True Spies: Espionage | Investigation | Crime | Murder | Detective | Politics

In this classic episode of True Spies, Sophia Di Martino and author Damian Lewis tell the story of triple-threat superstar Josephine Baker, who weaponized her unstoppable charisma in the service of the French resistance during WW2. Armed only with charm and a fierce passion for freedom, Josephine goes up against Hitler's Gestapo in a crucial mission to smuggle secret intelligence out of Occupied F...

Content Warning: This episode contains references to violence and contains an extended discussion around mental health. Journalist Ayman Oghanna has reported from the heart of some of the worlds' deadliest conflicts. He's also fought his own battles with bipolar disorder. It's a condition that can cause debilitating delusions - and one of Ayman's was that he was being surveilled by spies. But when...

A deadly new weapon threatens to change the course of World War Two - a sub-orbital missile, years ahead of its time. It's called the V2 Rocket, and it's Adolf Hitler's best hope for revenge on his enemies. But a brave network of Polish resistance operatives have made it their mission to stop the supersonic threat in its tracks. Author and journalist Guy Walters is your guide to a story of courage...

Writer and researcher Julia Ebner makes a living out of infiltrating extremist groups. In the divided political landscape of the 21st century, some of those groups are making a play for the mainstream. In this classic True Spies episode from 2022, Vanessa Kirby follows Julia as she goes undercover with Generation Identity - a European far-right organisation putting a millennial gloss on old and da...

The fantastic Julia Ebner, researcher and author, returns to the True Spies Debrief to discuss with host Morgan Childs her latest findings - how proper analysis of the online language of radicalized individuals can help predict violent terrorism before it happens. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Learn more abou...

How did the coronation of a newly independent African nation, and it's democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, turn into one of the hottest flash points of the early Cold War? Author and journalist Stuart A. Reid takes us back to the 1960s, and Congo's nascent position on the international stage. Mixed up in the complex swathes of post-Colonialism and Cold War politics, hear the still pert...

As a World War rages, humanity stands on the precipice of a new era in warfare. The atomic age is dawning - and Earth's great powers are determined to secure their place in it. In this classic episode of True Spies, Sophia Di Martino tells the story of the scientist who helped Soviet Russia build the bomb - Klaus Fuchs. Our guide is Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at Oxford University, F...

Author and journalist James R. Chiles joins Morgan Childs to discuss the half-forgotten history of Project Doorstop - the US Government's Cold War strategy against nuclear arms smuggling. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the days after D-Day, deep behind enemy lines in Occupied France, how does one man's personal battle, turn the tide of the entire war? Hear the story of Peter Ortiz - a legend of the French Foreign Legion, US Marines and the OSS Commandos. Ex CIA officer Nicholas Reynolds and journalist Katie Sanders team up to offer a glimpse into Ortiz's heady and action-packed WW2 service. From SPYSCAPE, the...

During the Second World War, Vera Atkins sent hundreds of British spies into Occupied France. Some of them never came back - and nobody knew why. Vanessa Kirby shares the story of one woman's mission to find answers in the rubble of post-war Europe. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Vera Atkins was voiced by Clare Wille. Series producer: Gemma Newby. Produced by Joe Foley. Music by Nick Ryan. Learn mor...

Content Warning: This episode contains sex references. In the second season of Brief Histories, True Spies producer Joe Foley is your guide to the shadowy side of the world's espionage capitals. In Washington D.C, we'll meet the high-society ladies who worked for and against the young United States, go inside the groundbreaking Church Committee, and learn about the X-rated adventures of a beloved...

Author Antonia Senior joins Morgan Childs to discuss the Cambridge Five - a British spy ring so notorious that aspects of their legacy have passed in to legend. Antonia's book, Stalin's Apostles, seeks to strip back the glamour and present their treachery in stark relief. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Learn m...

