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Spy Wars Q&A Transcript Highlights and Video – Sept 11, 2019

The Spy Stories That Still Intrigue Us

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | September 11, 2019

Gareth Lewis second from left, Damian Lewis far right.

On Wednesday, September 11, 2019 The Royal Television Society hosted an exclusive sneak peek screening of History UK’s Damian Lewis: Spy Wars , followed by a Q&A, at the British Museum in London, England. Damian, along with his brother Gareth Lewis, Johanna Woolford Gibbon, Dan Korn, and more were present. Here is a highlight of the evening:

Damian Lewis: I wanted to get involved because I’ve been to Langley the CIA headquarters for Homeland…but I wanted to look at the personal intimate decisions people have made.

Johanna Woolford Gibbon: We wanted to speak to people who were in the room at the time and could give us that personal testimony to get into the mind of the spy.

Johanna Woolford Gibbon: We have Russian and French speaking specialists who gained the trust of people over months so we could get the testimonies.

Dan Korn: Having the small human stories has made this series what it is. It’s about getting to the story behind the story.

Gareth Lewis: We’re telling stories that go back 40 years and yet we’re still reading these kind of things today. How we’ve come to this point is mind boggling, that we’re still locked in this kind of conflict, it’s slightly worrying.

Dan Korn: The world of intelligence moves on at such an exponential rate, so I don’t think there’s a danger of this series giving away too much.

Damian Lewis: The challenge for us was, how do you make spy craft interesting? Because actually it isn’t. There’s an odd shambolic buccaneering nature to it even now.

Johanna Woolford Gibbon: I think compartmentalisation is the one thing all spies have. They need to be able to live several lives at once.

Damian Lewis: The research and journalistic parts of it was more interesting to me than the presenting aspect of the series.

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