A Spy Among Friends (2022) s01e02 Episode Script

Do you remember The Admiral's Glass?
The Admiral's what?
Glass.
By Southwark Bridge.
I think that's well
and truly out now, Kim.
I don't think I know
any pubs in Southwark.
You remember this one.
What's that?
I want fucking witnesses.
- To what?
- Open the fucking door.
- Kim, don't be ridiculous.
- Open the door!
Open it yourself. It isn't locked.
You can't seriously believe
they've come here for you?
I don't know what to fucking
well believe right now.
Be honest, Nick
did you or did you not
come to Beirut as my friend?
Well, I'll tell you this much:
MI5 were champing at the bit
to send their first 11 out here,
until C intervened with the Minister
and insisted that this was still
technically an intelligence matter
as opposed to a security one,
because you are, after all,
an SIS man for whom there may
still be a path to redemption.
- Poor dear.
- Yeah.
I mean you.
Have you finished buggering about yet?
One more thing, what
you're accusing me of
- That's new.
- What?
You're wearing a wedding ring now?
It's what you get when
you marry an American.
Treason.
That's what I'm accusing you of.
To be clear.
Speaking of America,
what have they been told?
Nothing.
Yet. Which is why the sooner
you tell me everything,
the sooner we can take care of them
and any others
that might be out there.
- Others?
- Well, you must've thought about
what the Russians might try to do to you
if they ever find out you're blown.
So CLEARS THROA
in that regard, yes,
I suppose you could say that I
came to Beirut as your friend.
- The Admiral's what?
- Glass.
By Southwark Bridge.
Any more tea in the
I think that's well
and truly out now, Kim.
I don't think I know
any pubs in Southwark.
Bloody hell, look at
you. Freezing to death!
Boots!
Ooh!
Pay the toll.
More, please.
I like your carrots. What?
I know that face.
I mean it!
They are very impressive carrots,
not what you'd expect to
see in a London back garden.
- Nearly finished.
- Take your time.
I'll just be a minute.
Speaking of America,
what have they been told?
Nothing. Yet. Which is why the
sooner you tell me everything,
the sooner we can take care of them,
and any others that might be out there.
Ciao, ragazzi!
- Those poor bloody foxes.
- It's a mink, che cazzo!
Hundred percent mink.
Cheeky bastard!
Cuppa tea and a bacon and egg roll
for young Nicholas, please, love.
Ooh, I like-a the look of your salami.
- Whole or sliced, sir?
- All together now:
What do I look-a like,
a fucking money box?
- Morning, gents.
- Morning.
Thirty four and a
half hours of two spies
talking rings around each other.
Elliott, though, was in
Beirut for four days, 96 hours,
so that's 60
one and a half.
Let's call it 62 hours
we know sweet FA about.
Explain to me cricket.
Nobody wins. What is point?
England against Australia.
Oh, it's a draw!
- That's good?
- It could have been worse.
We leave in 30 minutes.
So, for example, on the last night
he was there, believe it or not,
he went for dinner at Philby's
flat on Rue what-ya-ma-call-it
- Kantari.
- Er, and
SIS expect us
to believe that they
talked about, what, the weather?
More likely cricket.
Cricket. Right.
Make your point, Mrs Thomas.
Philby's life was on the line,
as was the meaning of Elliott's,
not to mention the reputation
of the Intelligence Service,
so I, for one, find
it very hard to believe
that he'd come back
from Beirut empty-handed.
Based on what?
His entire career.
He was supposed to
come back with Philby.
Maybe he came back
with something better.
- From Philby?
- Such as?
- I dunno yet.
- Ah.
But I do know we won't
find an answer to that
in an interrogation room.
Very sure of yourself,
aren't you, Mrs Thomas?
Is that a problem?
I believe that under
that posh, jovial exterior
is a man fighting for his
life, which is his career.
So I suggest that we
take him off the lead,
watch where he goes, what
he does, who he talks to
All right, hold on a minute.
Say, for the sake of
argument, we do that
what makes you think
you're the right person?
She doesn't.
That's not what she's saying. Is it?
So I'll say it for her -
SIS will never see her coming
and even if they do, they're
bound to underestimate her.
Just a minute.
I said just a fucking minute!
Did you hear about Olga,
the Russian shot putter?
"Doctor, Doctor," says Olga,
"lately, I have been growing
a lot of hair on my chest."
The doctor says, "Oh,
really, Olga? How odd.
"Mind me asking how far down it grows?"
To which Olga replies, "All
the way down to my balls."
Isn't the doctor Russian, too?
I want fucking witnesses.
- To what?
