Cambridge Spies

The story of the most infamous spies in British history

In 1934, four brilliant young men at Cambridge University are recruited to spy for Russia. Fueled by youthful idealism, a passion for social justice, a talent for lying and a hatred for fascism, the four take huge personal risks to pass Britain's biggest secrets to Moscow.

Guy Burgess - the noisiest spy in the history of espionage, wickedly gifted, full of nerve and verve and drenched in sex and scotch.

Anthony Blunt - the coolest of them all, he's viciously funny, terrifyingly clever and capable of leading several separate lives at once.

Kim Philby - The best spy of the lot, becoming head of counter intelligence in MI6, "stopping people like me becoming people like me."

Donald Maclean - a savagely split personality; warm and funny, then drunk, wild and confessional; two characters in one double agent.

Across almost 20 years of spying and treachery, despite their personal journeys, the four are bound by their beliefs and their secrets. They know more about each other than their wives or their lovers can ever know. And they are bound by the knowledge that there is one absolute certainty - they stand or fall together.

Starring four of Britain's most talented young actors, this epic yet intimate drama brings one of the twentieth century's most compelling true stories to exciting new life.

This is the story of Blunt, Burgess, Philby and Maclean, the most notorious double agents in British history. In 1934 at Cambridge University, they establish a spy ring fuelled by youthful idealism, passionately committed to social justice and to fighting fascism. The four become embroiled in obtaining and passing on vital information, betraying their country to fight the evils of fascism. Enigma secrets and atomic details are given to Russian contacts as the careers of the four take them from Guernica to Vienna, New York and Washington - and a final, desperate flight to Moscow. During almost 20 years of counter-intelligence, despite their personal journeys, the four are bound by their beliefs and their secrets. This is a thriller spy story that begins with a profound closeness based on a passion for a cause, and then moves on to shared sacrifices, stress, strain, and eventually breakdown and betrayal.

Episode 1 - England, 1930s.The world is split by opposing ideologies: Communism and Fascism. For many across the globe, it is a fight between good and evil. Four young men meet in Cambridge and conspire to change the world for the good.

Kim Philby is an idealistic student desperate to act against Fascism, which is already thriving in Germany and Italy. He is sick of talk.; he wants action. He wants to be at the heart of the only force he believes is powerful enough to conquer the horror now poised to spread through the rest of Europe. He wants to work for Moscow.

Guy Burgess (a fellow student) and Anthony Blunt (a young don) can get him in. But first, they want him to persuade his close and well-connected friend Donald Maclean to join with him. Maclean, the son of a Cabinet minister, is an attractive prospect to them. Philby – middle-class, over-keen – is less so.

Philby and Maclean are tested and pass. But while Philby is overjoyed at their success, Maclean is ambivalent and sad; he feels he would be betraying everything his father has stood for. Philby is resolute; Communism is the only moral choice in this polarized world.Then Maclean's father dies, and Philby is forced to exploit Maclean's grief and vulnerability to convince him to join his friends and fight the good fight. Maclean agrees, and Philby's place is secured. Finally, Philby's righteous struggle can begin.

A Russian agent sends him to Vienna – another test, though Philby imagines he is making a vital contribution to the cause against Facism.There, he meets a fiery young Jewish Communist, Litzi, who daily risks her life and the security of her family to work against the oppressive, pro-Fascist government. Inspired by her actions, her commitment and the risks she takes, Philby starts to help her.

Episode 2 - Litzi Friedmann's life is in danger. Kim Philby's overwhelming love for her is clear when he proposes they marry and flee Vienna together as husband and wife.The couple arrive back in London and re-join old friends Maclean, Burgess and Blunt. Blunt – guided by the concerns of their Soviet contact, Otto – is wary of Philby's marriage to Litzi. She is a known Communist. Her politics are transparent, there for all to see.

This is not the life Blunt and Otto imagined for their star recruit. Litzi, they tell Philby, has to go. “And if she doesn't?” Philby asks.Then there will be no place for Philby working for Moscow.

A crucial moment – a decision which will shape the rest of Philby's life. Love or Politics? Life or The Cause?

Philby chooses The Cause.

If the four are to be effective in the fight against Fascism, they must go underground. Bury their pasts. Blend in. Become part of the Establishment. Become actively right-wing.Then – clandestine, hidden, undetectable – they will be useful to Moscow.The BBC, the Reform Club, the Civil Service, Fleet Street... One by one, Burgess, Maclean, Philby and Blunt set out to become members of the elite. Blunt exploits his family connections to the Royal Family. Maclean joins the Foreign Office. Burgess contrives membership for himself and Philby to the pro-Hitler Anglo- German Fellowship. Boisterous, colourful and witty, Burgess makes an enduring impression which serves him well. Through his connections, he gains access to MI5 and an entrée into another kind of secret society.

