In a web of friendship, class, patriotism, and political ideology lurks the world of the British spies and communist traitors depicted in the MGM streaming series A Spy Among Friends. The series portrays the treasonous activities of real-life intelligence agent Kim Philby (Guy Pearce) and his tight friendship with Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) while both worked for MI6. Elliott never realized until the bitter end that his best friend was a Soviet asset.
Philby worked for MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, for nearly two decades, joining in 1939 before resigning in 1955 under intense suspicion of spying for the Soviet Union. After formal investigations proved inconclusive, Philby was cleared of these accusations by British Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan in 1955. A few years later, Philby decamped to Beirut to serve as a correspondent for The Economist and Observer. He was also shockingly reinstated by MI6 during this time to provide reports to the agency on Middle East politics.
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