Tracking Down a Traitor
by Steve Bird | The Telegraph | October 31, 2021
Damian Lewis filming the Cold War drama limited series A Spy Among Friends CREDIT: Julian Simmonds
Budding Bond Damian Lewis stars as the MI6 officer who played cat-and-mouse with Kim Philby.
Damian Lewis’s fascination with spies has seen him play a John Le Carre secret agent and even present an entire documentary series on espionage.
But now, for the first time he has been spotted playing a real life MI6 spy in a new series about the life of Kim Philby during the height of the Cold War.
His role as Nicholas Elliott, an MI6 officer who defended Philby until his treachery became irrefutable, is ideal for Lewis who has insisted he would make a great spy, possibly better than James Bond.
Lewis, 49, was filming in London for the new Britbox series, A Spy Among Friends. Wearing Elliort’s trademark round glasses and pin-stripe suit he was on a specially converted street with 1950’s shop fronts in Pimlico.