Documentary / War & Politics
Betray your country, save the world. Spies and traitors play a dangerous game in the 1980s as the Cold War brings two superpowers to the brink of nuclear war.


Two spies turn double agents at the height of the Cold War standoff between East and West. Their deception happens as the superpowers edge towards nuclear war.

Spies work behind the scenes as the superpowers enter a new era. Intelligence pushes world leaders towards a more peaceful approach. But a new danger is lurking in the shadows.

Battles between Cold War spies lead to danger, betrayal and a dramatic escape, all threatening to derail the fragile move towards world peace.

Self - Narrator (voice)

Oleg Gordievsky

Aldrich Ames

Self (archive footage)

"Löwengrube – Die Grandauers und ihre Zeit" is a German television series first aired between 1989 and 1992, created by Willy Purucker and directed by Rainer Wolffhardt. It is set in Munich and follows the lives of Ludwig Grandauer and his son Karl, both policemen, covering the years from 1897 to 1954. The TV show is based on Purucker's radio play series Die Grandauers und ihre Zeit (‘The Grandauers and their time’). The series’ main title "Löwengrube", meaning ‘Lions’ Den’, refers to the address of the Munich Police Headquarters inaugurated in 1913.

The Russian army has no shortage of weapons despite sanctions: With an arsenal mixing old Soviet stocks and modern hypersonic weapons, the country could strike Europe in minutes. An opaque network of spies, shell companies and oligarchs ensures its war capacity through the arms trade, technology theft and state-organized policy of terror.

1985 serves as the backdrop to the final showdown of the Cold War when Sandy and her partner Jeanne Vertefeuille vowed to find the mole that would turn out to be the most notorious traitor in US history, Aldrich Ames. Sandy is in a race against time to save the Soviet intelligence officers from being caught and killed. Living her own double life at home, this beautiful wife and mother vowed to stop at nothing until she uncovered the truth.

During the 1950s, Helsinki was the focal point of the Cold War, as global powers and their intelligence agencies coalesced in the small neutral country that stood between the East and the West. Shadow Lines is an international spy thriller that follows a secret intelligence team whose mission is to defend the independence of Finland no matter the cost.