The four are doing well, but their successful efforts are not without personal cost. Since Cambridge, Burgess has adored the beautiful and passionate Julian Bell, son of Vanessa, nephew of Virginia Woolf. Despite the fact that Blunt has been having an on-off relationship with Bell for the past few years, Burgess has remained deeply in love with and committed to this emblem of youthful idealism. Bell is going to Spain to fight Franco, to fight Fascism first-hand. And he needs Burgess's support. Burgess has to deny him. It is heart-breaking, and an ignominious act of betrayal from which Burgess will struggle to recover. He cannot reveal to Bell the one truth which would redeem him: that his hatred of Fascism is even greater than his beloved's.

Philby's limits are tested too. He is sent to Spain, as a pro-German, right-wing journalist. He sees for himself the extent of German support for Franco's forces, but he can report none of it. Instead, he must sing the praises of the Nationalists and, in secret, pass on information about German activities to his Soviet contact in England, Otto. Otto's mixture of pragmatism and wisdom has endeared him to the four embryonic spies.

Then Otto sends Burgess to Spain with a directive for Philby from Moscow: assassinate Franco. If he does, he may save Spain – and possibly even Europe – from the rapid encroachment of Fascism. He will also surely be killed. Philby must decide again between his commitment to The Cause and his aspirations for his own life.This time, he chooses Life.

Episode 3 - After witnessing the bombing of innocent civilians at Guernica, Philby leaves Spain, sickened by the falsehoods he has been forced to write, but also fired up to move forward. He is ready for anything now. He is ready to take the struggle to the very heart of national government.

And then a massive blow: Stalin signs a non-aggression pact with Hitler.The four feel betrayed. Everything they have worked towards has been turned upside down.

In the midst of the turmoil and panic as the Germans close in on Paris, Donald Maclean finds love. Melinda is passionate, strong-minded and American. As the Nazis enter the city, Maclean proposes marriage to Melinda so that she is allowed to escape, with the rest of the Embassy, to England. It's a match made in chaos.

Back in London, Blunt is asked uncomfortable questions at MI5 about his Communist past. He is increasingly ill at ease with the business of spying, and quietly begins to doubt his commitment. None of the others know, though Philby is aware that all is not well with the man who first inspired him to join the Party. But Blunt is only being vetted because the Royal Family want him to work for them; he will be the next Surveyor of the King's Pictures.

Maclean also has doubts and begins to waver. As the bombs of the Blitz rain down on London one night, he tells the now pregnant Melinda that he works for Moscow. Shocked, she returns to the United States.

Episode 4 - The Cambridge Spies celebrate when Germany invades the Soviet Union. At last they are free of the massive guilt and moral ambivalence of working for a regime seemingly in league with Hitler.The four are once more 'on the side of the angels'.

But their sense of relief doesn't last long. Philby is under pressure at work: an American intelligence officer – James Jesus Angleton – seems to be watching his every move. Maclean, alone and tortured by Melinda's absence, finally confesses to Blunt that Melinda knows their secret. Blunt is appalled. He notifies their new Soviet contact; he wants out of the game. But it's not as simple as that; this is not a gentleman's club. Blunt promises to reveal instead the intimate secrets of the Royal Family.The Soviets are seduced: they think the Windsors matter in politics, and besides, Stalin likes the gossip. Blunt is off the hook, for now. But how will he tell the others?

Then, disaster.A former Soviet agent,Walter Krivitsky, wants to defect. If the West takes him in, he will give them information about a mole inside British intelligence. He drops a juicy clue: the mole is a 'tall, fair, Scot with Bohemian tastes' – Maclean. Krivitsky must be 'taken care of'. Philby and Blunt arrange Krivitsky's murder in Washington. Now there is blood on their hands.

King George VI sends Blunt on a mission to newly liberated Germany.There are letters written by his brother, the Duke of Windsor, which hint at cosy personal relations with Hitler. It would not be wise for these letters to become public knowledge.The King depends on Blunt to retrieve the letters from the hands of the Americans and keep the contents secret. After the mission, Blunt can drop the 'hush hush' work.

Blunt now has his safety net. If anyone tries to unmask any of the four, Blunt can threaten disclosure of the letters. They are all safe now, he tells Philby. But Philby sees through him: Blunt hasn't done it for them; he's done it for himself. And the rest? Paranoid, lost Maclean; unhappy and increasingly uncontrollable Burgess; uneasy, suspicious Philby? Blunt has left them all out in the cold.

Posted to Washington, Maclean is given a new lease of life. Moscow is determined that he makes good use of his time. Under the guise of visiting his wife in New York, Maclean gains access and makes regular visits to the Atomic Energy Commission there.

