Episode 1

At Cambridge in the 1930s, don Anthony Blunt and student Guy Burgess recruit fellow students Kim Philby and Donald Maclean to fight fascism by spying for Soviet Russia. Maclean's father's death makes him ambivalent about spying, Philby exploits his grief to persuade him to continue.Philby goes to Vienna on a disastrous mission that is actually a test of his commitment and skills, where he meets and falls in love with Jewish communist Litzi. They marry and return to London.Blunt and his Soviet contact Otto tell Philby that Litzi's open communist sympathies threaten his cover and that he must divorce her. Philby agrees to sacrifice his happiness and Litzi's to the cause.