This episode explores the extraordinary life of Oleg Gordievsky, the KGB colonel who served for over a decade as a double agent for British intelligence and helped avert a potential nuclear war. Born into Soviet intelligence royalty, his disillusionment hardened with the Berlin Wall and the crushing of the Prague Spring, eventually leading him to risk everything by passing secrets to MI6.

From MI6 quietly engineering his promotions to the crucial intelligence he provided during the Able Archer crisis of 1983, the story shows how one man’s conviction reshaped the Cold War. It also covers his betrayal by CIA mole Aldrich Ames, his survival of a drugged interrogation, and the daring exfiltration of Operation Pimlico that smuggled him out of the Soviet Union.

• How MI6 manipulated his KGB career by removing his superiors
• The Able Archer scare and how his intelligence helped NATO de-escalate
• The murky timeline of his betrayal and recall to Moscow in 1985
• The dirty-diaper trick that fooled border dogs during his escape
• The devastating personal cost and the suspected 2007 poisoning