Legacy

This programme contains some strong language

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HORN BEEPS

Britain on the brink. State of emergency declared.

There you go, guv'nor.

Britain on the brink.

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CHILDREN LAUGH

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

Yes, we met last year in Lyon.

Yes. Of course.

You have a message for me?

Dimitri has returned from Kiev with the information we need.

He will meet you in Amsterdam at the North Gate of the Westerpark.

Ensure the money is in his account by then.

CHILDREN CHATTER

If it has not cleared by the time you meet,

our arrangement with him is terminated.

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

Come on, girls.

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DOOR CREAKS

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Now you see the difference in your pace from before

the dead-letter drop?

It's like bloody Roadrunner.

Never draw attention to yourself that way.

A good agent always blends into the background.

Yeah, but one of your lot was following me, wasn't he?

He was wearing brown shoes.

As do half the damn populace.

Paranoia distorts perception, leads to mistakes, puts lives at risk.

-Not just your own.

-KNOCK ON DOOR

DOOR OPENS

Gerry, this came from SB.

Controller Soviet Bloc wants you over at HO.

Hello again.

-Anna March.

-Charles Thoroughgood.

You lost your accent.

Borrowed accent.

Polish?

Czech. I just got back from Prague.

Head of Training is an old friend, he called in a favour.

The children borrowed too?

100% mine.

I suppose it's totally inappropriate to ask what your judgement is on me?

Totally.

BEEPING

ANNOUNCEMENT IN RUSSIAN

RADIO STATIC

Charles Thoroughgood.

Ask A1 to join us.

So, Royal Engineers.

My late father's regiment.

Stationed in Belfast.

Bomb disposal.

As career moves go, something of a quantum leap.

By the time the bomb is laid, it's after the event.

It's just about damage limitation.

Damage being the loss of your colleague,

Lieutenant Lawson, by a car bomb last year?

Among others.

Before the army you were up at Oxford.

In your third year there, you became friendly with a Russian student

on an English postgraduate course. One Viktor Koslov.

You were friendly for a while -

drinking, socialising,

rowing for the college and so forth.

Any time I'm off-piste, feel free to jump in.

What was your impression of him at that time?

He rather relished the freedom of it all.

Was he politically active there?

If he was, he didn't parade it.

He's now back here,

working in the Political Section at the Soviet Embassy.

As is usual for their postings, he's accompanied by his wife.

Also as usual, they've had to leave their child behind in Moscow.

As a hostage.

So far, so routine. Except MI5 report that he's been conducting

a relationship with a prostitute.

A risky venture for a Soviet official

serving in a hostile Western country.

-Unless he has a death wish.

-DOOR OPENS

Hugo March. A1 London Ops.

Responsible for targeting and recruiting Russians here.

I think you met my wife today on a training exercise -

Anna March?

Oh, yes, I did.

Bit of light relief after her stint in Prague.

In your own time, Hugo.

Eva Pym. 24 years old, former model.

Pregnant at 17,

a daughter, now aged seven, at a boarding school in Hampshire.

Not one of your common-or-garden street tarts.

She frequents high-class parties in Mayfair

for visiting foreign officials.

We assume that's where she picked up Viktor.

Is he KGB?

As you no doubt recall, three years ago we expelled over

100 of their agents operating out of their embassy.

Moscow is still smarting from that. As a result,

they've stepped up their activities here in retaliation.

We know they're planning an attack on our infrastructure.

If Viktor isn't KGB, he'll know the names of those here who are.

In other words, we want you to turn him.

Exploiting personal relationships is never easy.

If you have any qualms about it or feel you're not ready,

now would be a good time to say it.

I'm ready.

Hugo will brief you on the details.

You'll be reporting directly to Hookey on this.

He'll expect detailed reports after every contact.

Be warned, he takes no prisoners.

He cut his teeth in East Berlin against the Stasi.

Best use an alias with the Pym woman.

Someone gave you her name.

You wish to avail yourself of her services.

No, thanks.

Play your cards right, you can do just that.

Seize your pleasures where they come.

I'd be in there like a fucking shot.

Mmm. Now...

