TRUE SPIES 1. SUBVERSIVE MY ARSE Commentary: So the Met Special Branch devises an extraordinary plan. It's never been revealed before. In a Northern town, one of its officers searches the headstones for a new identity. Richard: I just read the Frederick Forsyth novel 'Day of the Jackal' and used a similar technique to that. I found a young boy who'd died at a fairly young age, and as it were resurrected him.' Commentary: Traditional methods of gathering intelligence were now inadequate. Special Branch needed to get closer to its targets. A new top secret unit was set up - the Special Demonstration Squad. Commentary: The officer researches the boy's family history and assumes the identity of the adult he would have become, had he lived. To avoid blowing his cover, he has to be word perfect on every detail of the person he's now become. RICHARD Former Metropolitan Police Special Branch Interviewer: And what sort of things did you absorb from that town? Richard: Oh the streets, the parks, one thing about towns in England is that you always describe the whereabouts by pubs and corners don't you, you know, "Turn left at Red Lion and you're in so and so", that sort of thing. Sod's Law says that you go into an organisation, you find someone who's also from that background that's the great dread of it, you get asked the question out of the blue that you're not going to have the right answer to - you sweat on the inside. Archive: “Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!� Commentary: The secret squad's prime function was to combat the street violence that was proving increasingly difficult to control. Richard: I allowed the Metropolitan Police to prevent blood on the streets as it were. Things could have been very, very nasty, but with pre-emptive intelligence that was prevented.
TRUE SPIES 2. SOMETHING BETTER CHANGE Nothing
TRUE SPIES 3. IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU