The story of the notorious MI6 agent and Soviet spy Kim Philby has been told before, but A Spy Among Friends (ITVX) has “a fresh bash at it”, with mixed results, said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian. Adapted from the 2015 book by Ben Macintyre, the drama opens with the “big reveal” that Philby (Guy Pearce) has been feeding intel to the KGB for the past 20 years. His close friend and fellow agent Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) is despatched to Beirut to retrieve Philby and extract a confession; at which point the drama becomes “a sort of espionage stew”, hopping between times and locations in a way that isn’t entirely satisfactory.
The drama has all the “atmosphere, period detail and clipped dialogue” you could hope for, said Nick Curtis in the Evening Standard; but the script is rather clunky, with some points laid on with a trowel. There are “heavy hints”, for instance, that Elliott is secretly besotted with Philby – which has the unfortunate effect of plastering “another layer of repression” onto Lewis’s “already buttoned-up performance”; and Anna Maxwell Martin does little to brighten proceedings as a “relentlessly stony” fictional character.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Years at the Harold Pinter Theatre: an 'unmissable' eveningThe Week Recommends Eline Arbo's 'spellbinding' adaptation of Annie Ernaux's memoir transfers to the West End
-
The White Lotus: a delicious third helping of Mike White's toxic feastThe Week Recommends 'Wickedly funny' comedy-drama stars Jason Isaacs, Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood
-
6 spa-like homes with fabulous bathroomsFeature Featuring a freestanding soaking tub in California and a digital shower system in Illinois
-
Tessa Bailey's 6 favorite books for hopeless romanticsFeature The best-selling author recommends works by Lyla Sage, Sally Thorne, and more
-
Mountains and monasteries in ArmeniaThe Week Recommends An e-bike adventure through the 'rare beauty' of the West Asian nation
-
Manouchet za'atar (za'atar-topped breads) recipeThe Week Recommends Popular Levantine street food is often enjoyed as a breakfast on the go
-
Becoming Led Zeppelin: an 'exhilarating' documentaryThe Week Recommends First authorised documentary captures the legendary rock band's energy – but avoids their 'nearly mythic destructive arc'
-
Eimear McBride picks her favourite booksThe Week Recommends Irish novelist shares works by Christa Wolf, Edna O'Brien and Bram Stoker