- Open the fucking door.
- Kim, don't be ridiculous!
- Open the door!
Open it yourself. It isn't locked.
Was he using the
ambulance as a distraction?
I think in that instant
he was genuinely concerned
that the men in white
coats were coming for him.
That said, as we now know,
one can never be completely
certain with a man like him.
A man like him?
Do you always have
to have the last word?
No.
Not what you expected?
I don't know what I expected.
The Admiral's what?
Glass. By Southwark Bridge.
I don't think I know any pubs in So
What's so important
about The Admiral's Glass?
Nothing. It's just a pub.
Feels like a bit more
than just any old pub.
It has to do with a minor
personal matter, that's all.
Which is why I decided,
in light of what I actually
went to Beirut to achieve
and the small amount of time I
had to do it in, to let it go.
Personal in what way?
In that it's not really
relevant to any of this.
I've listened to and analysed
every single second of every hour
of you and Philby in Beirut.
Please don't tell me
this is not relevant.
Women.
Pardon?
Aileen.
Aileen?
Aileen Philby?
Flora Solomon's best friend.
The same Flora Solomon
who it took 25 years
to come forward about Philby.
Do you mind if I smoke?
Burst into flames for all I care.
That was unnecessary. I'm sorry.
Where on Earth did they find you?
Will you be quiet,
you horrid little dog?!
Sorry, come in.
She called me out of the blue one day,
asking me to drop by, spring 1941,
said she had something
"urgent and sensitive,"
I think are the words she used,
that she needed to discuss in person.
Willie! Stop it this instant!
We're in the drawing room.
Hello, Nick.
Aileen! Darling, what a nice surprise.
I didn't know you were
going to be here, too.
That's enough, Willie.
Naughty Willie.
- What?
- Nothing.
Anyone care for a drink?
Actually, erm, if you don't mind,
Flora, I'm a little pushed for
Kim's cheating on me, Nick.
What?!
He's having an affair.
Please, Nick, you can save
us all a great deal of time
by sparing us the loyal friend act.
This is the reason you wanted to see me?
Yes or no: did you know
he's having an affair?
No, of course I didn't know,
'cos there's nothing to know!
There's something wrong, Nick.
Kim's behaviour
It
It's hard to describe, but
Here. Have one anyway.
a wife can tell.
And, er
What?
Nothing.
No, no, what is it?
I don't know.
We need you to find out who she is.
What? Oh, no.
No, no. Absolutely not.
Surely if he's innocent
there's nothing to worry about?
Please, Nick. There's
no-one else I trust to ask.
And if there is any hope of Kim
and I ever getting past this,
then I first have to know the truth.
Your words or hers?
Look, the point is,
you'd be doing this for Kim
as much as anything else.
With all due respect, Flora
Well, we all know what
that means, but go on.
What you're asking me
to do amounts to spying.
On my closest friend.
You actually said that?
- Single to Paddington.
- Tuppence ha'penny, sir.
Thank you.
Mind the doors!
Wait, please.
He knew you were following him?
No, I don't believe Well, at
least I didn't think so at the time.
It was the middle of the war.
Tradecraft was something we were
all required to do at all times
until it was second nature.
Why do all this if you
considered it such a betrayal?
I thought Aileen's suspicions of
an affair were more likely to be
a misunderstanding caused by
the type of work he did for SIS,
which, of course, he
could never tell her about.
Secrets can be very
testing of a marriage.
So I wanted to prove Aileen and
Flora wrong, and him innocent.
You didn't think he was
the type to have an affair?
I never said that.
Surely you could've just
told Flora and Aileen anything
and they'd have had to
have taken your word for it?
Now I suppose you're gonna tell me
I had other subconscious
reasons to spy on him,
beyond mere suspicions of adultery.
Not even a niggling feeling
in the back of your mind?
Sorry.
Er, yeah, sorry, you were saying?
I wasn't. You were.
Do I believe that you, a
career intelligence officer
and keen observer of human behaviour,
may have had a feeling that all
was not right with your friend?
Mm-hm. That's precisely
what I'm saying.
Did he see you?
If he did he didn't
say a word about it.
Everything was business as usual
for the next couple of weeks until
Nicholas Elliott and Ian Fleming.
- Achtung, Jerry.
- Hello, Kim.
- Thank you, sir.
- Ian.
The moment of truth.
Peter Tazelaar, Kim Philby.
Peter's from Holland.
And will soon be going
back, God willing.
Dry as a bone. What'd I tell you?
Well, I'll be a Dutchman.
Macallan's if I'm not mistaken.
Peter's going to swim ashore
and walk straight into a German
officers' shindig at a seaside hotel.
