Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game

Two spies turn double agents at the height of the Cold War standoff between East and West. Their deception happens as the superpowers edge toward nuclear war.

It's summer 1982, and KGB spy Oleg Gordievsky travels from Moscow to take up a post at the Soviet embassy in London. East and West have a deep mistrust and misunderstanding of each other, and as a result, the Cold War, which has been rumbling on for almost 40 years, is heating up. The spying game and paranoia magnify the suspicion between superpowers, and an arms race threatens to bring the world to nuclear armageddon.

This includes rarely-heard archive interviews with Oleg Gordievsky and the unpublished letters of Michael Bettaney, as well as interviews with former aides to Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and former KGB, MI5, and MI6 officers, some of whom have never spoken publicly before.

Spies work behind the scenes as the superpowers enter a new era. Intelligence pushes world leaders towards a more peaceful approach. But a new danger is lurking in the shadows.

With Gordievsky's help, Britain identifies Mikhail Gorbachev as a possible new contender for Soviet leader; he could be the ticket to better relations between East and West. But fragile steps towards diplomacy are threatened by the vested interests of other spies still stuck in the old-world order.

The CIA is determined to identify Britain's superspy, but Soviet counterintelligence chief Aldrich Ames is disillusioned. He turns traitor for a paltry sum, and shortly afterward, Gordievsky is summoned back to Russia to almost certain danger.

The episode includes exclusive audio recordings of Aldrich Ames, audio interviews with Oleg Gordievsky, interviews with former KGB, FBI, CIA, and MI6 officers, some of whom have never spoken before, and colleagues of Thatcher and Reagan.

Battles between Cold War spies lead to danger, betrayal and a dramatic escape, all threatening to derail the fragile move towards world peace.