True Spies: Espionage | Investigation | Crime | Murder | Detective | Politics

In September of 1943, thousands of British servicemen were being held in Italian PoW camps. When Mussolini fell, many stayed put, hoping to be liberated by an Allied advance. But others took their fates in to their own hands - melting into the Italian countryside.

These escapees are the subject of historian Karen Farrington's latest book, The Great Italian Breakout - and in this episode, you'll hear two very different approaches to the art of escapology.

From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Joe Foley.

Karen Farrington is the author of The Great Italian Breakout: The Most Audacious Escapes of the Second World War.

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Betrayal. It's an important theme in spy fiction. But Steve Chao, investigative journalist, has seen it up close - and the price of betrayal is all too real. In this classic episode of True Spies from 2021, Vanessa Kirby joins Steve as he meets a reluctant spy who could be the key to breaking a story of truly global significance.

From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gemma Newby. Produced by Frank Palmer. Music by Nick Ryan.

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Beginning with the invasion by Mussolini's army in October 1940, Greece was pulled into the Second World War and with it came a band of archeologists, classicists, and intellectuals who risked their lives to protect the country's great antiquities. Writer Steven Talty sits down with True Spies producer Morgan Childs to tell the extraordinary tale.

From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs.

Stephan Talty is the author of The American School of Spies: The Archeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece.

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As the Iron Curtain descends across Eastern Europe, the West is determined to roll back the march of Communism - starting with Albania.

Historian Stephen Long is your guide to Operation BGFiend/Valuable - the joint MI6-CIA operation that laid the groundwork for 40 years of Cold War.

From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Max Bower.

Stephen Long is the author of A Rich Harvest of Bitter Fruit: CIA–MI6 Covert Action in Communist Albania at the Birth of the Cold War

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Content Warning: This episode contains sex references.

In the second season of Brief Histories, True Spies producer Joe Foley is your guide to the shadowy side of the world's espionage capitals.

In Berlin, we'll meet a 19th century innovator in political policing, follow the little-known spy origins of the 20th century's most hated dictator, and follow an elite British unit into hostile East Germany.

From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Assistant Producer: Albert Genower.

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In the desert of Southern Afghanistan, CIA Case Officer Douglas Laux is on the hunt. He's traced a number of deadly IED attacks to a shadowy figure with ties to the Taliban. In this classic episode of True Spies, his mission is to bring him down before more US personnel are killed. To do so, he'll have to push himself - and his assets - to the limit.

From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gemma Newby, Joe Foley. Produced by Joe Foley. Music by Nick Ryan.

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True Spies producer Joe Foley speaks to Ralf Little and David Eldridge - the star and writer of the stage version of John Le Carré's The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, currently touring the UK.

They talk about bringing Le Carre’s world to life, the resonance of this story in the 21st century, and a meeting with the legendary author himself.

Morgan Childs will return for the next Debrief.

From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Joe Foley.

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It's the summer of 2006, and former DEA Agent Jeffrey James Higgins is your guide to an audacious HUMINT operation against an Afghan narco-terrorist. But in a lawless part of the world, the life of a lawman is a dangerous one - and success is always tempered by tragedy.

From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Joe Foley.

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It's 1993, and Russia is tearing itself apart. A violent coup is threatening to derail Boris Yeltsin's fragile post-Soviet government. Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Deputy Chief of Station for the CIA in Moscow, is caught in the crossfire.

To get out alive, he'll need to lean on an unlikely new ally - Russian Intelligence.

In this classic episode of True Spies, Vanessa Kirby tells his story.

From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gemma Newby. Produced by Joe Foley. Music by Nick Ryan.

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True Spies producer Morgan Childs joins ex-CIA officer and Russia expert Sean Wiswesser to go deep on the strategy, ideology and political goals of the Russian intelligence community.

From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs.

Sean Wiswesser is the author of Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: Russian Intelligence and Putin's Secret War.

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