From the writing of Sun Tzu to the modern era, spies and spymasters have had insights into the mind that most of us don't. Now it's time to put espionage itself on the analysts' couch. In Brief Histories, the new monthly special from True Spies, series producer Joe Foley is your guide to this secret world - alongside a treasure-trove of stories and expert knowledge from our archive. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Learn more...
Nov 13, 2025•29 min
In this classic episode of True Spies, Vanessa Kirby goes behind enemy lines with Virginia Hall, one of the bravest Allied heroines of WWII. As part of ‘Churchill's Secret Army’, Virginia was sent into occupied France to organize resistance efforts and disrupt Nazi plans ‘by any means necessary’. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. Featuring Sarah Megan Thomas as Virginia Hall. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gemma Newby. Produced by Joe Foley. Music by Nick Ryan. Learn ...
Nov 11, 2025•44 min•Season 1Ep. 290
True Spies producer Morgan Childs joins former CIA analyst, author and podcast host David McCloskey for a deep dive into his post-Agency career, and what he's learned along the way. David McCloskey's latest novel, The Persian, is out now. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Nov 04, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 289
Author Clare Mulley has built her formidable reputation on finding the remarkable stories that have been left out of the history books. This is one of them - the remarkable, heartstopping story of Elzbieta Zawacka, AKA Agent Zo, legend of the Polish resistance. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Frank Palmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Oct 28, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 288
From the lagoon of Venice to revolutionary Russia, counterintelligence has always been an important aspect of statecraft. In Brief Histories, the new monthly special from True Spies, series producer Joe Foley is your guide to this secret world - alongside a treasure-trove of stories and expert knowledge from our archive. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Oct 23, 2025•26 min
In the golden cornfields of rural Iowa, mysterious men are stealing seeds. Corn is big business - and the secret of growing good corn is priceless intellectual property. But is this a simple case of corporate theft, or foreign espionage in a vital strategic battle between nations? Vanessa Kirby joins Special Agent Mark Betten, FBI, on his mission to find out. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gemma Newby. Produced by Tim Mansel. Music by Nick Ryan....
Oct 20, 2025•47 min•Season 1Ep. 287
This time on the Debrief, Morgan Childs joins former CIA economic analyst Brett Janis to discuss the Agency's role in monitoring global financial trends, Ukraine, and the future of the USA's place at the heart of the world economy. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Oct 13, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 286
By 2004, FBI Special Agent Jim Gaylord has seen a lot of counterintelligence operations go right. But he's also seen plenty go wrong, especially when it comes to the People's Republic of China. But now, he has a chance to take down one of China's most prolific collectors of US military tech - and he's determined to take it. In Part Two, Jim's team makes a breakthrough - and the net begins to close around Chi Mak. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: J...
Oct 06, 2025•41 min•Season 1Ep. 285
NEW from True Spies: Brief Histories. From 7th Century China to Nazi-occupied France, discover a selection of stories from the long history of female spies. In Brief Histories, the new monthly special from True Spies, series producer Joe Foley is your guide to this secret world - alongside a treasure-trove of expert knowledge from our archive. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....
Oct 01, 2025•28 min
By 2004, FBI Special Agent Jim Gaylord has seen a lot of counterintelligence operations go right. But he's also seen plenty go wrong, especially when it comes to the People's Republic of China. But now, he has a chance to take down one of China's most prolific collectors of US military tech - and he's determined to take it. In Part One, Jim sets out to take down Chi Mak - an engineer with access to top secret Naval technology. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Seri...
Sep 30, 2025•45 min
In this classic episode of True Spies, Vanessa Kirby meets a spy who infiltrated the political wing of the Irish Republican movement. Willie Carlin risked his life in Derry, Northern Ireland, on a daily basis to provide the UK with intelligence. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gemma Newby. Produced by Joe Foley. Music by Nick Ryan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Sep 23, 2025•48 min•Season 1Ep. 283
Lawyer and intelligence historian David Burke reveals a shadowy chapter in the story of Anglo-Irish relations in the 20th century. Irish police intelligence analyst Patrick Crinnion was a man of rare intelligence. He had also been groomed from a young age to spy for the United Kingdom. When the Troubles in Northern Ireland broke out, he was feeding information on the IRA to Westminster. But the IRA had its own, highly effective spymaster. In time, both men would pay a heavy price for their part ...
Sep 16, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 282
WIRED journalist Andy Greenberg has spent years reporting from the murky world of hackers, spies, and cyber warriors. His 2019 book Sandworm tells the true story of the Kremlin-backed cyber criminals that became one of the most destructive hacking groups in history. This week, True Spies producer Morgan Childs sits down with Andy to talk about the Sandworm group - and what their campaigns reveal about the future of warfare itself. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. ...
Sep 09, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 281
NEW from True Spies: Brief Histories. From Egyptian codebreaking, to USB sticks with the power to cripple nuclear facilities, this week hear the long evolution of tradecraft. In Brief Histories, the new monthly special from True Spies, series producer Joe Foley is your guide to the evolution of this secret world - alongside a treasure-trove of expert knowledge from our archive. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Learn more abou...
Sep 04, 2025•30 min
Jim Lawler is one of the CIA's most successful recruiters of foreign spies. But even he had to start somewhere. In this classic episode of True Spies, Vanessa Kirby joins Jim on his first foreign posting. His mission? To enlist a crucial intelligence asset for the USA. To do it, he'll stop at nothing to manipulate, subvert, and seduce his target. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gemma Newby. Produced by Joe Foley. Music by Nick Ryan. Learn more ab...
Sep 02, 2025•43 min•Season 1Ep. 280
John Taylor is an author, lecturer and advisor on handling human sources of secret intelligence. He joins True Spies producer Morgan Childs to discuss the psychology of those who play the espionage game - agent and handler alike. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. John Taylor is a senior Research Fellow at Kings College London and the author of The Psychology of Spies and Spying. Learn more about your ad choices...
