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Nail-Biting Espionage
by Mike Hale | New York Times | November 29, 2023
TV in 2023 was like synchronized swimming. Below the surface, there was roiling and churn. The writers’ and actors’ strikes wiped out much of the production year. The hangover from the corporate binge on streaming platforms led to cancellations and cutbacks. A number of hall-of-fame series left the air, with no clear plan of, as it were, succession.
But above the waterline, the dance went on. As usual, it was challenging to whittle down my year-end list to 10. (So I picked 11.) As usual, I am listing it in alphabetical, not ranked order. As usual, I made it a rule not to repeat shows from the previous year, and as usual, I broke that rule. (I couldn’t not include “Reservation Dogs.”)
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Best Box Set
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | November 7, 2023
The Radio Times Screen Test Awards 2023 voting results are in and A Spy Among Friends won Best Box Set on Tuesday, November 7, 2023! The public was able to vote for shows in seven key categories that made them feel good and improved their wellbeing over the past year.
Congrats to all the cast and crew. We are proud of the mini-series and its accolades.
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American Film Market (AFM)
by Carole Horst | Variety | October 31, 2023
The American Film Market kicks off Oct. 31 and runs through Nov. 5 in its new headquarters at the Le Meridien Delfina in Santa Monica. Industry screenings are set at theaters throughout the city and AFM’s conference series, the AFM Sessions, will take place at the Hilton Santa Monica Hotel. More than 245 companies and organizations are exhibiting at this year’s AFM, with national pavilions from China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Thailand and the U.K. In all, buyers from more than 65 countries are registered at the film market.
Here are some of the buzziest titles at AFM 2023:
The Radleys
Director: Euros Lyn
Producers: Debbie Gray
Cast: Damian Lewis, Kelly Macdonald, Harry Baxendale, Bo Bragason, Sophia Di Martino
Description: Supernatural black comedy is based on Matt Haig’s popular novel about a family of abstaining vampires. Promo debuting at AFM. Film will be released in the U.K. by Sky Cinema in 2024.
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Stream This Spy Thriller
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | September 28, 2023
A Spy Among Friends is available to stream on Amazon Prime and the first episode is free! Remaining episodes require adding a free trial of MGM+ to your Amazon Prime account, however, you can cancel MGM+ add-on at any time to avoid further fees. The television mini-series first aired on the new streaming platform ITVX in the UK back in December 2022, followed by Amazon Prime Video in Canada since February 2023 and more recently on MGM+ in the US from March 2023.
Based on Ben Macintyre’s book by the same name, Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) is working for Britain’s SIS as an intelligence officer and is left in turmoil when he learns his close friend and colleague, Kim Philby (Guy Pearce), has been secretly working as a double agent for the KGB since 1932. Elliot interviews him in Beirut, and then Philby defects to the Soviet Union. The series was nominated in the best mini-series category at the British Academy Television Awards, announced in March 2023.
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Broadcast Syndication
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | July 4, 2023
A Spy Among Friends is coming to ITV1 beginning Sunday, July 9, 2023 at 9:00 pm and Sky Italia on July 17. The television mini-series first aired on the new streaming platform ITVX in the UK back in December 2022, followed by Amazon Prime Video in Canada since February 2023 and more recently on MGM+ in the US from March 2023.
Based on Ben Macintyre’s book by the same name, Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) is working for Britain’s SIS as an intelligence officer and is left in turmoil when he learns his close friend and colleague, Kim Philby (Guy Pearce), has been secretly working as a double agent for the KGB since 1932. Elliot interviews him in Beirut, and then Philby defects to the Soviet Union. The series was nominated in the best mini-series category at the British Academy Television Awards, announced in March 2023.
Based on Ben Macintyre's New York Times best seller #ASpyAmongFriends – starring Damian Lewis, Guy Pearce and Anna Maxwell Martin, tells the true tale of friendship between British spies Nicholas Elliott and Kim Philby – notoriously known as a double agent for the Soviet Union🕵️.… pic.twitter.com/0mduGnBd5G
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Bloody Little Secret
by Lacy Baugher | Telly Visions.org | June 29, 2023
Damian Lewis is the sort of actor one tends to associate with prestige drama — he won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his starring role in the spy thriller Homeland, but his career has spanned series ranging from period dramas (Wolf Hall) to adaptations of literary classics (A Spy Among Friends). With a little Succession-lite thrown on top for good measure (Billions).
He’s definitely not the first actor whose name that comes to mind when you hear the phrase “supernatural black comedy.” But that’s about to change thanks to his new (dual) role in The Radleys, a contemporary vampire film that aims to explore what happens when we ignore our deepest, darkest desires or try to suppress our true selves.
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Damian Lewis Shines in A Spy Among Friends
by Benji Wilson | Emmy Magazine, Issue #7 | June 28, 2023
As the unwitting accomplice to one of Britain’s most notorious traitors, Damian Lewis shines in A Spy Among Friends.
When Alexander Cary, an executive producer on Homeland, called his old friend Damian Lewis, star of Homeland and Billions, and said he had the rights to Ben Macintyre’s nonfiction bestseller A Spy Among Friends, the question wasn’t, did Lewis want to do it —the question was, who might Lewis play?