Antidotes to all known poisons currently used by the KGB.

Thallium is their usual choice.

Initial symptoms - abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.

If you experience one or all of them,

take two grams immediately, get yourself to hospital.

Any delay could prove fatal.

If I'm just an old friend getting back in touch,

why would Viktor want to harm me?

Depends how convincing you are.

Trick to lying - always stick as close to the truth as possible.

-ON RADIO:

-'Charlie Alpha 26. South gate.

'We have no show at this time. Over.'

'Roger, 26.'

'West pond clear. That's a negative. Over.'

'Roger.'

'Charlie 05. Kenwood Gate. I have eyes on the target.

'Confirm, eyes on the target. Over.'

'Target is moving south-west and heading your way. Over.'

HE PANTS

Viktor?

-My God. It is you! It's Charles.

-Charles!

THEY LAUGH

-How are you?

-What's it been, six, seven years?

Eight, eight years at least. At least! How are you?

I'm great. You're back here now?

Yes, I am Second Secretary at the Russian Embassy.

-Oh, wow!

-Yes. And you are...?

Foreign Office.

As of two weeks ago, I'm just on the induction course.

Well, we must meet, catch up properly. Where can I reach you?

At the embassy would be best.

Yeah. It's OK for me to call you there?

Yes. You think I will be clapped in irons if you do?

THEY LAUGH

I'll be in touch. It's been too long, Viktor.

Now we make up for lost time.

I look forward to it, yes. Really!

-I have a reservation.

-Of course.

Whisky.

No ice.

Eva?

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Champagne.

-Two glasses.

-A bottle. My usual.

Of course.

They know you here.

They should do, I bring them enough business.

Did you book a room for us?

I'll sort it.

A place nearby do a special rate for me.

And you, what's your special rate?

-Depends.

-On?

What you're after.

Suppose I tell you that I'm here under false pretences?

That I work for British Intelligence

and we have an interest in one of your clients?

I'd say my duty is to queen and country so...

I'm at your disposal.

His name is Viktor Koslov.

He works at the Russian Embassy.

That's fine, thank you.

What do you want from me?

Nothing onerous. Just anything you can tell us about him.

Anything he's confided in you about his life and his work here.

In other words, spy for you?

Gather information.

Thanks but no thanks. I'm not getting into something like this.

Not a chance. Find some other mug to do your dirty work.

Your daughter Mary...how old is she now? Seven, eight?

You must miss her when she's away at school.

Then again, with your job it must be

very challenging during the holidays when she's home.

Children can be so impressionable at that age, can't they?

My, your mother must be proud of you.

So I get what out of it?

Double your usual rate.

Triple. Plus expenses.

OK.

TYRES SCREECH

DOOR CLOSES

Tanya, my wife.

My daughter.

Aw.

Natasha, back in Moscow.

It is the greatest love of all, Charles, the love for a child.

It is the only love that is...unconditional.

And the love of one's country, where does that rate?

Was it not Voltaire who said, "It is lamentable that to be

"a patriot one must first make an enemy of the rest of mankind?"

I thought about you often over the years, Viktor.

Of our time together in Oxford.

I have thought of you also.

You were not like the other people there. They had such a sense of...

entitlement, yes?

The assumption that happiness is their right, is their due.

Since returning here, I have been struck how people think

they know everything about my country.

How we are all card-carrying Party members,

ready to take up arms to further the glorious Communist cause.

Not true, it's a misconception.

Most people in Russia are not in the Party,

they care not a kopek for the Party or the Socialist utopia it espouses.

You seem happy enough to serve it.

I was born into it.

It is the sea I have to swim in.

You used to say politics bored you.

Time gives a different perspective.

Then we have more in common than divides us, my friend.

HE LAUGHS

-This one is yours?!

-Uh-huh.

Wow. Style without ostentation.

Yeah. Legacy from my father. He died a few months ago.

I'm sorry.

Can I give you a lift?

No, no.

Must we end the evening now? It is early, we could maybe,

I don't know, take a walk, or continue the conversation?

It is rarely that I get such a chance.

Yeah. Why not?

Where are we going?

