Reilly, Ace of Spies is a 1983 British television programme dramatizing the life of Sidney Reilly, a Russian-born adventurer who became one of the greatest spies ever to work for the United Kingdom and the British Empire. 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 series was written by Troy Kennedy Martin, and based on the 1967 book Ace of Spies by Robin Bruce Lockhart, whose father R. H. Bruce Lockhart was one of Reilly's fellow spies. Sam Neill stars as the eponymous character. The theme music is the romance movement from Dmitri Shostakovich's The Gadfly Suite, though Shostakovich is not actually credited (Harry Rabinowitz is credited with the music).
Contents
Episodes
There are 12 episodes, each approximately 50 minutes in length, except Episode 1, which is approximately 80 minutes. The DVD set (Thames/Fremantle) includes a 22-minute "documentary examination into what really happened".
Cast
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly
Peter Egan as Major Charles Fothergill
Ian Charleson as R. H. Bruce Lockhart
Norman Rodway as Captain Mansfield Smith-Cumming
Tom Bell as Felix Dzerzhinsky
David Burke as Joseph Stalin
Kenneth Cranham as Vladimir Lenin
Leo McKern as Basil Zaharoff
Jeananne Crowley as Margaret Callaghan Reilly (wife #1)
Hugh Fraser as Captain George Hill
Derek Newark as General Stoessel
Donald Morley as Stanley Baldwin
John Castle as Count Massino
Celia Gregory as Nadina "Nadia" Massino (wife #2)
Brian Protheroe as Shasha Grammaticoff
Joanne Whalley as Ulla Glass
Clive Merrison as Boris Savinkov
Laura Davenport as Nelly "Pepita" Burton (wife #3)
Joanne Pearce as Caryll Houselander
Michael Aldridge as Orlov
Victoria Harwood as Natalia
Anthony Higgins as Mikhail Trilisser
John Rhys-Davies as Tanyatos
Sebastian Shaw as Reverend Thomas
Bill Nighy as Goschen
David Ryall as Herr Glass
Denis Lill as William Knox D'Arcy
David Suchet as Inspector Tsientsin
Alex McCrindle as Captain MacDougal
Colin Jeavons as Widdemeyer
Alfred Molina as Yakov Blumkin
Peter Howell as Baron Rothschild
Lindsay Duncan as The Plugger
Hugh Fraser as George Hill
Malcolm Terris as Sykes
Diana Hardcastle as Anna
Prentis Hancock as Boris Souvarine
Geoffrey Whitehead as Count Lubinsky
Aubrey Morris as Mendrovovich
Phil Smeeton as Chekist
Michael Angelis as Artur Artuzov
Alan Downer as Eduard Berzin
Alan Bowerman as Lieberman
Sara Clee as Fanya "Fanny" Kaplan
Critical reception
In a 1984 review for The New York Times, John Corry wrote, "much of 'Reilly' is eminently watchable simply because it is eminently watchable." He praised the production and Sam Neill's performance and summarized "a mixed bag of pleasures, but it's worth dropping in on, if not in whole, then at least in part."
Awards
Costume designer Elizabeth Waller was nominated for a 1984 British Academy Television Craft Award for best costume design for the series, and editors Edward Marnier and Ralph Sheldon won the BAFTA TV Craft award for Best Film Editor.
Home media
The series was issued on Region 1 DVD by A&E Home Entertainment, under licence from THAMES International, talkbackTHAMES and FremantleMedia Ltd on 22 February 2005.
