Reilly: Ace of Spies

Reilly, Ace of Spies
Sam Neill portraying Sidney Reilly in the television mini-series, Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983).
Based on	Ace of Spies by Robin Bruce Lockhart
Screenplay by	Troy Kennedy Martin
Directed by	Martin Campbell Jim Goddard
Starring	Sam Neill Jeananne Crowley Leo McKern Tom Bell Kenneth Cranham Norman Rodway
Theme music composer	Harry Rabinowitz Dmitri Shostakovich (main theme)
No. of episodes	12
Production
Producer(s)	Chris Burt Johnny Goodman Verity Lambert
Running time	50 min
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	5 September 1983

Reilly, Ace of Spies is a 1983 television miniseries dramatizing the life of Sidney Reilly, a Russian Jew who became one of the greatest spies ever to work for the British. 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 mini series is 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. Sam Neill stars as the title character. The theme music is the Romance movement from Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Gadfly Suite.

There are twelve episodes, each approximately 50 minutes in length (the first episode is near 80 minutes).

Won 1984 BAFTA TV Award

Best Film Editors:

The series was issued on DVD by A&E Home Video on 22 February 2005.