Viktor?

I need to talk to you.

After you.

Your father...

It was a heart attack, yes?

You were close.

I met him once, do you remember? When he came to visit you at Oxford?

You brought him to Hall, introduced him to everyone.

I remember.

I have been asked to talk about him to you, Charles.

I have been asked to tell you that we owe his family -

you and your mother - many, many thousands of pounds

for the work that he has done for us over the years.

What, as a surveyor?

A surveyor trained by us in Moscow

in the installation of listening devices.

Who had unique access to your government's

embassies all over the world.

There was barely a diplomatic or intelligence secret in any city,

any country, that your father could not access for us.

But he would never accept a payment for his services.

And now he is dead, and we honour our debts.

That is what I have been instructed to tell you.

Who? Who's instructed you to tell me this?

My people.

What people?

My people in Moscow.

Well, your people in Moscow are talking pre-digested crap, Viktor.

I'm surprised you fell for it.

Anyone can fix a photograph.

We just want to repay what is owed to him, Charles.

And do it in such a way that will not compromise your own career.

If your employers in the Secret Service

knew about your father's work...

I told you, I work for the Foreign Office.

And I am not KGB, but a humble embassy official.

You really think that I would do this, Charles?

That I would risk such exposure telling you this

if it were not true?

I am sorry it had to be me to tell you.

Truly sorry.

Yeah, yeah. Did Moscow tell you to say that too?

We all want to think the best of our fathers.

You will see this was the best of yours.

DOOR BELL RINGS

Is Hugo in?

He's just gone out.

I'll catch him at the office tomorrow.

Charles? You're here now.

He's...he's walking the dog.

Via the nearest pub, if I know Hugo.

Sorry.

Don't let the work consume you, Charles.

It will if you let it.

Why keep on with it, then?

The other day, I was strap-hanging on the tube in rush hour,

and I remember looking at the crush of people around me and thinking,

I've got a secret.

And I need that.

Don't ask me why.

Has anything ever happened to you, where...

..it seems everything you've ever known, everything you've ever...

..is suddenly impeached?

My father used to say the essence of a lie is the intention to deceive.

Do you believe that?

Wanting something to happen isn't the same as acting on it.

HE SCOFFS

What's going on with you, Charles?

I shouldn't have come.

-Charles.

-No, I'm...

best left to my own devices tonight. Thank you for the...

No, wait...

DOOR CLOSES

Apart from Auld Lang Syne on your Oxford days

and a veiled hint that he might be KGB, that was it?

Yeah.

And after dinner?

We went our separate ways.

Wise to take it slowly, build mutual trust.

Plenty of time later to...

Did you arrange another meeting?

I didn't want to appear too obvious.

No-one could accuse you of that.

What a nice surprise!

How goes the Foreign Office?

Yeah, just still finding my feet a bit.

I wanted to ask you something about Dad.

Just that it's been six months now, Mum, since...

Thought maybe you and I could start clearing out some of his things?

You're right of course.

Well, the study is where to start.

God knows what he hoarded in there over the years.

Oh, look.

I should get a gardener in, I suppose.

It's too big to manage on my own.

Cheers.

God, all those trips over the years for Dad's work

can't have been easy.

I had you for company, didn't I?

Later on, of course, I went with him.

Moscow, wasn't it?

Moscow, Washington, Bonn...

All over.

Did you ever meet any of his associates on your trips?

Associates! How formal you make it sound.

Where did you get this?

Do you know him?

He used to visit your father at the hotel in Prague.

Or was it Bucharest?

Did Dad say how he knew him?

Only that he was in the same line of work.

Then, he never talked about his work, did he?

He used to say the Official Secrets Act applied equally

to a humble government surveyor as to government spies.

Chap in the FO knew Dad before the war.

He has some idea that's what Dad was.

A spy. For the other side.

The Russians?

If he was, would you have known?

After 30 years of marriage?

You can tell your friend I don't much appreciate him

spreading such mendacious tittle-tattle.

Dear God, you haven't taken it seriously?

Of course not. It's absurd, obviously.

-KNOCK ON DOOR

-Yes!