Aug 26, 2025•43 min•Season 1Ep. 279
In this two-part True Spies story, author and journalist Shaun Walker unmasks the greatest generation of Russian spies - the Great Illegals. In Part Two, Shaun tells the story of Iosif Grigulevich - the Lithuanian Illegal who rose to the upper echelons of Italy's diplomatic community. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Frank Palmer. Shaun Walker is the Central and Eastern Europe correspondent for The Guardian newspaper. He is ...
Aug 19, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 278
NEW from True Spies: Brief Histories. From Ancient Roman propaganda apparatus to burgeoning MI6 operations, hear how the very information we consume has throughout history been orchestrated. In Brief Histories, the new monthly special from True Spies, series producer Joe Foley is your guide to the evolution of this secret world - alongside a treasure-trove of expert knowledge from our archive. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley....
Aug 13, 2025•23 min
In this two-part True Spies story, author and journalist Shaun Walker unmasks the greatest generation of Russian spies - the Great Illegals. In Part One, Shaun tells the story of Nikolai Khokhlov - the music-hall 'whistler' turned deep-cover spy in Nazi-occupied Belarus. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Frank Palmer. Shaun Walker is the Central and Eastern Europe correspondent for The Guardian newspaper. He is the author of ...
Aug 12, 2025•58 min•Season 1Ep. 277
In this classic episode of True Spies, CIA analyst Sarah Carlson drops Vanessa Kirby into the pressure-cooker of post-revolutionary Libya. In 2011, the Arab Spring swept Colonel Gaddafi from office, leaving a deadly power vacuum. Three years later, civil war engulfed the nation. Under a hail of rocket fire, Sarah had to figure out a way to extract 150 American personnel from the carnage. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets and skills. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Gemma Newby. Pro...
Aug 05, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 276
The history of espionage is long and shrouded in mystery... Hear it chronicled in True Spies: Brief Histories, the new monthly episodes of True Spies. From the intricacies of Ancient Roman tradecraft and Medieval propaganda, all the way to the surveillance systems of the twenty-first century, you’ll discover the hidden figures, secret dealings and daring special ops that brought us to where we are today. Get episodes a week early, and ad-free with Spyscape+ plus.spyscape.com Learn more about you...
Aug 01, 2025•3 min
True Spies producer Morgan Childs joins researcher and author Seth Thévoz to discuss the origins of London's elite gentlemen's clubs - and the movers, shakers and spies who have called them a home-from-home. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Seth Thévoz is the author of London Clubland: A Companion for the Curious. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jul 29, 2025•39 min•Season 1Ep. 275
Author, historian and former British Foreign Office official Tim Willasey-Wilsey tells the incredible story of Wilhelm Von De Ropp - the high-born chameleon who had Hitler's ear in the build-up to WW2. But unbeknownst to the Nazis, 'Bill' was MI6's man on the inside, passing on information that would help Britain to win the war... From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Joe Foley. Tim Willasey-Wilsey is Visiting Professor at Kings ...
Jul 22, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 274
Rediscover a classic from the vaults with Andrew Kirsch - a Special Operations officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. True Spies work in all sorts of far-flung locales - but some assignments are closer to home. For Andrew, the suburbs of Toronto hold as much intrigue as Moscow or Baghdad. Vanessa Kirby joins Andrew on a nail-biting infiltration mission to unmask a home-grown terrorist, right in his back yard. Could YOU spy in suburbia? From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup ...
Jul 15, 2025•37 min•Season 1Ep. 273
Content Warning: This episode contains references to suicide. True Spies producer Morgan Childs sits down with author and journalist Douglas Waller to discuss the complex and controversial legacy at the heart of his latest book, The Determined Spy: The Turbulent Life and Times of CIA Pioneer Frank Wisner. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jul 08, 2025•43 min•Season 1Ep. 272
Former Canadian Security Intelligence Service operative Neil Bisson delivers a compact masterclass in Human Intelligence gathering in this blow-by-blow account of a Mobile Debrief. Along the way, you'll discover how Canada's intelligence apparatus works - and how it could change in the years to come. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Joe Foley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jul 01, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 271
Investigative New York Times journalists Jane Bradley and Michael Schwirtz speak to True Spies producer Frank Palmer about the discovery of a Russian 'spy factory' in Brazil. This is a free taster of the exclusive content you'll uncover with a Spyscape+ subscription. Sign up at plus.spyscape.com . From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Frank Palmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jun 24, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 270
Journalist Stephen Davis has spent 30 years working to uncover the truth behind one of the most secretive chapters of the Gulf War. When British Airways Flight 149 landed in Kuwait on the 2nd of August, 1990, Saddam Hussein's invading army took the passengers hostage. Today, some of those passengers allege that they were subjected to horrific treatment - and that the British government could have averted their ordeal. In this Debrief, True Spies producer Morgan Childs joins Stephen to discuss hi...
Jun 17, 2025•45 min•Season 1Ep. 269
In late 2001, veteran CIA Officer Duane Evans deployed to Afghanistan as part of the US response to 9/11. This is his story. In Part 2, Duane and Team Foxtrot make the perilous journey to Kandahar. But the Afghan city proves to be no safe haven. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Frank Palmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jun 10, 2025•52 min•Season 1Ep. 267
In late 2001, veteran CIA Officer Duane Evans deployed to Afghanistan as part of the US response to 9/11. This is his story. In Part 1, we find Duane as he swears vengeance against Al Qaeda - and moves mountains to get himself to the heart of the action. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Frank Palmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jun 03, 2025•49 min•Season 1Ep. 267