Episode 5 - Maclean steals vital information from Washington which is passed on to his latest Soviet contact, 'K'. Melinda is not happy; she knows what he is up to and pleads, then demands that he give it up. Maclean is torn. He wants badly to get out of the whole business, but on the other hand, he resents the United States’ exclusive control over atomic weapons and he still aspires to some idea of justice to justify his surreptitious activities.

There is another problem. Angleton, now head of counter-intelligence at the newly-formed CIA, is also back – and curious about exactly what Maclean is getting up to in America.

Then all hell breaks loose.The Soviets explode their first atomic bomb.The CIA – Angleton prominent amongst them – will stop at nothing to find out who leaked the secrets.They have one vital piece of information. A major source of leaks is said to have the name 'Homer', the code name that the Soviets have used for Maclean since his early spying days.This time it really does seem like the game is up for Maclean.

Back in London, Philby tries to control the situation. If Maclean goes down, they will all go. He must do anything and everything to protect his friend and comrade.To Angleton's consternation, Maclean is sent back to London, and Philby is sent to Washington to take over the 'Homer' investigation.The irony could not be clearer, or more dangerous.

Philby barely manages to keep the 'Homer' investigation from exploding, but he does, at least for the moment. Angleton's suspicions are not allayed, and he watches Philby like a hawk. But Philby's worst nightmare is about to happen. Burgess – now completely out of control – has come to Washington. Immediately, he makes trouble when, at a dinner party at Philby's home, he exposes himself to Angleton's wife.

Maclean is recovering with Melinda and their child in London. His life is considerably calmer. He has stopped getting drunk, he commutes to work every day from his suburban home, he is doing the bare minimum of file-passing and copying, in fact, he is leading a relatively normal life.

But the 'Homer' investigation won't go away. Philby is once again wrong-footed when the CIA unveils names of four possible 'Homers'. Maclean is on the list. If he goes, they all go. K informs Philby that Maclean must be sacrificed. And it is Philby who must do it.

Philby arranges for Burgess to be sent home to London, where Blunt takes him on one more trip to Jermyn Street to purchase a new coat, the old school tie and a copy of a Jane Austen book. Blunt tells him that he must accompany Maclean out of the country, get him to Moscow. What Blunt doesn't say is that Moscow has decided it is time for the increasingly erratic Burgess to leave too. Burgess and Maclean make for the Channel in the middle of the night. In hot pursuit are the CIA, MI5 and MI6 – but they are too late to stop them from leaving England. It is 1951.

Kim Philby	---	Toby Stephens
Anthony Blunt	---	Samuel West
Guy Burgess	---	Tom Hollander
Donald Maclean	---	Rupert Penry-Jones
Melinda Marling	---	Anna Louise Plowman
James Angleton	---	John Light
King George VI	---	Anthony Andrews
Queen Elizabeth	---	Imelda Staunton
Julian Bell	---	Patrick Kennedy
Jack Hewit	---	Stuart Laing
Lord Halifax	---	James Fox
Colonel Winter	---	Ronald Pickup

Written by Peter Moffat
Directed by Tim Fywell
Produced by Mark Shivas
Executive Produced by Laura Mackie, Gareth Neame, Sally Woodward Gentle

“...hugely entertaining.” -Guardian Guide

“...satisfyingly atmospheric and brilliantly acted.The cast made us believe in this foursome as anti-establishment class traitors.”- Daily Telegraph

“Tom Hollander, Samuel West, Toby Stephens and Rupert Penry-Jones excel as the infamous communists ... In particular, Hollander's Burgess is glorious; a self-styled ‘ponce’ who delights in cocking a snook at authority, only to be disappointed when the establishment proves largely unshockable. Imagine Brideshead with dollop of espionage and you won't be far wrong.” -Guardian

“It isn't the first time that their lives have been dramatised, but it's the first series to focus on their days at Cambridge. It's also interesting to see a post Cold War interpretation of the story. Russia is no longer a dirty word and it leaves the programme makers free to portray the young spies in a more sympathetic light.” -Express

“Tom Hollander is having the acting time of his life as gay Guy Burgess, Blunt is a perfect description rather than a character for Samuel West while Toby Stephens is suitably rakish as Philby.”- Northern Echo

“The acting was uniformly excellent...” -Independent

“What it is is beautiful. The production bathes Cambridge in perpetual summer, shines blue lights down Viennese nights, and places key meetings in pristine corners of Regent's Park. The young men (Samuel West,Tom Hollander, Rupert Penry-Jones and Toby Philby) are 24-carat jeunesse dorée.The women they take to bed are Tatler-level totty ... Hollander shines as Burgess.” -New Statesman

A distant relative of the queen and Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, Blunt was awarded a knighthood in 1956. It was annulled 23 years later when his treason became public.