Can I have a moment?

You need to hear this too.

The report I submitted on my meeting with Viktor...

..was incomplete.

He told me that since the war my father...had been a KGB spy.

His code name was Builder.

And the man with him?

His handler. I don't have a name.

'Hello?'

Martha, my office.

Can I ask why you delayed telling us this?

I didn't want to believe it.

I assumed you'd demand my resignation

and my career would be killed in its tracks.

Is that what you're minded to do, resign?

I want to finish what we started with Viktor.

If he is trying to recruit me, I can use it.

Feed him information.

Nothing damaging, whatever can be cleared for his consumption.

-But sufficient to convince him I'm on board.

-Like father, like son.

Well, that's the card I hold, isn't it?

Martha, Charles Thoroughgood.

Everything in this Control begins and ends with Martha.

What do we know of them?

Igor Smolotski, official rank - First Chief Directorate.

The KGB equivalent of MI6. In other words, a heavyweight.

As to who's with him...

-My father.

-Now deceased.

Someone of Igor's rank wouldn't trouble himself

with a mere foot soldier.

Daddy must have been of value to them.

And Mumsy?

Was she just a fellow traveller,

or up to her neck in it along with him?

She was as much in the dark as I was.

That's my only condition, my mother is left alone.

That's non-negotiable.

PHONE RINGS

Viktor, the money you owe my father, how much are we talking about?

After our last meeting, I was not so sure I would see you so soon.

If ever again.

Did you tell your Control about our conversation?

About your father's work for us?

And end my career before it's even started?

His possessions, have they been disposed of yet?

Late last year, Moscow gave him a last mission to undertake for us.

But he died before he could debrief us on the details of it.

Perhaps there is a record of the mission somewhere in his house.

A map...

Perhaps a cipher, I don't know.

What kind of map?

If we knew that, I would not need you to find it.

Right, that's the price, is it?

There is always a price, my friend.

PHONE RINGS

I'm in. He told me they are looking for something.

They think my father might be involved.

He left some kind of map.

He gave no more details than that?

No, but it must be big or else why would he risk asking my help?

METALLIC RATTLING

You visiting Hugo?

Job for Section 8. It's Red Stripe.

Restricted access, need to know only.

Hugo told me about your father.

Interrogating my mother was the fun part.

Maybe she didn't ask any questions

because she was afraid of the answers.

Well, we're all guilty of that.

Hugo said that he did it for ideological reasons.

What he did was out of principle, wasn't it?

Not greed or...

That's something, surely?

Oh, I'll cling to any straw that's going.

HE LAUGHS

You're not your father, Charles.

Ash.

How was our mutual friend on your date yesterday?

Anything new to report?

He called, asked to delay it until early evening.

Said he had an errand to run,

he couldn't make it back to London in time.

Did he say what the errand was?

Something about his bosses needing a result on something.

If he can't deliver it, he's in trouble.

What kind of trouble?

Your end first.

When I asked, he clammed up.

But he had sand in his turn-ups, in his shoes.

I had to hoover it up after he left.

He said he had to go there again tomorrow.

I went through his pockets while he was in the toilet.

No bonus for initiative?

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

Oi, what are you doing?

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

WOODEN THUNK

RADIO PLAYS

I took the liberty.

Thanks.

Restricted access form.

It means that what I'm about to tell you must not be divulged to anyone.

Including everyone in the Controllerate. No exceptions.

Our source in Moscow informs us that in the past year

Soviet agents have buried secret caches around the country.

Like the one you found. It's called Operation Legacy.

We don't as yet know how many but we know their contents

are intended for sabotage operations against our infrastructure.

Dungeness Power Station clearly being a target.

The fact the KGB have now tasked Viktor to find

the one your father buried means that they intend to use it.

And soon.

The strikes, power cuts, three day week...

what better opportunity for a pre-emptive strike?

If we're going to stop them, Viktor is the key.

< Viktor.

Viktor, wait!

I have to talk to you.

Viktor!

Viktor!

PANTING

Oh, shit.

GUN CLICKS

TV PLAYS IN BACKGROUND

PHONE RINGS

Yes?