We thought a little bit of whisky
on a jacket would be in order.
Shouldn't it be Schnapps?
Well, there's such a
thing as too clever, Kim.
You come up with this wheeze?
No, joint effort with Fleming here.
A minute.
What I'm about to tell you
must remain strictly between us.
Oh, well, you know
there's no need to say
I've been a bloody fool, Nick.
And I think now Aileen
might be on to me.
Oh? This is a personal thing.
Has she said anything to you?
Look, Kim, if it's all the same
I'd really rather not get dragged
Quite. Quite. No need
to say another word.
- You understand.
- Perfectly.
Good man.
She has said something,
hasn't she? Excuse me, sir.
Well, go on, then, spit it out, if
you must, before I change my mind.
Her name's Alice. Litzi.
She She's Austrian.
I met her in Vienna in '34
when I was there, you know, trying
to cut my teeth as a journalist.
She's the bravest woman I've ever known.
And also, as it happens, Jewish.
- So when the time came for her to get out
- You helped her.
- I-I shuffled some papers.
- Papers? What kind of papers?
Oh, Christ, no! Marriage
papers. Bloody hell, Kim.
It was only ever meant to just be paper,
and then all of a sudden
she's in London, and
What do I do, Nick? I
I I never had the
slightest intention of
Cheating on Aileen, to be clear.
Don't fucking tell me you've never
made any mistakes in your life!
Aileen's about to have your baby.
You know exactly what to do.
He did see you at The Admiral's
Glass. He must've done.
Probably not my finest hour.
Why tell you about all that
business in Austria, though,
when he could've just
admitted to having an affair
and left it at that?
He was obviously probing to
see what else I might know.
Obviously? You mean in retrospect.
Wasn't the resistance in Vienna
communist?
It was a workers' uprising.
Right.
Communism wasn't the
problem then. Fascism was.
OK.
You're probably thinking why on Earth
didn't I put two and two
together, right there and then.
And?
All I can tell you is we
were at war with Germany
and Kim happened to be one of
the most effective espionage minds
in that fight. That's a fact.
Despite everything that came later,
that will never, ever change.
He's not having an affair.
On that much, I can give you my word.
You see, his work - our work -
the work we both do
to fight the Nazis
can be quite, um
Well, it requires, erm, at
times, certain levels of, erm
Not to mention the
ungodly hours that we
Do stop waffling on, Nick!
We know that you and
Kim work for MI6 or SIS
or whatever it is
it's called these days.
That's not what Aileen's talking about.
- Is it, darling?
- I
I I don't know, I-I mean
I suppose.
Well, I, for one, think
you're obfuscating.
Well, now you mention it, I
did have plums for breakfast.
Oh, for goodness' sake! That
Bertie Wooster turn you do
is utterly beneath you and nobody
with half a brain falls for it.
You're-you're a serious
man with a serious mind
and this is very serious stuff.
Damn it all, she's six months pregnant!
And Kim must be brought to
heel before it's too late.
All right.
I've tried to be patient
and keep an open mind,
but now I've had enough.
Now, listen, both of you.
Kim is a good man fighting
hard for his country
- under some very difficult circumstances.
- May I just say
He is categorically
not having an affair!
Not only does he not have the time,
he would never do such a thing,
and my advice to you, Aileen,
is to stop worrying about
everything under the sun
and start believing in him.
And, Flora, with all due respect,
keep your nose out of
other people's business.
That is all I have to say on the matter.
Do you think Philby's
safe in the Soviet Union?
Do you have confirmation
that's where he is?
Let's assume.
Safe from whom?
Come on, now.
Ah, do you mean would we
bump him off? One of us?
What about the CIA?
Ah, well, them I'm
afraid I can't vouch for.
I have something to play
you, then I have a question.
How long has Flora bloody Solomon
known you're a Soviet double agent?
From now on, no matter
how many clever ways
you try to frame this nonsense, I'm
just not going to respond any more
because it's not worth dignifying.
You've known each other
since you were at Cambridge.
I don't believe for a fucking minute
she suddenly realised you were
a Soviet spy just last week!
How many times do I have to
tell you, I am not a traitor!
- She's fucking well lying!
- To MI5?
She's still upset about Aileen.
Rest in peace.
Now you're accusing
me of killing Aileen?
An alcoholic, bless her,
with too many psychological
problems to count,
who bloody well drank herself
- Years after she left me!
- You know, the irony is
that even though you've
managed to hide your real self
for all these years, I know
you all the better for it now.
And today
you're a man on the brink.
I can see it in your
eyes, plain as can be.
