A Spy Among Friends

Q&A of A Spy Among Friends at ITVX Showcase Event

On November 29, 2022December 2, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

Panel Discussion

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | November 29, 2022

Panel L-R: Anna Maxwell Martin, Damian Lewis, Ben Macintyre, Patrick Spence, Nick Murphy

Damian debuted his new six part series A Spy Among Friends at ITVX Showcase event on Tuesday, November 15, 2022 during a Q&A panel discussion. Joining him was actor Anna Maxwell Martin, author Ben Macintyre, director Nick Murphy and Patrick Spence. Damian told the moderator,

“We just wanted to get in behind the curtain of what an intimate betrayal between two friends [looks like]. It starts very much, and returns to, this friendship. I don’t want to give the end away, but there was a famous 4-day interview set in Beirut, an interrogation, which is the centerpiece of our drama that we come in and out of in a brilliantly orchestrated sort of time jumping way by Alex Cary who adapted Ben’s brilliant book. And that 4-day interrogation is the emotional heart of the show.”

Watch the full-length 12-minute video here. View images from the event here.

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A Spy Among Friends Lands at MGM+ for USA Release

On November 29, 2022December 2, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

Spectrum Originals Out, MGM+ In

by Peter White | Deadline | November 29, 2022
by Lesley Goldberg | The Hollywood Reporter | November 29, 2022

Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce-fronted drama series A Spy Among Friends has found a new home in the U.S. following Spectrum’s move out of original series. The spy thriller, which is a co-production with UK streamer ITVX, has landed at MGM+, the network formerly known as Epix.

The premium cable network/streamer has picked up domestic rights to the series and it will air in the U.S. in 2023. It comes after the series premiered at the London Film Festival and ahead of its British launch in December.

The six-part series was among the programs that were left without a home after Charter shut down its Spectrum Originals banner following the departure of executive Katherine Pope.

Pope departed cable service Charter to take over as president of indie studio Sony Pictures Television, which produces A Spy Among Friends. Pope previously bought the show during her time at Charter and now sold it to MGM+ in her new role atop Sony TV. The MGM-controlled Epix will be rebranded as MGM+ starting January 1, 2023.

“I’m very happy to be bringing our Cold War tale of friendship and betrayal to MGM+. They’re the perfect partners for us and I can’t wait for people to see it,” said Damian Lewis.

“Alex Cary has brilliantly adapted Ben Macintyre’s historical novel about friendship, loyalty, and betrayal. He, along with Nick Murphy, Damian Lewis, and the remarkable cast led by Lewis and Guy Pearce, have brought to life this riveting tale of two British spies whose deep personal bond and long friendship is challenged by duplicity and deception,” said Michael Wright, head of MGM+. “This series is emblematic of our new MGM+ brand and the rich, cinematic, and character-driven stories we aim to tell.”

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A Spy Among Friends Exposes the Public School, Old Boys’ Network at MI6

On November 29, 2022December 2, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

ITVX’s Adaptation of Ben Macintyre’s Bestseller Invents Female Officer

by Anita Singh | The Telegraph | November 29, 2022

Kim Philby’s career as a double agent was a betrayal not just of his country, but of the old boys’ network at MI6.
A new television drama about his treachery aims to inject some gender balance by inventing a female character who exposes the British intelligence services as a world of entitled, public school “dinosaurs”.

The drama, A Spy Among Friends, is an adaptation of Ben Macintyre’s bestselling book about the friendship between Philby and Nicholas Elliott, a fellow agent.

Damian Lewis plays Elliott, who has been blind to Philby’s betrayal. He gradually learns the truth through his dealing with Lily Taylor (Anna Maxwell Martin), a working class MI5 officer called in to investigate.
The drama, co-starring Guy Pearce as Philby, launches on December 8 on ITVX, the streaming service which is replacing the old ITV Hub.

The creation of Lily Taylor follows a trend for inserting fictional female characters into stories that, in their original form, had no place for women.

“This character enabled us to tell a particular story,” said Lewis. “About a generation of white, upper class dinosaurs, who’d been responsible for two world wars, failed intelligence missions, and had curated and nurtured our most famous double agent. The redemptive thing for Elliott is that he has the foresight and humanity to recognize in this young, female MI5 officer that here might be a way forward. He sees in her something rather brilliant – he sees the future.”

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A Spy Among Friends Episode Guide

On November 28, 2022March 10, 2023 By Gingersnap Comments Off

Episode Titles and Descriptions

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | November 28, 2022

A Spy Among Friends will be available on ITVX on December 8 and BritBox AU on December 9. For those of us across the pond, the US release will be March 12, 2023 on MGM+ (formally Epix). Here are the episode titles and descriptions.

Episode 1: Boom-ooh-yatatatah
Description: In the wake of Kim Philby’s escape to Moscow, his closest friend in Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (also known as MI6.), Nicholas Elliott, is under investigation by Mrs. Lily Thomas from the Security Service (MI5): Did he facilitate Philby’s escape because he’s also a traitor working for the Russians, or is it just that his judgement was clouded at a critical moment by their twenty-three year friendship? Or maybe, just maybe, he in fact had the last laugh having manipulated Philby to run to the bosom of the KGB for foreign intelligence purposes.

