| Reilly, Ace of Spies | |
|---|---|
Sam Neill portraying Sidney Reilly in the television mini-series, Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983) |
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| Directed by | Martin Campbell Jim Goddard |
| Produced by | Chris Burt, Johnny Goodman, Verity Lambert |
| Written by | Troy Kennedy Martin (screenplay) Robin Bruce Lockhart (book) |
| Starring | Sam Neill, Jeananne Crowley, Sebastian Shaw Leo McKern, Hugh Fraser, John Rhys-Davies, David Suchet, Bill Nighy |
| Music by | Harry Rabinowitz, Dmitri Shostakovich (main theme) |
| Original channel | Euston Films, Thames Television Home Box Office Home Video ITV Mystery! Public Broadcasting Service Thames Video Collection Thorn EMI Video Australia Umbrella Entertainment (DVD) |
| Release date | 5 September 1983 12 July 1985 |
| Running time | 630 min |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
Reilly, Ace of Spies is a 1983 television miniseries dramatizing the life of Sidney Reilly, a Russian Jew who became one of the greatest spies to ever work for the British. Among his exploits in the early 20th century were the infiltration of the German General Staff in 1917 and a near-overthrow of the Bolsheviks in 1918. His reputation with women was as legendary as his genius for espionage.
The miniseries is written by Troy Kennedy Martin, and based on the 1967 book Ace of Spies by Robin Bruce Lockhart. Sam Neill stars as Sidney Reilly. The theme music is the Romance movement from Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Gadfly Suite.
The miniseries was issued on DVD by A&E Home Video on 22 February 2005. Starting on 8 December 2008 the series was shown on digital channel UKTV History in the UK.
There are twelve episodes, each approximately 50 minutes in length (the first episode is near 80 minutes).
Contents |
| Episode # | Title | Original Airdate | Setting |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An Affair with a Married Woman | 5 September 1983 | 1901 |
| 2 | Prelude to War | 7 September 1983 | 1904 |
| 3 | The Visiting Fireman | 14 September 1983 | 1905 |
| 4 | Anna | 21 September 1983 | 1906 |
| 5 | Dreadnoughts and Crosses | 28 September 1983 | 1910 |
| 6 | Dreadnoughts and Doublecrosses | 5 October 1983 | 1910 |
| 7 | Gambit | 12 October 1983 | 1917 |
| 8 | Endgame | 19 October 1983 | 1918 |
| 9 | After Moscow | 26 October 1983 | 1918 |
| 10 | The Trust | 2 November 1983 | 1924 |
| 11 | The Last Journey | 9 November 1983 | 1925 |
| 12 | Shutdown | 16 November 1983 | 1925 |
Won 1984 BAFTA TV Award
Best Film Editor:
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