By the way, I know you feel
responsible for Aileen's death.
How could you not, after
everything you put her through?
Because I also know you're not
a complete and utter monster.
- Do you resent Mrs Solomon?
- Resent her?
Well, you've read her statement to MI5,
she knew about Philby going on 30 years.
That he was a communist,
maybe. Not a spy.
Right. OK.
And the reason she would've kept
quiet about his communist beliefs
would've been to protect
her friend, Aileen.
How many people do you
think the Soviets killed
based on the information
they got from Philby?
I don't know.
You don't know or you don't wanna know?
Now, now, Mrs Thomas.
Hundreds, possibly thousands.
You said so yourself, to Philby
in Beirut. It's on the tape.
If Mrs Solomon knew Philby
was spying for the Soviets
right from the beginning,
more or less right after
he got back from Vienna
Hm how can you not resent her?
Where are you going?
Lunch.
When did you introduce Philby to Aileen?
- I didn't introduce
- Oh, no.
That's right.
You didn't.
Flora Solomon did.
Some friend she turned out to be.
To Aileen, I mean.
Shall we say an hour for lunch?
Yeah?
You got a pen?
Hang on.
All right. Got it. Go ahead.
19 Spencer Square, Kensington.
I need Ian in that house as
soon as you can get him there.
Got it.
Why are you communist?
Several reasons.
Beginning when I was a boy
and witness to my father's rage
at how the British betrayed
the Arabs between the wars.
Not why you are angry with the British.
Why you are communist.
Then when I was at
university, up at Cambridge,
I had an economics professor
who was profoundly offended
by the predicament of the workers
in the industrial north of England.
Tell me about Vienna.
- What?
- In 1934.
Tell me about Litzi Friedmann.
What?
No, no. You go. I'll
stay. Give me the gun.
So, it starts for you
with romantic adventure.
It started for me as the
only way to fight fascism.
Romanticism is a weakness.
Kim
Kim, stop. Stop.
This is our first time, not our last.
Wake up.
He is Directorate of
Agriculture Inspector.
Son of military officer.
Wearing handmade shoes from England.
Drink.
I don't want another drink. Drink.
How do you know those are English shoes?
How do you not know?
They were gift to his father from
a British officer at the end of war.
And you believe that?
You know who doesn't wear
English shoes in Russia?
An English spy.
Does the name Konstantin Dmitrievich
Volkov mean anything to you?
What has this to do with English shoes?
Nothing. Have you heard of him or not?
No.
When the war against
Germany was all but won
and new battle lines were being
drawn between East and West,
there were, I'm sorry to say,
many from the Soviet Union
who had succumbed to the temptations,
during their wartime
postings, of the West.
One such person was Konstantin
Dmitrievich Volkov
who had spent most
of the war in Istanbul
as the deputy chief of
Soviet intelligence in Turkey.
But now he wanted SIS to help him defect
in return for a list of
Soviet agents in Britain,
including, he claimed,
an agent who had penetrated
the uppermost echelons
of the foreign intelligence service.
You.
Two years before that, in '42, while
Nicholas Elliott was in Istanbul,
he and Volkov crossed paths
as allies against the Nazis.
Which is why Volkov insisted Elliott
be summoned back to Istanbul
to run his exfiltration.
As luck would have it,
I had, by that time,
risen to head of Soviet
Counter Espionage in London.
And so Volkov's somewhat
amateurish approach
to the British vice-consul in Istanbul
was relayed directly to me at SIS
Where is Mr Elliott?
without Elliott ever
knowing the first thing about it.
I specifically asked for
Mr Elliott. Who are you?
I'm so very sorry.
I tell a lie.
Luck had nothing at all to do with it.
Romantic adventure or not
you can imagine
why it might irritate me
to be condescended to by someone
who hasn't bothered to do his homework.
Loving Father, we thank
you for your servant Moses,
who led your people through
the waters of the Red Sea
to freedom in the promised land.
We thank you for your son Jesus,
who has passed through
the deep waters of death
and opened for all the way of salvation.
Now send your spirit
that those who are washed in
this water may die with Christ
and rise with him
Do you have any idea what you're doing?
Not the foggiest.
alive in Christ forever.
Creator God,
we thank you for the gift
of the life of this child
who is to be baptised.
May your blessing of peace and
joy be with them and protect them
for all their days.
We make this prayer in
the name of your son Jesus.
- She back from lunch yet?
- Just rang.
She's been summoned back to
MI5 for the rest of the day.
Kensington 5062, please.
Welcome to Moscow.
- Good Lord!
- No, only me.
