DAMIAN LEWIS: SPY WARS

(Damian Lewis)

Damian Lewis: Spy Wars, a new and exclusive series only on the DSTV History Channel (186), will premiere on October 18, 2019, at 20h15 and will continue each Friday at the same time.

Featuring Damian Lewis in his first docu-drama role, this new eight-part factual series will reveal the remarkable true stories behind some of the most gripping and important international spy operations of the last 40 years.

Packed full of espionage, surveillance, undercover work, and covert operations, the series brings forth these real events as well as the profound personal and geopolitical consequences for all involved. Utilizing innovative and highly stylized reconstructions, Spy Wars (W/T) is shot on location in London, Moscow and Israel. Damian Lewis is our guide through each in-depth episode that investigates the Cold War through to the 'war on terror' and the renewed espionage hostilities of present day.

A first in the worldwide factual genre, the new series focuses on many of the most critical and remarkable mega operations which have defined intelligence warfare. Damian Lewis explores the action and the context of key incidents which, in several instances, brought the world to the brink of war.

By presenting an all-encompassing 360-degree view as each case is unpacked by experts and former spies on all sides, ex-Mossad, ex-CIA, ex-KGB and ex-MI6, Damian provides an unprecedented insight into the spy operations which literally shaped today's geo-political climate.

Episode 1: The Man Who Saved The World (Friday October 18 at 20h15). This is the story of Oleg Gordievsky, one of the West’s most valuable Cold War agents who risked everything to avert a third World War.

Episode 2: Bombs In The Sky (Friday October 25 at 20h15). This is the story of the biggest surveillance operation in British history, and how British intelligence agencies and their allies thwarted the deadliest terror plot ever devised on home soil.

Episode 3: Spies Next Door (November 1 at 20h15). This is the story of the biggest spy swap between Russia and the United States since the Cold War involving Sergei Skripal, the victim of the infamous 2018 Salisbury Novichok attack.

Episode 4: A Perfect Traitor (November 8 at 20h15). This is the story of Robert Hanssen - a former FBI agent who systematically dismantled the United States’ network of undercover Soviet agents, from the inside out.

Episode 5: Escape from Tehran (November 15 at 20h15). This is the story of eight filmmakers sent to Tehran to scout locations for a big budget, Hollywood-produced sci-fi fantasy film as depicted in the award-winning film Argo.

Episode 6: Trojan Horse  (November 22 at 20h15). This episode tells the amazing story of Vladimir Vetrov, a high-ranking KGB officer and secret operative for the French Intelligence Service, during the Cold War. In December 1980, he made the decision to spy for the French Intelligence Service after spending a number of years in Paris.

Episode 7: Merchant of Death   (November 29 at 20h15). This is the story of Viktor Bout, and he would become one of the most famous - or infamous - Russian businessmen in history. A former spy, he became the world’s most dangerous arms dealer, a man responsible for the deaths of millions worldwide.

Episode 8: Exodus (December 6 at 20h15). In 1968, Dani Limor was recruited by Mossad. To this day, virtually all of Limor’s assignments remain classified. But their successes made him one Mossad’s top field agents.