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Vanessa Kirby meets Ron Stallworth, the black Colorado cop who fooled the USA's most notorious racists. In 1979, Ron and a white colleague infiltrated a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Posing as two sides of the same alter-ego, they led a double-pronged attack on the group, even gaining the trust of the Klan's leader, David Duke. Could YOU take that risk?
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Colonel Buz Carpenter puts Vanessa Kirby in the cockpit of his legendary SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. In 1979, two Gulf nations were on the brink of war. To negotiate peace, the US needed detailed military intelligence on both sides. Buz shares the amazing (and awkward!) details of his dangerous secret mission to the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Could YOU match his nerve?
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Vanessa Kirby gets Christo Grozev, a modern Sherlock Holmes, to share the secrets of how he solved one of the most notorious assassination attempts of the 21st century - the poisoning of retired Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal, hospitalized by a mysterious nerve agent on British soil. Would YOU have the skills to do the same?
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Vanessa Kirby and Charles Hill share the inside story of an iconic art theft. Hill went undercover to retrieve ‘The Scream' by Edvard Munch after it was stolen from Norway’s National Gallery. Posing as an agent for the Getty Museum, Charles drew the dangerous thieves out of the shadows. What would YOU do in Charles's position?
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Hayley Atwell meets ex-spy Katherine Gun and journalist Martin Bright, who tried to derail the course of history. On the brink of the Iraq War, Katherine leaked a top-secret memo which exposed a US plot to secure support for the invasion through blackmail. Would you have done the same?
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Hayley Atwell meets Marthe Cohn, the brave 100-year-old French spy who, posing as a German nurse, fed German secrets to the Allies during WWII. Operating behind enemy lines, under the nose of the Nazis, her courage and cunning saved countless lives. Could you be so brave?
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For the Portuguese artist and sculptor, Joana Vasconcelos, a troubling inheritance of deceit lay lurking in wait in her late grandparents’ apartment. Here, she and host Alice Loxton discuss the dark journey that her discovery sent her on – and the powerful work of art it inspired.
EPISODE HOMEPAGE
Hayley Atwell tells the story of how Soviet engineer Adolph Tolkachev became one of the Cold War's most prolific turncoats. For nearly a decade, CIA Operations Officer David Rolph was tasked with keeping the information flowing, right under the nose of the KGB. What would YOU do in David's position?
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Hayley Atwell tells the story of the capture of Mexican drug lord El Chapo, with former FBI undercover agent Michael McGowan. To trap this murderous gangster, Michael had to convince him that he was in the same business. What would you do in Michael's position?
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Hayley Atwell relates the story of Mubin Shaikh, a Muslim extremist who became a spy for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Undercover as a member of the terrorist group that would be known as the Toronto 18, Mubin was told that his cover was blown.
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Hayley Atwell shares the secrets of an elite clandestine unit, Special Forces Berlin, with the help of former operative James Stejskal. Stationed in West Berlin but deployed wherever their skills were needed, they found themselves at the centre of the Tehran Hostage Crisis, but no-one could know they were there. What would you do in their position?
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DEA agents Javier Peña and Steve Murphy helped locate and capture Pablo Escobar, the most infamous ‘narco’ in history. Escobar's cartel terrorized Colombia and shipped cocaine worth tens of billions of dollars to the USA. As easily identifiable 'gringos', Peña and Murphy were in constant danger in Colombia. What would you do in their position?
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Jonna Mendez was chief of disguise at the CIA’s Office of Technical Service. During decades of undercover service, Mendez fabricated highly deceptive disguises for agents and colleagues in some of the world’s most hostile locations. What would you do in Jonna’s position?
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Tracy Walder was a CIA officer in the Counterterrorism Center, assuming aliases and pursuing terrorists in the aftermath of 9/11. After her role at the CIA, Tracy became a Special Agent at the FBI, specializing in Chinese counterintelligence operations. What would you do in Tracy’s position?
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As former Deputy Director of the Office of Counterintelligence, Robert Booth was tasked with investigating individuals within the department who were recruited as spies for foreign governments. What would YOU do in Robert’s position?
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'Jack Barsky' was a New York computer programmer for a well-known insurance firm. In real life, he was Albrecht Dittrich, a highly-trained Soviet sleeper agent dropped behind enemy lines in 1970s America. When the KGB recalled him to Europe, Barsky had a difficult choice to make: Should he leave his wife and 18-month-old baby behind or betray his country?
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The identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame was leaked during President George W. Bush’s administration. Overnight, the operations she had worked on, searching out intelligence on weapons of mass destruction, were put at risk. What would YOU do in Valerie’s position?
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Eric O’Neill describes the hunt for the infamous FBI mole Robert Hanssen, who he was tasked with catching. Eric needs to get Hanssen into a hire car so his own car can be searched for evidence of his betrayal... but the hire car isn’t there and Hanssen is getting suspicious. What would you do in O'Neill's position?
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Former Mossad operative Gad Shimron ran a fake diving resort on the Red Sea to rescue Ethiopian refugees. The operation involved arrest and interrogation, running roadblocks, and a gunfight at sea, all to save the lives of others. What would YOU do in Gad’s position?
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