Summary
Overview
This episode chronicles the final, desperate escape of KGB colonel turned MI6 spy Oleg Gordievsky from the Soviet Union in 1985. After being drugged and interrogated by the KGB, Gordievsky triggers a complex British exfiltration plan involving signal exchanges, a cross-country journey, and a harrowing highway pickup near the Finnish border. The operation required approval from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher herself and involved MI6 officers using their families as cover to smuggle Gordievsky out in a car boot past KGB surveillance and border checkpoints.
The Interrogation and Drug-Induced Confession
Gordievsky is taken to a remote bungalow outside Moscow where KGB interrogators drug his brandy with truth serum. Under the influence, they attempt to extract a confession about his work as a British spy. Gordievsky manages to deny everything despite the disorienting effects of the drug, repeating "you have the wrong man" throughout the ordeal. The interrogators' mind games suggest they lack concrete evidence, giving him a slim hope of survival.
- Gordievsky is driven to an isolated white bungalow on the outskirts of Moscow by Viktor Grushko, head of the Foreign Department
- His brandy is spiked with drugs while Grushko's glass remains untouched, causing reality to distort
- Interrogators claim he admitted to being a British agent, but he has no memory of confessing
- Despite the drugs, Gordievsky repeatedly denies being a spy, focusing on the mission to "deny, deny, deny"
- KGB claims they sprayed his shoes and clothes with radioactive dust to track his movements
" You have the wrong man. You have the wrong man. "
Testing Loyalties and Family Separation
Released from interrogation but under constant surveillance, Gordievsky's family is summoned back from London—a clear sign the KGB won't let him return to Britain. He attempts to test his wife Leila's loyalty by suggesting they flee together to Turkey, but she dismisses his plan as paranoid fantasy. Realizing he cannot trust her with the truth of his espionage, Gordievsky makes the heartbreaking decision to escape alone, knowing he will never see his wife and daughters again.
- Gordievsky's wife Leila and daughters are summoned back from London, signaling the KGB has no intention of letting him return to Britain
- On the balcony away from listening devices, Gordievsky tests Leila by suggesting they flee across mountains to Turkey
- Leila dismisses the escape plan, calling him idiotic and paranoid from reading too many novels
- Gordievsky realizes he must abandon his family and escape alone due to her likely divided loyalties as a KGB colonel's daughter
" Mountains? Don't be idiotic. You've been reading too many novels. They've made you paranoid. "
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