Categories A Spy Among Friends Print Media

What an MI6 Spy Told Me Over Lunch

He Gave Me The Slip

by William Keegan | The Guardian | December 31, 2022

The English of a certain generation seem to be divided between those who are fascinated by the Cambridge spies and those who are not. For the former, the fascination and in my case memories have been rekindled by the recent release of the television series A Spy Among Friends, starring Guy Pearce as the treacherous Kim Philby and Damian Lewis as Nicholas Elliott, his close friend for many years at the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6.

The bond between Philby and Elliott was tested when the latter discovered that he had unwittingly been one of Philby’s prime sources for top-secret intelligence as part of the notorious Cambridge spy ring who passed information to the Soviet Union during the second world war and, later, the cold war. This was all the more galling for Elliott, who had helped to clear Philby’s name when he had come under suspicion some years before his ultimate confession in Beirut in 1963.

Continue reading What an MI6 Spy Told Me Over Lunch

Categories Broadcast Media Keane Print Media

Keane: Exclusive Streaming Premiere in January 2023

Cinema Verité: The Criterion Collection

by Staff | Criterion.com | December 28, 2022

In the 1960s filmmakers on both sides of the Atlantic spilled into the streets in search of cinematic truth, armed with lightweight cameras that allowed for an unprecedented level of intimacy and liberated documentary from the conventions of voice-over narration and talking-head interviews. Today the term Cinema Verité (“cinema of truth”) is used as a catchall for both the philosophical and ethnographic inquiries of Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin—who coined the term—and the Direct Cinema movement in the U.S., which revolutionized and popularized the documentary form by attempting to capture, with startling immediacy, the truth of everyday life, often finding it in the era’s churning counterculture.

This January, it’s time to get real. Our Cinema Verité collection looks back at the movement that revolutionized documentary filmmaking, producing some of the most adventurous and captivating nonfiction films of all time. We’re taking a closer look at formative moments in two of our favorite filmmakers’ careers, spotlighting the time that Mike Leigh spent making extraordinary teleplays at the BBC and Abbas Kiarostami’s work crafting films for and about children. And that’s just the beginning of a month that’s packing genre thrills (courtesy of Fernando Di Leo), Hollywood classics (starring Joan Bennett), unforgettable suspense (Hitchcock, anyone?) and so much more!

Continue reading Keane: Exclusive Streaming Premiere in January 2023

Categories A Spy Among Friends Print Media

A Double Agent, a Lifelong Friend and a Personal Betrayal: A Spy Among Friends

Now Streaming In UAE on TOD

by Enid Grace Parker | The Khaleej Times | December 15, 2022

Wondering what to binge-watch this weekend? Why not check out the 6-part series A Spy Among Friends, an intriguing tale of espionage, friendship, and betrayal that dramatizes the true story of Britain’s most notorious double agent and defector, Kim Philby. Philby is played by Australian actor Guy Pearce (Neighbours, Memento) while Homeland star Damian Lewis takes on the role of his lifelong friend, MI6 agent Nicholas Elliott. Based on the New York Times best-selling book by Ben Macintyre, A Spy Among Friends chronicles Philby’s deeply personal betrayal, uncovered at the height of the Cold War, which resulted in the gutting of British and American Intelligence.

Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Lewis – who received a CBE from Britain’s King Charles on December 14 – told City Times in a recent virtual group interview that roles based on real life are “more challenging” but “always more interesting” to him.

Continue reading A Double Agent, a Lifelong Friend and a Personal Betrayal: A Spy Among Friends

Categories A Spy Among Friends Print Media Review

A Spy Among Friends Dramatizes The Treachery of Kim Philby

“All the Thrills, Intrigue and Skulduggery of its Source Material”

by Staff | The Economist | December 14, 2022

“If i had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friends,” E.M. Forster wrote in 1938, “I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.” The English author’s words are used as an epigraph to “A Spy Among Friends”, Ben Macintyre’s bestselling book of 2014 about Harold “Kim” Philby, as well as for a new television adaptation. Yet the British intelligence officer and double-agent made no such choice: he betrayed his country, his friends and his family for decades and without remorse.

Philby’s name is synonymous with treachery on a colossal scale. Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, John Cairncross and Donald Maclean—the other members of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring—committed many duplicitous deeds for their Soviet masters, but none can claim the title of Britain’s most notorious spy. Philby played his high-stakes game of double-cross so ruthlessly, so successfully and for so long that he acquired a different level of infamy after he was unmasked.

Continue reading A Spy Among Friends Dramatizes The Treachery of Kim Philby

Categories CBE Events Helen Honors Print Media

Damian Lewis Set to Receive Royal Honours

Royal Honours for FeedNHS

by Danny Halpin | Evening Standard | December 13, 2022

Damian Lewis, William Roache and AstraZeneca’s chief executive Sir Pascal Soriot are among a number of people due to be recognised with honours at an investiture ceremony on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.

Lewis, star of the award-winning shows Homeland and Band Of Brothers and who started a fundraiser to feed NHS staff healthy meals, will be made a CBE for services to drama and charity; while Roache, who holds the world record for the longest-serving TV actor in a continuous role for playing Ken Barlow in Coronation Street, will be made an OBE.

French-born Sir Pascal will be knighted for services to UK life sciences and the response to Covid-19 at the ceremony at Windsor Castle, after his company developed a vaccine and sent billions of doses around the world.

Paralympic athletes Karen Tonge and Sophie Wells and TV presenter Matt Baker are also to receive honours. Tonge, chair of Para Table Tennis, will be made an OBE for services to Paralympic table tennis after years of promoting the sport at a grassroots level. Para-equestrian Wells, who won gold at the London Paralympic Games in 2012, will also be made an OBE for services to equestrianism.

Continue reading Damian Lewis Set to Receive Royal Honours

Categories A Spy Among Friends Print Media Video

VIDEO: Nick Murphy Explains Why A Spy Among Friends Deliberately Jumps Around

“The Jump-Around Is Part Of The Point”

by Brenna Cooper and David Opie | Digital Spy | December 12, 2022

A Spy Among Friends director Nick Murphy has has explained his reason for the show’s confusing narrative, saying it was a deliberate choice to “discombobulate” viewers. Throughout the series, the show jumps between several locations across 30 years as it tells the story of Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) and KGB double agent Kim Philby (Guy Pearce). Murphy explained that it was a conscious decision from the beginning not to explicitly label each location and year, in order to focus on the show’s emotional storyline.

“The show jumps around over 30 years in London, Berlin, Moscow, Vienna, Istanbul… We made a decision quite early to not caption things as we jump around, because it would become this endless litany of captions on screen,” he told Digital Spy in a video here.

Continue reading VIDEO: Nick Murphy Explains Why A Spy Among Friends Deliberately Jumps Around

Categories A Spy Among Friends Print Media Video

VIDEO: Damian Lewis and Alex Cary Discuss A Spy Among Friends’ Saddest Scene

It Is Even More Heartbreaking Than You Think

by Jacob Sarkisian and David Opie | Digital Spy | December 11, 2022

A Spy Among Friends‘ first episode ends with a heartbreaking scene, but the makers of the show have explained the personal connection that makes it sadder than you think.

In the scene, Damian Lewis’ character watches Guy Pearce’s character on stage. As he watches, he starts to cry. However, Pearce’s character isn’t actually there and it’s all in the mind of Lewis’ character. Watch video here.

Continue reading VIDEO: Damian Lewis and Alex Cary Discuss A Spy Among Friends’ Saddest Scene