Sunday, August 13th, 2023 on ITV1 at 9:00pm
Episode 6: No Man’s Land
Elliott’s four day debrief of Philby in Beirut ends with a painful personal truth for Elliott, rooted in his long and close friendship with Kim. Their final confrontation reveals the complex emotional reasons why Elliott let Philby escape.
Lily has forced him to remember more than he perhaps ever wanted to about Philby, but in doing so he’s inclined to agree with her that he and men of his and Philby’s privilege and class are the real danger to England (and America), more than any one man. Then there’s Angleton, and how he has been infected by Philby to never trust any of his friends and colleagues again — an infection that will surely spread through the CIA and could even destroy it from within. So, informed by how Philby played Angleton, Elliott and Lily understand that their suspicions of Hollis are a construct of the now invisible hand of Philby and must therefore be questioned and treated with caution, if not dismissed entirely before they cripple British Intelligence.
Several months later, Philby sends Elliott a letter asking for a meeting to bury the hatchet in an East Berlin bar. At Christmas that year (1963) Elliott travels to East Berlin, not to be sucked into another game of friendship, but to return an umbrella — which he has always treasured — that Philby once gave him in gratitude for his loyalty and friendship. And Lily is invited to join the Intelligence Service, while the Soviet Union launches the first — and, to this date, last — solo woman pilot into space.
Cast
- Adrian Edmondson as Sir Roger Hollis
- Ali Deac as Stasi Oberleutnant
- Anastasia Hille as Flora Solomon
- Anna Maxwell Martin as Lily Thomas
- Charles Hagerty as Miles Copeland
- Colin Mace as Commissionaire
- Damian Lewis as Nicholas Elliott
- Daniel Lapaine as Donald Maclean
- Guy Pearce as Kim Philby
- James Beswick as Giovanni
- Justine Mitchell as Eleanor Philby
- Lucinda Raikes as Miss Harbinson
- Lucy Russell as Jane Sissmore
- Mark Flitton as Joe
- Mark Tandy as Dick Beeston
- Martin McDougall as Richard Helms
- Monika Gossmann as Galina
- Morgane Ferru as Litzi Friedman
- Nicholas Rowe as Sir Anthony Blunt
- Sophie Dix as Moira Copeland
- Stephen Kunken as James Jesus Angleton
- Todd Boyce as DI John McCone
- Zannah Hodson as Lennie Copeland
You must log in to post a comment.