2023 | TV-MA | 6 episodes | Spy Thriller
They were the most privileged upper crust of British society. Sir Anthony Blunt was even the third cousin of the Queen Mum. However, the members of the so-called “Cambridge Five” spy ring were all committed communists, who betrayed their country to the Soviet Union. MI6 Intelligence Officer Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) was not one of them, but he was very close friends with Harold Adrian Russell “Kim” Philby (Guy Pearce). That puts Elliott in a rather tight spot with rival domestic-focused British intelligence agency MI5 when he fails to capture (or kill) Philby in Beirut, after the double agent’s exposure.
Elliott’s relationship with Philby and his search for a further Soviet mole drive writer-creator Alex Cary’s fictionalized six-part “A Spy Among Friends,” based on Ben Macintyre’s historically based novel, which premieres on MGM+ (formerly Epix).
Much of the series unfolds in flashbacks, prompted by Elliott’s debriefing. MI5 Director General Sir Roger Hollis (Adrian Edmondson) has assigned Lily Thomas (Anna Maxwell Martin) to interrogate him, because he anticipated her no-nonsense, Margaret Thatcher-like, middle-class competence would rub the elitist Elliott the wrong way. Initially, the MI6 spy underestimates Thomas, as so many have before, but he quickly recognizes her keen intelligence.
Friendship Over Honor
The MI6 spy did not merely let Philby slip through his fingers during their final meeting in Beirut. He also vociferously vouched for Philby when his friend and colleagues fell under suspicion years earlier, after the embarrassing defections of Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess (Daniel Lapaine and Thomas Arnold, in minor roles)—the first two identified members of the Cambridge Five.Philby would be the third of the Five to be discovered. Soon, Elliott focuses on Blunt (Nicholas Rowe), trying to smoke out the fourth mole in the notorious spy ring. He also has suspicions regarding the so-called “Fifth Man,” which may or may not include Thomas’s boss, Hollis.
In real life, the MI5 director was not a member of the Cambridge Five, nor was he ever convicted of anything. However, there has been extensive media speculation suggesting Hollis was indeed a high-placed mole, even though several former agents claim he was exonerated.
There is also a significant American player in this drama: James Jesus Angleton (Stephen Kunken), the head of the CIA’s counter-intelligence operations, with whom Philby had also cultivated a close friendship. Although Angleton’s allegiances were never questioned, his long-term impact on the agency is highly controversial.
A la le Carré
There is some healthy fictional speculation in Macintyre’s novel and Cary’s adaptation, but the broad historical events it documents are true. Of course, it probably sounds familiar to readers of classic spy fiction, because John le Carré largely built his career on re-writing the Cambridge Five cases, most notably in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.”It is therefore fitting that “A Spy Among Friends” has a very le Carré-esque vibe. Cary and series director Nick Murphy advance the narrative in a meticulously methodical manner. Over and over, key events and conversations are replayed from different angles. In this series, much will turn on a word here, or a phrase there. That makes it quite rewarding for those who enjoy complex espionage thrillers, but it requires the viewer’s full attention.
Spymaster Actors
Pearce does not exactly humanize Philby who is consistently portrayed as an arrogant sociopath, but he manages to cut him down to human size. Cary’s adaptation also implies Philby might have had second thoughts regarding his defection (which the real life Philby and his Russian widow always denied—because they had to). Regardless, in “A Spy Among Friends,” it turns out to be easier for Philby to admire the workers’ paradise from afar than to live under it.
Yet, perhaps the real star of the series is Damian Lewis, who is magnetic as the brilliant but humbled Elliott. His portrayal of the spymaster is also quite witty and sly, which helps make the very cerebral story more accessible. Anna Maxwell Martin is perfectly cast as Thomas, the patronized counter-spy; but she basically plays the same mousy-on-the-outside, steely-on-the-inside persona that she is accustomed to playing in a a host of other British series such as “The Bletchley Circle.”
Obviously, British intelligence went through quite the rough patch. This series compellingly shows all the infamous scandals from the perspective of the honest intelligence officers, who upheld the trust placed in them by their country and their colleagues. It is a carefully crafted, deliberately paced thriller that might not fully appeal to action-oriented James Bond fans (even though Bond author Ian Fleming makes a small but amusing appearance).
Enthusiastically recommended for fans of intricately plotted, fact-based espionage fiction, “A Spy Among Friends” starts streaming March 12.