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10 of the Best TV Shows to Watch this December

On November 28, 2022December 2, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

by Hugh Montgomery | BBC Culture | November 28, 2022

Hugh Montgomery picks out the month’s biggest TV offerings – from Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford in Western series 1923 to fantasy prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin with Michelle Yeoh.

#5 A Spy Among Friends

Guy Pearce and Damian Lewis star in this real-life spy drama, based on Ben Macintyre’s book, about the relationship between Nicholas Elliott (Lewis) and Kim Philby (Pearce): two MI6 agents in the post-war period whose friendship was complicated, to say the least, when Elliott discovered that Philby – “the man I trusted most,” as Elliott says in the trailer – was in fact a double agent working for the KGB. What’s more, Elliott was then the man tasked with extracting a taped confession from Philby. One to jangle the nerves.

A Spy Among Friends premieres on 8 December on ITVX in the UK, with a US release date yet to be announced.

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A Spy Among Friends Readings Video

VIDEO: Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce Read a Passage From A Spy Among Friends

On November 27, 2022December 2, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

For All To Hear

by BritBox AU | Instagram | November 27, 2022

Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce read a passage from Ben Macintyre’s non-fiction thriller A Spy Among Friends. The new drama mini-series will be available on ITVX on December 8 and BritBox AU on December 9.

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A Spy Among Friends Interviews Print Media

A Spy Among Friends: A Fresh Approach to the Cambridge Spies Tale

On November 26, 2022December 2, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

The Cruelest Betrayal

by Vicki Power | Weekend Magazine for Daily Mail | November 25, 2022

With its moles, traitors, double agents and secret dossiers, the scandalous tale of the Cambridge spies is as electrifying as anything John le Carré ever dreamed up. It’s no wonder the story of five Oxbridge graduates secretly spying for the KGB during World War II and the Cold War has been adapted for numerous TV dramas.

But a riveting new six-part TV series takes a fresh approach to this astonishing tale of betrayal by looking at Kim Philby’s outrageous behavior and casting two huge Hollywood stars, Homeland’s Damian Lewis and LA Confidential’s Guy Pearce, in the lead roles.

First look photos here

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REVIEW: A Spy Among Friends on ITVX

On November 25, 2022December 2, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

Terrific Cast

by Nick Curtis | Evening Standard | November 25, 2022

Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce do an awful lot of stiff-upper-lip acting in ITV’s new espionage drama A Spy Among Friends, the latest to explore the actions of the Cambridge Five, Soviet spies who were at the heart of the British Establishment from the Second World War onwards. Here the focus is on Kim Philby (Pearce) whose treachery was discovered in 1963.

Philby’s great friend and fellow SIS agent Nicholas Elliott was dispatched to Beirut to confront and possibly to detain or “turn” Philby again. Instead, he extracted a partial confession and let Philby abscond to Russia. On screen this tale has bags of atmosphere, period detail and clipped dialogue.

First look photos here

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Damian Lewis, Guy Pearce and Anna Maxwell Martin Discuss A Spy Among Friends

On November 22, 2022November 27, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

Spies Like Us

by Richard Godwin and Caroline Frost | Radio Times | November 22, 2022

Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce are among the most acclaimed actors of their generation. Lewis has transformed himself into a tortured US soldier in Homeland, a volatile Henry VIII in Wolf Hall, an obnoxious hedge-fund manager in Billions – and any number of Shakespearean roles. Pearce sprang from the Australian soap Neighbours into a wide-ranging career, with roles including a drag queen, action heroes and a lovelorn English King.

But neither man has anything on Kim Philby, the British intelligence officer unmasked as a Soviet double-agent as part of the Cambridge Spy Ring, which included Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt, and whose web of deception has been a subject of endless fascination since his exposure in 1962. Lewis sees Philby’s treachery as “part of British folklore.”

First look photos here

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Damian Lewis Brings A Spy Among Friends to Content London

On November 18, 2022November 26, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

Industry Event

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | November 18, 2022

Golden globe and emmy award winning actor Damian Lewis will be at Content London to debut his new six part series, A Spy Among Friends. Joining Lewis, who is executive producing as well as acting for this exclusive Case Study, will be creator and executive producer, Alexander Cary, author Ben Macintyre, actor Anna Maxwell Martin and Sony Pictures Television’s Lauren Stein. Content London is one of the most stimulating events in the global content industry calendar. Over three days between November 28 – December 1, 2022 the event brings the global drama, formats and factual communities together around a conference, awards and networking agenda.

Tickets will be released in five tiers leading up to the event and each tier will be available on a first-come, first-served basis until sold out. Register now by clicking here.

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Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce on Kim Philby Drama

On November 16, 2022November 26, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

You Can Have a Lot of Fun in the Spy Genre

by Adrian Lobb | Big Issue Magazine | November 16, 2022

The powerhouse acting duo give us the intel on their new double-agent drama about Britain’s most notorious spy. Charming, expensively educated and shamelessly duplicitous, Kim Philby is the most famous double agent in British history. Philby spent decades passing sensitive information to the KGB at the height of the Cold War. He fooled everyone.

But if Philby betrayed his country, he arguably betrayed some of his closest friends even more. And that is the story at the heart of A Spy Among Friends, a high-class, beautifully acted spy drama adapted from Ben McIntyre’s sparkling book of the same name.

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