Episode Archive
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#001 lONDON: THE SPYING STARTS HERE
Our first visit to London focuses on the origins of the British intelligence agencies - MI5, MI6 and GCHQ - in the early 20th century. Mansfield Cumming - the original 'C' - and Vernon Kell take the helm at the Secret Service Bureau as spy mania mounts in the United Kingdom. We'll be back in London before too long!
#002 LISBON 1940: THE WINDSORS - A DEADLY FARCE
Intelligence historian, and well known local guide, Marisa Filipe joins us to explore the story of a top secret tug of war between Hitler and Churchill in neutral Portugal. We follow in the footsteps of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, plus their German, British and Portuguese watchers. And enjoy a cocktail in a hotel frequented by Ian Fleming which would later feature in a Bond movie.
#003 ISTANBUL: SPIES AT THE CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD
Byzantium. Constantinople. Stamboul. Istanbul. A city with many names to match its long history. Straddling Europe and Asia, spies have competed in the city over millennia. As we discover, rival empires have left their stamp on both espionage fact and fiction.
#004 WASHINGTON DC: INTO THE WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS
Former CIA case officer turned intelligence historian Professor David Gioe joins us to uncover the secret side of Washington DC. Bringing an insider's perspective, he takes us to locations where some of America's most notorious traitors sold out their country.
#005 BERLIN: COLD WAR TECHNICAL ESPIONAGE HUB
Our first – but certainly not last – visit to Berlin takes us underground, to the telecom taps betrayed by double agent George Blake; underwater, as British divers wrestle to recover secrets from a crashed Soviet jet; and high above the city to the Teufelsberg listening station.
#006 LONDON: THE DOWNFALL OF THE CAMBRIDGE FIVE
75 years on from the flight of Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess to the Soviet Union, we follow their alcohol fuelled final days in London. From upmarket hotels to station bars; from sophisticated gentlemen's clubs to louche night clubs. A tale of conspicuous consumption...
#010 THE NETHERLANDS: THE DUTCH RESISTANCE FIGHTS BACK
Stand on the beach where a real James Bond-style landing took place, dinner jacket worn under a diving suit. Take breakfast at the Konditorei whose Jewish owner ran a dead-letter drop for MI6 at the outbreak of war. Then cycle the calm lanes of picturesque Haarlem, where teenage sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen assassinated German officers and their Dutch collaborators.
#007 GIBRALTAR: SPIES ON THE ROCK
Guarding the Strait of Gibraltar - the all-important sea lane linking the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean - this tiny relic of the British Empire hides a labyrinth of wartime secrets in its tunnels and fortifications. A WWII espionage playground for British SOE operatives, German Abwehr agents and daring Italian frogmen, the narrow streets beneath the towering Rock of Gibraltar are still redolent of intrigue, sabotage and deception.
#008 TANGIER: SHADY PEOPLE IN A SUNNY PLACE
Gibraltar’s southern twin among WWII espionage hubs, this ancient Moroccan port city has seen it all. One OSS officer branded it a 'nest of vipers', and Ian Fleming stayed at the El Minzah Hotel in 1941 while planning Operation Goldeneye. A visit to the chaotic Grand Socco is a must: this was the beating heart of the Tangier International Zone (1924–1956), where spies of every stripe operated with impunity.
#011 shanghai: SPIES, SORGE AND THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY UNDERWORLD
Step back into the espionage underworld of 1920s and 30s Shanghai, with a reputation as one of the most dangerous and lawless cities on earth. Our guide is Mark Logan, former British Member of Parliament, Shanghai-based diplomat and fluent Mandarin speaker. We track down the spies who worked this treacherous ground, and their targets: Soviet master agent Richard Sorge, future premier Zhou Enlai, a young Wallis Simpson, and Ursula Kuczynski (Agent Sonya).
#009 THE HAGUE & VENLO: BRITAIN’S GREATEST INTELLIGENCE DISASTER?
The 1939 Venlo Incident - the Gestapo’s kidnapping of two British MI6 officers on the Dutch–German border - remains one of the Allies’ greatest intelligence disasters of the Second World War. The German Englandspiel radio deception, run out of The Hague, only deepened the catastrophe. Join us as we investigate the background, and explore some intriguing locations pointed out by our contacts in Dutch intelligence…
#010 THE hague & Haarlem: THE DUTCH RESISTANCE FIGHTS BACK
Stand on the beach where a real James Bond-style landing took place, dinner jacket worn under a diving suit. Take breakfast at the Konditorei whose Jewish owner ran a dead-letter drop for MI6 at the outbreak of war. Then cycle the calm lanes of picturesque Haarlem, where teenage sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen assassinated German officers and their Dutch collaborators.
#011 SHANGHAI: SPIES, SORGE AND THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY UNDERWORLD
Step back into the espionage underworld of 1920s and 30s Shanghai, with a reputation as one of the most dangerous and lawless cities on earth. Our guide is Mark Logan, former British Member of Parliament, Shanghai-based diplomat and fluent Mandarin speaker. We track down the spies who worked this treacherous ground, and their targets: Soviet master agent Richard Sorge, future premier Zhou Enlai, a young Wallis Simpson, and Ursula Kuczynski (Agent Sonya).
#012 PRAGUE: CARLOS THE JACKAL AND THE COLD WAR SECRET POLICE
In Cold War Prague, capital of communist Czechoslovakia, sanctuary was offered to Carlos the Jackal and a number of Palestinian militants. The Czechoslovak secret police lived to regret it.
Dr Daniela Richterova, author of the groundbreaking Watching the Jackals, guides us through this extraordinary Cold War story, set against the city's beautiful medieval streets.
#012 PRAGUE: CARLOS THE JACKAL AND THE COLD WAR SECRET POLICE
In Cold War Prague, capital of communist Czechoslovakia, sanctuary was offered to Carlos the Jackal and a number of Palestinian militants. The Czechoslovak secret police lived to regret it.
Dr Daniela Richterova, author of the groundbreaking Watching the Jackals, guides us through this extraordinary Cold War story, set against the city's beautiful medieval streets.