Crikey, is that
That can't be Willie?
What on Earth would
MI6 ever do without you?
No, this is Dickie!
Course it is.
- Willie's grandson.
- Stop it!
Dickie's slightly bigger than Willie.
Come on.
I've been wondering
when you might appear.
Dickie. Dickie, come on, come to Mummy.
Come on.
I want you to know how awful I feel
about this whole business with
Kim?
- How long have you known?
- What difference does it make now?
- We almost caught him in '45, you know.
- Really?
Chap called Volkov.
Konstantin Dmitrievich Volkov.
- Almost gave him up to us.
- What happened?
Bit muddy on the details.
But what I came to talk to you
about happened four years earlier
when you asked me to find
out if Kim was cheating on Aileen.
It wasn't adultery that you were
trying to steer me towards, was it?
Please try to understand, Aileen
was heavily pregnant at the time.
You already knew.
- Knew what?
- Flora
- That he was a communist?
- That he was KGB.
Oh! I didn't know anything of the sort.
Not then.
Why on Earth did you introduce
Aileen to Kim in the first place?
Cos he was eligible and witty.
And a communist.
That was at Cambridge.
And Kim wasn't the only one that
dabbled with communism. We all did.
- I didn't.
- Don't be obtuse, Nick.
A lot of people flirted with it.
A lot of people flirted with
lots of things at university.
It's what young people do,
most of whom go on to be
utterly respectable and normal.
Well, you must remind me to ask you
for a list of those people one day.
I introduced Kim and
Aileen to each other
because, for my sins,
I like to believe the
best in my friends.
Surely you, of all people,
can understand that.
And in Kim's case, it was
just impossible to believe
Because he was so eligible and witty!
If I'd known he was spying for Russia
I would have said something back then.
You'd started to suspect,
though, hadn't you?
Which is why you asked me to spy on him.
And you bloody well missed it!
Say I had cottoned on
to what Kim was really up to
what were you
expecting me to do about it?
You were his friend.
His good and loyal friend.
And as long as we were
still at war with Germany,
Russia was technically our ally.
Ah. You were expecting
me to change his mind,
convince him of the error of his ways
- Before it was too late.
- Oh, for Christ's sake, Flora!
I-I was also trying to protect Aileen.
I thought you'd understand that.
And I knew you'd do the same for Kim.
I wasn't going to just
blurt out suspicions
and accusations in case I was wrong!
Especially not after the way you reacted
to my suggestion he
was having an affair.
Do you even remember that?
She was his KGB cut out.
Who?
Not just his mistress.
Who?
Litzi.
What did Kim tell you in Beirut?
Tell me about what?
You seriously expect me to believe
you'd just let him go scot-free
without getting
something from him first?
You may fool others,
but you can't pull the
wool over these eyes.
Do you want to know what
he once told me about you?
He said that at any given moment
you're far more switched
on than you let on
which is what
makes you so dangerous.
He said that?
Tell me you'll make
something of all this, Nick.
That in the end, you were, in
fact, always one step ahead of him.
Lovely to see you again, Flora.
Liar.
Bye-bye, Dickie.
- Nicely done, ma'am.
- Please don't call me that.
Petr Il'ich Chaykovskiy
blizok kazhdomu russkomu serdtsu.
Muzyka yego vdokhnovlyayet i
trogayet struny kazhdoy dushi.
Tovarishch polkovnik.
She's talking to you.
Hello.
Tovarishch Soboreva.
What did she call me?
Comrade Colonel. That is your rank.
Does she speak English?
Pakhnet supom?
Svinina s kartoshkoy.
She has made soup. Potato and pork.
- Does she speak English?
- You will learn Russian.
Is she KGB?
She's comrade. Friend.
Soup.
- What's the matter?
- Nothing.
Don't worry about it.
- Are you coming to bed?
- I'll be up in a minute.
Do you remember that day?
Yeah.
Still newlyweds.
It's just that sometimes I feel
we live in two separate worlds
and every now and again,
sort of meet in the middle.
And occasionally you will tell me
a little about someone or something,
like the man that didn't know
his friend was lying to him
for over 20 years, but
but sometimes, if I'm honest
I worry how well I know you.
I just love you, you know?
And I never want to lose you.
Lose me?
Gosh, man!
Are you joking?
Every day, when I get to work,
I take my wedding ring off
and I-I put it in the box that
it came in when you proposed to me.
And every night, on the
train home, I put it back on.
Why do you take it off?
Because
I-I love putting it on!
Did you remember to get cigarettes?
Shit. Slipped my mind. Sorry.
Goddamn it!
One day you'll get a sense of humour.