SERIES INFO Genre: Documentary Stars: Damian Lewis, Yanick Ghanty, Andrius Paulavicius Series Plot: Starring Damian Lewis in his first factual role, this new docu-drama reveals remarkable true stories behind the most gripping and significant international spy operations of the last forty years. From the truth behind the escape of US diplomats from Tehran, immortalised in the award-winning film Argo, to the spy operation which narrowly averted all-out nuclear war, to the incredible ‘spy swap’ which brought Sergey Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, to Salisbury (where they narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on their lives last year), the series relates the incredible true stories of the spy wars fought in the shadows. Utilising innovative and highly stylised reconstructions, Damian Lewis: Spy Wars is shot on location in London, Moscow and Israel.
EPISODE INFO Title: Spies Next Door Airdate: 2019-10-21 Episode plot: This is the story of the biggest spy swap between Russia and the United States since the Cold War involving Sergei Skripal, the victim of the infamous 2018 Salisbury Novichok attack. From the United States ten Russian ‘illegals’, who have, for a decade or more in some cases, masqueraded as Americans and had operated undetected by their neighbours, but not by the FBI, who have had them under surveillance for years. In the other direction are four spies who have been released from Russian jails. One of which was Sergei Skripal. Another,Gennady Vassilenko, a long-standing CIA double agent, and the man some say was involved in giving up the infamous traitor, Robert Hanssen. But what the Russians don’t know is just how valuable Gennady is to the West.