Churchill's Secret Agents: The New Recruits

Churchill's Secret Agents: The New Recruits is a five-episode reality show that premiered on Netflix in 2018, about the training of British secret agents, in the (now defunct) Special Operations Executive. For the unfamiliar the SOE was the arm of the British Secret Service specially geared toward sabotage and operating with resistance groups. In other words it would have been closer to the James Bond picture of duties (if not as flamboyant) than the normal intelligence service which was mostly about wheedling informants.

The contestants are put through a series of episodes intended to resemble the declassified format of the SOE course. Obviously they must fudge a bit for dangers which could be tolerated for making an actual agent were not justified for making a reality show. For instance the Woodland Tactics course would have used real bullets instead of paintball despite the chance of a ricochet and the infamous "ladder" (which according to the show, even one of the bravest agents feared more than she had ever feared the Germans) drill, that is climbing up a Cliffs of Insanity with three non-connecting ladders would not have had a safety harness. And of course interrogation drill, which is scary enough on TV, was absolutely terrifying in reality and some agents actually thought there had been a leak and an enemy commando team had kidnapped and drugged them.

The cast (with their Real Life jobs) includes:

Trainers:
 * Lt. Colonel Adrian Weale
 * Nicky Moffet, Instructor
 * Mike Rennie, Military Psychologist
 * Rod Bailey, Historian

Players:
 * Sammy Ali, retired soldier
 * Rohini Bajahj, doctor
 * Roger Baris, retired investment banker
 * Charlotte Beauclerk, interpreter
 * Will Beresford-Davis, paralegal
 * Mariama Sebe Camara, counsel administrator
 * Debbey Clitheroe, Drama teacher and grandmother
 * Rob Copsey, retired paratrooper
 * Dan Dewhirst, corporate developer
 * Lizzie Jeffreys, research scientist
 * Alastir Stanleys, math graduate
 * Paul Stone, entertainer
 * Magda Thomas, interpreter
 * Vicky Wright, former police officer


 * Action Girl: Any female contestant, perhaps especially Lizzie.
 * Backed by MOD-Whitehall
 * Beware the Nice Ones: It is impressive and perhaps a little disturbing how scary quite nice contestants can look.
 * Britain Wins the War: Subverted. Due credit is given to the OSS and to La Resistance in occupied countries.
 * Dare to Be Badass
 * Determinator: Many of the tests are tests of determination.
 * Humans Are Warriors: These are more or less ordinary people and if they couldn't really do it, they at least sure give the impression that they could.
 * Putting on the Reich: When a trainer plays an enemy role.
 * The Spartan Way: Well not like real Spartans or the real SOE but tough enough.
 * Spy School
 * Tearjerker: When Magda reads the last words of her Aunt who died in the Polish resistance.
 * True Companions: Whether faked or not, it sure looks so.