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

Celebrity, campaigner, national treasure... spy. This year, Josephine Baker's memoirs have been made available in English for the first time. The University of Cardiff's Prof. Hanna Diamond tells Morgan Childs more about the extraordinary life of a showbiz spy in wartime France. From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Le...

Professor James Crossland of Liverpool John Moores University uncovers the extraordinary life of a British diplomat-cum-spy in Bolshevik Russia - Robert Bruce Lockhart. A tale of doomed love, assassination, failed coups and bad reputations. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Frank Palmer. James Crossland is the author of Rogue A...

In this historic True Spies Classic, Protestant England faces an existential threat from Catholic Spain. Queen Elizabeth calls on Sir Francis Walsingham, the Royal spymaster, to undermine the Spanish war effort. Vanessa Kirby tells a story of loyalty, fear, and the terrible lengths to which a good spy will go to protect Queen and Country. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle produc...

Historian Dr. Jenny Benham joins Morgan Childs to explore the murky world of medieval espionage. You'll learn about the real 'little birds' who inspired Game of Thrones' Master of Whisperers, and the exiles, slaves and captives who parlayed information for security in a time before formalised intelligence agencies. Dr. Jenny Benham is Reader in Medieval History and the Co-director of the Centre fo...

Content Warning: This episode contains adult themes throughout. When defense journalist Brendan McNally stumbled across a long-forgotten name in 1990s Prague, he had no idea of the remarkable story he would uncover. It belongs to Martha Dodd: ambassador's daughter, mistress to Nazi officials, and Stalinist spy. In the second episode of this two-part True Spies special, Martha returns to the USA, a...

Content Warning: This episode contains adult themes throughout. When defense journalist Brendan McNally stumbled across a long-forgotten name in 1990s Prague, he had no idea of the remarkable story he would uncover. It belongs to Martha Dodd: ambassador's daughter, mistress to Nazi officials, and Stalinist spy. In the first episode of this two-part True Spies special, Brendan traces Martha's journ...

In this True Spies Classic, it's the late 1980s, and change is in the air in Eastern Europe. For a young journalist like Mark Baker, Czechoslovakia is an interesting place to be. But Mark has attracted some unwanted attention - a fact that he'll only discover several decades later. Sophia Di Martino joins Mark to travel through the True Spies looking-glass, and discover what it's like to become th...

Dr. Daniela Richterova joins host Morgan Childs to discuss the relationship between Cold War intelligence agencies and non-state actors like the infamous Carlos the Jackal. Dr. Richterova is Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies at Kings College, University of London From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Learn more a...

Hear again from British historian Helen Fry, joining Rhiannon Neads for the second and final installment of a two-part dive into one of the most crucial, but little-known intelligence forces of the Second World War - MI9. Hear the conclusion to the gripping story of the department, and reasons behind their ultimate secrecy in a post-WW2 world... From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle p...

British historian Helen Fry joins Rhiannon Neads for the first installment of a two-part dive into one of the most crucial, but little-known intelligence forces of the Second World War - MI9. Charged with facilitating the escape of Allied POWs, MI9 employed various ingenious tactics - including, but not limited to, a chocolate gun. Yes, really. You'll meet the characters who made this organisation...

In this True Spies Classic, CIA analyst Gina Bennett shows Vanessa Kirby the origins of America's most infamous enemy. Throughout the 1990s, Osama bin Laden launched a series of attacks on American interests at home and abroad. Operating in the man's world of counter-terrorism, Gina had to fight to have the threat he posed taken seriously. Would YOU trust your gut? From SPYSCAPE, the home of secre...

Former CIA counterterrorism analyst, hunter of Bin Laden, author and proud mother - hear from the fantastic Gina Bennett in this week's Debrief. Bennett authored the earliest warnings of today’s terrorism trends including the 1993 report that foreshadowed the danger of Osama bin Laden. Hear her current prescient predictions for what she is calling the new paradigm for national security, and how th...

International Relations journalist and author, R.T Howard, reveals the tensions, subterfuge and devastating errors that marked the first Cold War. In the 1920s and 30s, the Allies waged an intelligence war against a rising star in global politics - Adolf Hitler. Young intelligence agencies tried in vain to penetrate the Nazi's veil of secrecy. In this episode, you'll hear three stories from this t...

In this classic episode of True Spis, undercover CIA agent James Olson takes Vanessa Kirby on a nail-biting mission behind the Iron Curtain. In the late 1970s, James was tasked with tapping an underground communications line between Moscow and a top-secret nuclear weapons facility. Under constant surveillance from the KGB, he would need to use a combination of traditional spycraft and hi-tech gadg...

Do you know about the rising threats posed by transnational repression? Hear from Bob Dougherty, veteran of 26 years as a CIA undercover operations officer. Today, Bob works as an instructor for multiple government agencies, increasingly speaking on the dangers of transnational repression; the intimidation, harassment, or other human rights abuses perpetrated by countries on their own people beyon...

Journalist and author Steve Vogel unravels the unlikely tale of George Blake, the cunning Cold War double-agent who betrayed one of the most ambitious wire-tapping operations of the 1950s - and made a name for himself as one of spycraft's greatest escapologists. From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Frank Palmer. Learn more about you...

The tools in a spy's arsenal are more varied than you might think. But they all come under one name: Tradecraft. In our ninth round of insights from the world of espionage, Rhiannon Neads looks back on lessons drawn from intrepid cyber-cops, nuclear double-dealers, crafty codebreakers and more. From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by A...

In this True Spies Classic, Hayley Atwell tells the story of Mubin Shaikh, an Islamist extremist turned undercover agent 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 would be blown.  From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produce...

What can drive an ordinary person to extremist ideology?  Hear from former security intelligence and counter terrorism operative, Mubin Shaikh, on his current work as a Counter Extremism Specialist. He delves into real world cases of those who succumb to extremist ideology, why it happens, and his challenging work trying to bring people back. From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle prod...

National security journalist Zach Dorfman returns to True Spies with the tantalising tale of one of the War on Terror's most secretive undercover operatives. Known only by his pseudonym, this CIA spy delivered intel directly to the highest echelons of power - and paid a heavy price for his success. From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced...

In this True Spies Classic, Hayley Atwell tells the story of the capture of Pablo Escobar, with the DEA agents who helped bring him down and inspired the TV show 'Narcos'. Steve Murphy and Javier Peña found themselves in Colombia on the trail of the notorious druglord - two "gringos" with a price on their heads.  From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gem...

Hear from Tim Tate, best-selling author, award-winning documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist, as he dives into a scandal born deep in the heart of the British Intelligence Service. Tim untangles the connections between KGB mole Mikhail Golenevsky and MI5 spy catcher Peter Wright. And recalls how in the process of writing his 19th book, he learned he was himself considered a threat to...

Veteran journalist Tim Tate tells the story of Peter Wright, the crusading MI5 whistleblower who humiliated the Thatcher government in the 1980s. As the British security services' chief scientific officer, Peter employed unsavory tactics to root out Soviet spies - but a dramatic change of heart would come to define his controversial legacy. From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle produc...

In this Classic True Spies episode, learn the details 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... From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production....

James Stejskal, ex-special forces, tells of the jubilant and vitriolic scenes, as the Berlin Wall came down. November 9th 1989 - the Iron Curtain descends. Hear how it was on the ground, as both ordinary citizens, and global intelligence services, descend on East Berlin, seeking the vast archives of information meticulously gathered over decades by the Stasi. From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cu...