See all episodes from Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game

Clips

Credits

RoleContributor
NarratorSaskia Reeves
Oleg GordievskyMartin Munro
Aldrich AmesJacques Theron
Yuri AndropovThomas Cleghorn
Michael BettaneyLuke Tyler
Arkady GukWayne Harrison
DirectorKate Quine
ProducerEmily Thompson
Production ManagerPaul Allen
Executive ProducerLucie Ridout

Broadcasts

Explore the history of spying with our exclusive espionage interactive

Explore the history of spying with our exclusive espionage interactive

Uncover the secrets and spies of the 20th century with The Open University.