Duncan Ross

A spin-off/rebranding of the previous 1965 series The Mask of Janus, The Spies is a more conventional espionage thriller than its predecessor, being explicitly concerned with the actual operations of British secret service agents stationed in the fictional European country of Amalia.

A writer, Arnold Reed, goes back to his former boyhood home in the East End, and there, finding it about to be torn down, he revisits his attic room, and stumbles on evidence of the operations of dealers in illegal traffic. He breaks his ankle and has to hide from the criminals, one of whom is a murderer.

The 30 minute play, specially written for television by Scottish writer, Duncan Ross, takes place in a pub in Yorkshire. Marius plays Lester Hockley, a man blind from birth. Lester has been secretary to a deceased artist, Paul Stanton, whose character and work are being discussed by the regulars in the pub that night.