The obvious answer was Kim Philby, the most notorious Soviet double agent in history, who rose high in the ranks of British intelligence in the 1940s and ’50s while funneling secrets to the Russians. But Lewis was more interested in playing Nicholas Elliott.
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Best Limited Series First-Round Emmy Contender
by Hugh Hart | Los Angeles Times | June 16, 2023
He’s portrayed intense terrorist Nicholas Brody in “Homeland,” domineering mogul Bobby Axelrod in “Billions” and mercurial King Henry VIII in “Wolf Hall,” but Emmy-winning British actor Damian Lewis rarely plays the fool. Breaking type in the fact-based Cold War thriller “A Spy Among Friends,” Lewis chose to portray MI6 operative Nicholas Elliott, who’s stunned by the realization that his best friend Kim Philby is a traitor working for Communist Russia.
The MGM+ limited series, based on Ben Macintyre’s book of the same title, casts Australian actor Guy Pearce (“L.A. Confidential,” “Memento,” “Mare of Easttown”) as the lethally charming Philby. Set in 1963, “A Spy Among Friends” hopscotches through three decades of flashbacks that culminate inside a Beirut safe house: Elliott’s supposed to bring Philby back to England, where he’ll face the consequences of his treachery. Instead, Philby flees to Moscow.
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Cast Announcements
by Andreas Wiserman | Deadline | June 13, 2023
Filming is underway in the UK on Euros Lyn’s (Heartstopper) black comedy The Radleys, starring Damian Lewis (Homeland).
Adapted from Matt Haig’s (A Boy Called Christmas) novel and produced by Genesius Pictures (Good Luck To You Leo Grande), Emmy and Golden Globe winner Lewis will star in a dual role alongside Boardwalk Empire and Operation Mincemeat star Kelly Macdonald in the contemporary vampire story.
Rising actors Harry Baxendale (Holmes & Watson) and Bo Bragason (The Ballad of Renegade Nell) also join the cast together with Sophia Di Martino (Loki) and BAFTA nominee Shaun Parkes (Small Axe). UPDATE 6/17/23: Nilsen Report states Steven Waddington is set to join the project as well.
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A Spy Among Friends
by Karen Idelson | Variety | June 6, 2023
Contributions of talented artisans on both sides of the camera are valued at the studio and are set to be acknowledged this awards season.
Whether working fervidly in the development phase or creating boundary-pushing visuals to serve a project’s narratives, Sony Pictures Television’s storytellers and artisans consistently find new ways to engage audiences and set the gold standard of crafting impactful television.
With its roster of diverse series and multifaceted talent, the award-winning television production and distribution studio aims to dominate across categories during the 2023 Emmy® race. The growing Sony Pictures Television universe features standout performances across genres, offering a glimpse into different cultural experiences and drawing inspiration from everything from the most beloved comic books to real-life spy stories.
“Across the studio’s slate, viewers have every type of story at their fingertips and can anticipate each series being crafted at the highest level of quality by the best artisans working in television today,” says Katherine Pope, president of Sony Pictures Television Studios.
A Spy Among Friends — Eyewitness to Reality
Damian Lewis applauds the writers behind the espionage thriller “A Spy Among Friends” for crafting dialogue that is detailed and authentic to the true story of a British spy for the Soviet Union.
“Alex Cary has this brilliant way of writing histories,” the actor says of the show’s writer and creator. “They read like capers and thrillers. We have photographic evidence of what these people looked like. We want to be true to who they are without doing impersonations.”
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Craft Considerations: Composer Dustin O’Halloran Layers Paranoia and Heartbreak Into an Experimental Score
by Staff | IndieWire | May 23, 2023
The story of Kim Philby, the high-ranking British intelligence official who turned out to be one of the biggest double agents in U.K. history (and a hero of the Soviet Union, if you take the Russian point of view), is well known at this point. Dozens of books, fiction and nonfiction, have been written about how Philby took in the great and the good of MI6 and the CIA for decades before he finally had to flee across the Iron Curtain in 1963.
This version of Philby, played with the kind of rumpled fatalism only Guy Pierce can muster, spends a lot of time keeping those friends close at the cost of his own soul, particularly Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis). But MGM Television’s “A Spy Among Friends,” which traces Philby and Elliott’s relationship from World War II to the ramifications of Philby’s defection (though not necessarily in that order) has no interest in spelling out how genuine the friendships of spies can be. It is interested in giving us the clues, hidden (among other places) in the adrenaline and emotion of the miniseries’s remarkable score.
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A Spy Among Friends: Best New Drama and Drama Performance
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | May 23, 2023
Both Damian and Guy Pearce have been nominated for best Drama Performance by the National Television Awards (NTAs) for its first round of long list contenders. Also A Spy Among Friends has been nominated for best New Drama. Voting is now open so be sure to vote so Damian and ASAF advance to the next round of short list contenders. Simply view the list of contenders and tick one in each of the 16 categories to select who you think should win. All votes must be in by 11:00 p.m. BST on Friday, June 2, 2023. The shortlist of contenders will be announced in August.
Who wins is down to you, so vote for Damian here and A Spy Among Friendshere before it’s too late! VERY IMPORTANT: you must go through EACH category to the very end, but you can skip categories you don’t want to vote for. When you are finished you must submit your name and email address for the vote to count.
