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Reilly, Ace of Spies - Wikipedia

  • ️Mon Sep 05 1983

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Reilly, Ace of Spies

Sam Neill portraying Sidney Reilly in the television serial, Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983).

Based onAce of Spies by Robin Bruce Lockhart
Screenplay byTroy Kennedy Martin
Directed byMartin Campbell
Jim Goddard
StarringSam Neill
Jeananne Crowley
Leo McKern
Tom Bell
Kenneth Cranham
Norman Rodway
Theme music composerHarry Rabinowitz
Dmitri Shostakovich (main theme)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes12
Production
ProducersChris Burt
Johnny Goodman
Verity Lambert
Running time50 minutes
Production companyEuston Films for Thames
Original release
NetworkITV
Release5 September –
16 November 1983

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.[1] Sam Neill stars as the eponymous character.[2] 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).[3][4]

There are 12 episodes, each approximately 50 minutes in length, except Episode 1, which is approximately 80 minutes).

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."[2]

Won 1984 BAFTA TV Award[5]

Best Film Editors:

  • Edward Marnier
  • Ralph Sheldon

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.[6]

  1. ^ Billington, Michael (15 January 1984). "A Spy Story Even James Bond Might Envy". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b Corry, John (19 January 1984). "By TV 'REILLY: ACE OF SPIES,' A SERIES". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  4. ^ "Harry Rabinowitz | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  5. ^ "1984 Television Craft Film Editor | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  6. ^ Reilly, ace of spies. 7 December 2005. OCLC 57351361.