Reilly, Ace of Spies

What do you mean, you've never heard of [[wikipedia:Sidney Reilly|Sidney Reill]? Well, I suppose most espionage authors haven't heard of one of the most famous real spies of the early 20th century either ([[Ian Flemin] did though...).

A 1983 ITV 12-episode [[Miniserie], exec produced by [[Verity Lamber] and based on a book about Reilly's life by the son of one of the main characters. Much of Reilly's life is unclear (he was a master of deception) and the accuracy varies- some of the stuff is debated by historians, especially the "Zinoviev Letter".

It covers Reilly from 1901 to 1910, then moves to An Arc involving the "Ambassador's Plot" against the Bolshevik government in Russia in 1918.

Sam Neill plays the titular character and this reads a lot like a James Bond audition tape- he was later screen-tested for [[The Living Daylight].

Not a bad series, actually, although possibly a bit slow to 2010 tastes.


 * [[Anti-Her]
 * [[Arms Deale]
 * [[The Blofeld Plo]
 * [[Fake Russia]: Bucket-loads.
 * Firing Squad: With a machine-gun.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Rumpole of the Bailey deals arms and [[Blake's 7|Call] gets machine-gunned.
 * [[The Pla]:.
 * [[Spy Dram]
 * [[Television Geograph]: The opening map is out of date in 1901, let alone 1925.
 * [[Translation Conventio]: All spoken dialogue is in British-accented English. Written stuff is in its original language.

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