The prostitute, Eva, somebody killed her.

The police?

I called you first.

I'll clean it up. Go home, Thoroughgood.

That's not a request.

We have a 247 in South London.

So that's it, she's just swept under the carpet?

It's not as simple as that. You're missing the bigger picture.

And she was what, collateral damage?

And no-one is to be held accountable?

Would you feel less so if the Russians were?

My father...

Did people die because of him?

Almost certainly.

-HOOKEY:

-'Like father, like son.'

No, you can only claim that an agent's been properly recruited

when he accepts being handed over to a new case officer.

Proving his relationship is with the service, not the individual.

Bollocks! The initial contact is what counts!

When you first turn them.

Whether they know it or not, you've already got them.

They're already at the point of no return.

Fear of exposure does the rest.

"Fear doth make cowards of us all."

Conscience.

Isn't it, "Conscience makes cowards of us all"?

Aren't you the scholar.

God. Not again.

I'll get some candles.

MUFFLED MOANS

PHONE RINGS

Charles? Phone for you.

What's the urgency?

It was the duty officer. Viktor's done a runner from the embassy.

They don't like the way he's acting.

They lost him, south of the river.

You know where he might be?

I hope so.

Is that car following us?

Let him pass.

Take the side streets now, it's safer.

This is close enough.

HANDBRAKE CREAKS

HEAVY RAIN FALLS

Viktor?

Viktor?

Stay where you are.

Was it you who told my people about Eva?

It was all a set-up, yes?

Everything?

From the start, you were playing me.

Either way, I am finished.

Two KGB officers are here from Moscow.

They say I must return with them.

They will interrogate me about Eva.

I am not a brave man, I will confess,

they will put me in a labour camp.

My wife and daughter will lose their home.

They will be destitute, they will be disgraced.

It's always the family that suffers.

No. This way there will be no investigation.

They will have a future.

There is one other way.

Give me the names of some of your agents.

Just a few names, that's all I need.

HE SOBS

Then I will be saved. My family will be saved!

No? Please...

Nice try, Viktor.

OK.

Well, do one thing for me, at least.

Delay resuscitation.

Oh, fuck.

Let me...let me go!

I must do this!

COUGHING AND SPUTTERING

No!

VIKTOR PANTS

There is another way out, Viktor.

Legacy.

The thing you were searching for on the golf course? I found it.

I could tell you where it is.

You say that you went out there again tonight looking for it.

What better way to prove your loyalty?

How do I know that you found it?

Dungeness.

And what is your price?

Legacy.

I need to know if it's still live

and where the other caches are sited.

No, I know only of that one.

Viktor, do you really want to go on playing games?

If I do it, what you ask, it is the end of it for us.

You and me, we are finished.

I will not be some lackey in your service!

No!

Not an option now.

North of hole 13, the bunker by the woods.

You're soaked.

Where to?

Home.

Mine.

ENGINE STARTS

What do your fellow students think about you

bunking off work all the time?

That I'm having an affair with a married woman.

Wishful thinking.

So you want to be my Count Vronski?

Less of a shit, hopefully.

Hugo wasn't always as you see him now.

When we first met...

..he had such certainty...

..of where he was going and all he wanted to achieve.

Looking at you reminds him of it.

And what about you, what do you see when you look at me?

You know the answer to that.

I'll be whatever you want me to be, Anna.

Or as little.

-SHE MUMBLES

-I can't!

(I'm sorry.)

I can't.

I'm sorry.

If we do this, I know I'll want more.

I'll need more and...

SHE SIGHS

I don't think you're ready for that.

And I don't get the chance to prove otherwise?

I can't afford to take chances, Charles.

How can I?

Hmm.

Maybe he was right, maybe fear does make cowards of us.

INDISTINCT SPEECH

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

-MARTHA:

-The younger one is Rhykov. High flyer with the KGB.

MI5 got wind of him last year

when he was here on some "trade delegation".

The other is Annikov.

Party hardliner, Politburo apparatchik.

No love lost between them, apparently.

The usual story, the old guard being usurped by the new.

I doubt they're here to take in the sights.

