This Series was another highlight of the month for me!
This Series starrs thee legends Guy Pearce, Damian Lewis, Nicholas Rowe (Hulu’s “Rosalind”), Adrian Edmondson (“Star Wars:The Last Jedi”), Lucy Russell (“Star Wars:Andor”), Daniel Lapaine (“Black Mirror”), just to name a few.
This Series was directed by Nick Murphy (“The Last Kingdom”).
This series was released on December 8th 2022. It has six episodes in its first season.
This Series is a Drama/Thriller. It is a German and British co-production project.
Onto the premise: A Spy Among Friends follows the defection of notorious British intelligence officer and KGB double agent, Kim Philby, played by Mare of Easttown’s Pearce, through the lens of his complex relationship with MI6 colleague and close friend, Nicholas Elliott (Lewis).
In Episode one, In the wake of Kim Philby’s escape to Moscow, his closest friend in MI6 is under investigation by Lily.
In Episode two, Investigator Lily Thomas tries to get Elliott to reveal what he knows about Philby. She uses psychological tricks to steer him in the right direction.
In Episode Three, Philby begins to understand that the KGB can never fully trust him now that he is in Moscow, and as far as they’re concerned, his life as a spy for them is over; in London, Elliot warns Anthony Blunt that his cover has been blown.
In Episode Four,Elliott rattles Blunt’s cage to make him panic and then follows him to a clandestine meeting in the middle of the night.
In Episode five, Elliott and Lily fear that no one can really be trusted and race to interrogate Blunt. However, Angleton thwarts their plans because he wants Blunt arrested.
I’m episode six, the season finale, Lily has forced Elliot to remember more than he perhaps ever wanted to about Philby. Months later, Elliott receives a letter from Philby asking for a meeting in an East Berlin bar.
The series was filmed in in London and Romania, finishing in Spring 2022. With Bucharest standing in for Beirut, Moscow, Vienna and Berlin.
This series is a demanding dramatic production. It insists its audience vest close attention in both the key actors, and the rather complex plotline.
Set in the sixties era of the early cold war, it is a classic British spy drama.
Honestly this series is supported by an exceptional supporting cast, and that being Anna Maxwell Martin who stands out as a performer. Her character, Lily Thomas, is delightfully situated. In her role, she delivers. Her character is positioned as an antithetical antagonist to the misogynist MI5 organisational culture. In a male dominated social space, entrenched by upper class British intellectuals, and peers of the realm, stupidity falls at the feet of the old boys club.
Lily Thomas is literally the cat amongst the pigeons, tasked to evaluate and assess a senior MI6-spymaster.
Noncompliant with the male network of trust and innately insular existential social hierarchy, she (Lily), cuts through the masculine dogma and gender obfuscation.
This is a fictional drama which uses mostly real world player’s involved in a time of near collapse of the British secret services. It is very well written. Actors et al deliver a collective continuum of stella performances. This is not an action movie, but for the attentive, nevertheless this series was compelling and highly rewarding. Especially at the finale…. WOW!
I do have to say that this series is slow at times, pace wise.
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