Spyship (1983)★ 7.6/10

GB,AU,US · 60 min · November 9, 1983 · 1 seasons

• Drama

Directed by: Michael Custance

Written by: Brian Haynes, Tom Keene, James Mitchell, Robert Smith

Suspicions are aroused when a British trawler goes missing... Tom Wilkinson leads the astonishing BBC Cold War drama inspired by real events. Enter a nightmarish world of political cover-ups of international consequence in the last decade of the Cold War in this six-part BBC drama. When an ordinary British fishing vessel and its 36-man crew mysteriously disappears off the coast of Norway, journalist Martin Taylor (Tom Wilkinson) is determined to find out why. His father was on board, and is now missing. His investigations soon lead him to run up against the twin barriers of Royal Navy stonewalling and an impenetrable Soviet Politburo. The notorious finale shocked audiences when it was first aired in 1983. The haunting theme 'A Cold Wind', sung by June Tabor, was so popular it was released as a single. Spyship is based on the fictional novel by Brian Haynes and Tom Keene, former reporters who researched the real life sinking of the FV Gaul in 1974 which was shrouded in mystery.