Spies Of Warsaw

This two-part period spy thriller was a great one-off epic.

 Based on the novel by Alan Furst, this story felt different from a usual spy drama, which was mainly due to the central character Lt. Col. Jean-Francois Mercier. He wasn’t the usual spy, who enjoys mingling with the wealthy, womanising and seeking the big action, but instead felt more like a normal person who didn’t like the pomp and ceremony and spied in a very secret and well organised way in order for him to remain undetected.

Mercier's relationship with Anna Skarbek was also different as it wasn't the usual thing of the woman just falls for the man. Mainly by the fact that Anna is in a relationship and the supposed death of her partner Max Mostov leads her to flee to Spain, while Mercier is sent to Czechoslovakia. It was good how having the two start an affair and then get torn apart allowed for me to want them to find each other again and reunite, which later happens. The two character alone do a lot to keep the story going and showing different aspects of the pre-war Europe that we may not know much about.

The setting of the story, in pre-war 1937 Warsaw where the emerging presence of the Nazis and the prospect of war make it a very interesting background. This setting allowed for much of the tension to be created as Mercier tried to discover what the Nazis were planning and at the end of the story where Mercier and Anna had to escape Warsaw, while a Jewish couple took their own lives after becoming informants for Mercier and pursued by the Nazis, which was done in a very touching and appropriate manner.

There were great performances from David Tennant as Mercier and Janet Montgomery as Anna, with good portrayals from Ellie Haddington, Piotr Baumann, Marcin Dorocinski, Radoslaw Kaim, Linda Bassett and Allan Corduner.