S2 E1: What can From Russia With Love (1963) tell us about spies and spycraft in the Cold War?

Paddington II; Godfather Part II; Toy Story II; Aliens; The Dark Knight … From Russia with Love? Whether you think the second instalment of the Bond franchise ranks alongside other great cinema sequels will probably depend on your own view on the franchise in general. Set in the early years of the Cold War, the plot sees Bond lured to Istanbul in the hope of capturing a Russian decoding Lektor. The result is an unusually tense yet still glamorous film noir, which for many devotees represents the bar which all future instalments would be compared against. But what can From Russia with Love tell us about spies and spycraft in the Cold War? Joining us to answer this question is Dr Jonathan Best, intelligence historian and spy fiction expert.