I am fascinated by the true story of Kim Philby, a highly-placed intelligence officer in Britain’s MI6 special intelligence service — the British equivalent of the CIA. He served during the the second World War and the Cold War but Philby was no ordinary intelligence officer: Philby was a double agent who provided classified information to the Soviet Union throughout World War II up until 1963 before he fled to Moscow. Philby was one of the so-called “Cambridge Five,” among which were Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean.
His best friend in MI6 during the period was a fellow MI6 officer by the name of Nicholas Elliot. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video is the added miniseries A Spy Among Friends. Guy Pearce is cast as Philby and Damian Lewis portrays Elliot. The plot largely explores the men’s relationship.
The story is based on author Ben Macintyre‘s book by the same name name. Pick up a copy. It’s a compelling read which fleshes out the mini-series’s storyline. Macintyre seems drawn to the world of nonfiction espionage stories; he’s written several books on the topic, and, all of them are good reads.
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