Viktor's in trouble.

Finding the Dungeness cache didn't let him off the hook over Eva Pym.

He says his KGB minders are taking him and his wife back to Moscow.

They fly from Stansted the day after tomorrow.

They're making a detour en route to stay overnight in Suffolk.

In a village a few miles from Sizewell Nuclear Power Station.

Get down to Suffolk.

I'll assign another agent on Legacy to meet you there.

I don't need babysitting.

He's ready to be turned. He's out of time, he's out of options.

One more push, I've got him.

That's assuming you're right.

That your eagerness to prove you're not your father's son

hasn't impaired your judgement.

If they take Viktor back to Russia in disgrace,

he's no use to us on Legacy or anything else.

So either stop them or clear his name.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Hookey thought posing as a couple would be good cover.

Any sign of our friends?

They just went for a walk.

There they are.

His minders aren't letting him out of their sight.

Not too close. He can't spot me.

So what's the plan?

Rotten apples.

It's the game we play with each other, isn't it?

Who is, who isn't?

Maybe we can spice it up with one of our own.

What do you have in mind?

The oldest game in the book. Divide and rule.

Lovely picture.

Such a beautiful view.

SHE LAUGHS

Enjoy your meal.

Oh, goodnight, sir.

THEY SPEAK RUSSIAN

KNOCKING

You're on.

DOOR OPENS

HE SNIFFS

DOOR CLOSES

We should hear from Viktor soon. If it worked.

This'll be our first and last time in the field together.

When Legacy is done, I'm resigning.

Thanks.

Not now perhaps, or tomorrow,

but next time there's a security breach,

another Philby or Blake, because of my father,

and human nature being what it is, the finger will always point at me.

It's about credibility.

And he stole that from me.

He stole more than that.

PHONE RINGS

Yeah?

Did it pay off with Rhykov? Are they off your back?

Annikov thinks he was recruited by British security

when he was here last time.

Clever.

What about Legacy?

It's going live. Annikov says there is another cache here, nearby.

I have the details.

They have an agent at the power station,

he will empty the cache before dawn.

They plan to attack the power station tomorrow.

Here.

From here, straight ahead.

(Yes, yes.)

Where?

There.

METAL DETECTOR CRACKLES

METAL DETECTOR BUZZES

Gently, gently.

ENGINE APPROACHES

Wait, wait. Check for booby traps.

FOOTSTEPS RUSTLE

Step away.

I'll stay.

BRANCH SNAPS

He knows me!

GUN COCKS

ENGINE STARTS

TYRES SCREECH

MOANING AND WHEEZING

ENGINE STOPS

Viktor?

Keep in touch.

One of our guests left this for you, a Mr Viktor Koslov.

What news of Viktor?

As you anticipated, Rhykov was blamed for the missing

Sizewell cache and the loss of their agent.

He's en route to a labour camp as we speak.

Viktor was rewarded with promotion to Lieutenant Colonel

for his sterling contribution to the cause.

The start of a long and fruitful relationship.

Thanks to you.

I asked you here to discuss your letter of resignation.

A few facts I need to acquaint you with regarding your father.

Yes, he was recruited by the Russians after the war.

Yes, he became one of their most trusted agents.

During all those years,

when they thought he worked solely for them, he was working for us...

as a double agent.

I know this because I was his case officer.

It was your father who first alerted us about Legacy.

When he died our radar screen went blank.

We knew as little as the Russians as to where he'd buried

the Dungeness cache.

When our trace on Viktor showed that you were friendly with him

-at university...

-You fucking used me.

I prefer to think motivated you.

The most important thing now

is that you know your father was a man you can be proud of.

I hope that will also motivate you, should you decide to remain with us.

Our allegiance must always be to the Service, Thoroughgood.

What we feel about an individual within it is irrelevant.

Seemed to buy it all right, didn't he?

Well, I was convinced.

Damn lucky he didn't take a swing at you though.

Yes, touch and go there for a minute.

Still, good to know one's not lost one's touch.

CHILDREN LAUGH

Oh, my! Come on.

Daddy, Daddy. Read us a story.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd