Cambridge Spies

Samuel West, who played Anthony Blunt in this series, took on the same role 16 years later in season 3, episode 1 of The Crown (2016).

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Peter Moffat, the writer of this mini-series, said of the production: "This is the story of four young but devastatingly effective double agents who knew from the start that they would stand or fall together. Burgess was the noisiest spy in the history of espionage, a gifted mouth and a bad intelligence. Philby was the group's most successful spy and became Head of Counter-Intelligence at MI6. Blunt was cool, extremely funny and clever, while Maclean was the noisiest spy in the history of espionage. Warm, friendly, drunk and difficult. Burgess and Maclean lived in each other's pockets until they desperately flew to Moscow on 23 June 1951."

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Mark Shivas, the producer of this production, said of the mini-series: "Burgess, Maclean, Philby and Blunt believed that what they were doing was not betraying their country but serving it. But how long can you hold on to youthful idealism? Peter Moffat's script is about friendship, passion and belief; about how far they were prepared to go to realise their ideals, and their unshakeable faith in their beliefs."

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According to Wikipedia, "the Cambridge Spy Ring was a spy ring that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active at least until the early 1950s, recruited in part by the Soviet scout Arnold Deutsch (Otto) in the United Kingdom. Four members of the ring were initially identified: Kim Philby (cryptonym: Stanley), Donald Duart Maclean (cryptonym: Homer), Guy Burgess (cryptonym: Hicks) and Anthony Blunt. (Cryptonyms: Tony, Johnson) It was once known collectively as the Cambridge Four and later as the Cambridge Five, the number growing as more evidence came to light."

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Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Edward Hand in one episode, would later appear in The Imitation Game (2014).

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The mini-series was filmed in three countries: [in alphabetical order] England in the United Kingdom, Spain in Europe and the United States in North America.

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Actor Tom Hollander appeared in espionage films such as Hanna (2011), Enigma (2001) and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015), as well as in the later BBC television spy series The Night Manager (2016), adapted from John le Carré's 1993 novel of the same name.

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Harold Philby's (Toby Stephens) nickname was "Kim."

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The BBC, which made this mini-series, has a BBC History website that states: "Maclean, Burgess, Philby and Blunt were the British members of a KGB spy ring that infiltrated the United Kingdom's intelligence system and passed vital information to the Soviets during World War II and the early stages of the Cold War."

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Rupert Penry-Jones, Toby Stephens and Anna-Louise Plowman would later appear in Black Sails (2014) as Thomas Hamilton, Captain Flint and Mrs Hudson respectively.

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Jane Tranter, the BBC's Controller of Drama Commissioning, once said of this production, which she commissioned: "This is an ambitious drama for BBC TWO - a fresh look at the story of the Cambridge Spy Ring, beginning at the start of their espionage careers. [Writer] Peter Moffat has brought out its contemporary resonance for a modern audience, focusing on their unshakeable belief in communism and the passions that led them to betrayal and great personal sacrifice."

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The Cambridge Five were a spy ring that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and the Cold War in the United Kingdom, and were active from the 1930s until at least the early 1950s. None of the known members was ever tried for espionage. The ring's number and membership gradually emerged from the 1950s onwards. The general public first became aware of the conspiracy after the sudden flight to the Soviet Union of Donald Maclean (1913-1983, code name Homer) and Guy Burgess (1911-1963, code name Hicks) in 1951. Suspicion immediately fell on Kim Philby (1912-1988, code names Sonny, Stanley), who fled to the Soviet Union in 1963. Following Philby's flight, British intelligence obtained confessions from Anthony Blunt (1907-1983, code name Johnson) and then John Cairncross (1913-1995, code name Liszt), seen as the last two of a group. Five. Their involvement was kept secret for many years: until 1979 for Blunt and until 1990 for Cairncross. The name Cambridge Four became Cambridge Five after Cairncross was added.

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Klaus Fuchs [on confessing to being a Soviet spy, 27 January 1950]: "At first I thought the only thing I would do would be to inform the Russian authorities that work on the atomic bomb was continuing. They wanted more details and I agreed to give them. At first I concentrated mainly on the product of my own work, but I did what I consider the worst thing I did, particularly at Los Alamos, namely to give information about the design principle of the atomic bomb. The plutonium bomb. I gave the last information in February or March 1949."

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Filming on Cambridge Spies (2003) began in September 2003 at locations in England and Spain. Filming took place at Cambridge University, where a truck full of propeller bicycles was stolen from outside a Cambridge hotel four days after it was filmed and its contents emptied. Various London locations were used, including One Great George Street, St. James's Park, Regent's Park, Hyde Park and Ham House; and Highgate Cemetery. Locations in Spain included scenes set in Vienna, Austria, filmed in Barcelona, and scenes depicting the 1937 bombing of Guernica, filmed in Madrid.

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Actor Toby Stephens had played the lead villain Gustav Graves in the previous year's James Bond film Die Another Day (2002).

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This BBC spy television mini-series has a total of four episodes.

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Cambridge Spies (2003) is a four-part British drama mini-series written by Peter Moffat and directed by Tim Fywell. It first aired on BBC Two in May 2003 and is based on the true story of four brilliant young men recruited at Cambridge University in 1934 to spy for the Soviet Union.

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