In September of 1943, thousands of British servicemen were being held in Italian PoW camps. When Mussolini fell, many stayed put, hoping to be liberated by an Allied advance. But others took their fates in to their own hands - melting into the Italian countryside. These escapees are the subject of historian Karen Farrington's latest book, The Great Italian Breakout - and in this episode, you'll he...

Betrayal. It's an important theme in spy fiction. But Steve Chao, investigative journalist, has seen it up close - and the price of betrayal is all too real. In this classic episode of True Spies from 2021, Vanessa Kirby joins Steve as he meets a reluctant spy who could be the key to breaking a story of truly global significance. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Ser...

Beginning with the invasion by Mussolini's army in October 1940, Greece was pulled into the Second World War and with it came a band of archeologists, classicists, and intellectuals who risked their lives to protect the country's great antiquities. Writer Steven Talty sits down with True Spies producer Morgan Childs to tell the extraordinary tale. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzz...

As the Iron Curtain descends across Eastern Europe, the West is determined to roll back the march of Communism - starting with Albania. Historian Stephen Long is your guide to Operation BGFiend/Valuable - the joint MI6-CIA operation that laid the groundwork for 40 years of Cold War. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Max Bower....

Content Warning: This episode contains sex references. In the second season of Brief Histories, True Spies producer Joe Foley is your guide to the shadowy side of the world's espionage capitals. In Berlin, we'll meet a 19th century innovator in political policing, follow the little-known spy origins of the 20th century's most hated dictator, and follow an elite British unit into hostile East Germa...

In the desert of Southern Afghanistan, CIA Case Officer Douglas Laux is on the hunt. He's traced a number of deadly IED attacks to a shadowy figure with ties to the Taliban. In this classic episode of True Spies, his mission is to bring him down before more US personnel are killed. To do so, he'll have to push himself - and his assets - to the limit. From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuz...

True Spies producer Joe Foley speaks to Ralf Little and David Eldridge - the star and writer of the stage version of John Le Carré's The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, currently touring the UK. They talk about bringing Le Carre’s world to life, the resonance of this story in the 21st century, and a meeting with the legendary author himself. Morgan Childs will return for the next Debrief. From SPYS...

It's the summer of 2006, and former DEA Agent Jeffrey James Higgins is your guide to an audacious HUMINT operation against an Afghan narco-terrorist. But in a lawless part of the world, the life of a lawman is a dangerous one - and success is always tempered by tragedy. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Joe Foley. Learn more ab...

It's 1993, and Russia is tearing itself apart. A violent coup is threatening to derail Boris Yeltsin's fragile post-Soviet government. Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Deputy Chief of Station for the CIA in Moscow, is caught in the crossfire. To get out alive, he'll need to lean on an unlikely new ally - Russian Intelligence. In this classic episode of True Spies, Vanessa Kirby tells his story. From SPYSCAPE,...

True Spies producer Morgan Childs joins ex-CIA officer and Russia expert Sean Wiswesser to go deep on the strategy, ideology and political goals of the Russian intelligence community. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Sean Wiswesser is the author of Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: Russian Intelligence and...

Content Warning: This episode contains references to torture and mutilation. In the second season of Brief Histories, True Spies producer Joe Foley is your guide to the shadowy side of the world's Espionage capitals. In Beijing, we'll learn about the Eunuch who became the most powerful man in China, a brazen Cold War deception, bold investigative journalism and the heartbreaking tale of a captured...

Bryan Stern and his team at Grey Bull are specialists in exfiltrating Americans from highly volatile contexts. In this episode, we follow Bryan into the heart of the conflict in Ukraine, where he'll need to rely on his wits to rescue a young man from the heat of battle. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Frank Palmer. Learn more...

To her colleagues, South African journalist Sue Dobson appeared to be a pro-Apartheid conservative. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In fact, she was a trained paramilitary and secret agent, infiltrating the government's propaganda wing on behalf of the African National Congress. In this classic episode of True Spies, Vanessa Kirby relates an incredible story of bravery in the face...