Cambridge Five: The Spy Scandal That Broke M16

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana

Wondery | Ballen Studios

True Crime, History

4.3 • 668 Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

They were charming, brilliant, and deeply embedded in the British establishment — but they were also secretly working for the enemy. Later dubbed the Cambridge Five, this ring of Soviet spies passed government secrets to Moscow right under British Intelligence’s nose for decades. But when two of them suddenly vanished in 1951, suspicions erupted into one of the biggest espionage scandals in history, shaking the British and American intelligence communities to their core.

Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletter

Follow Redacted: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting https://wondery.com/links/redacted/ now.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Wonderry Plus subscribers can listen to Redacted, declassified mysteries early and ad-free right now.
0:06.9	Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:19.1	Just before dawn, on May 26, 1951, two men stood on the deck of a ship approaching the French coast.
0:27.6	One was Donald McLean. He was a high-ranking British diplomat who led the American department in the British Foreign Office.
0:35.6	The other was Guy Burgess, an officer in Britain's Secret
0:39.0	Intelligence Service, MI6. On the surface, nothing about this seemed suspicious. Burgess had told
0:46.7	friends he was taking a vacation. McLean, however, hadn't informed anyone about his departure
0:52.1	and was expected back at work after the weekend.
0:55.7	Through the early morning mist, Burgess watched the French port city of San Malo come into
1:00.5	view. Despite the open sea air, he felt the walls closing in. He pulled a flask from his coat pocket,
1:07.7	his hands shaking as he took a long swig of whiskey. As the ship docked,
1:13.1	McLean signaled that it was time to go. The two men descended the gangplank with the rest
1:17.7	of the passengers. A crew member reminded them to return within a few hours before the ship's
1:23.0	departure. Burgess smiled and nodded, but he knew they had no intention of coming back. A few hours
1:30.6	later, armed with false passports and new identities, they boarded a train bound for the real
1:36.5	destination, Moscow. The next Monday in England, British intelligence erupted in chaos.
1:45.0	Two of their most senior agents had just defected to the Soviet Union, and one had been just hours away from being arrested.
1:53.0	MI6 had spent that very weekend building their case against Donald McLean, convinced he was a Soviet spy.
2:00.0	But their operation crumbled when both McLean and Burgess vanished.
2:04.6	Safely behind the Iron Curtain, Burgess wondered how long it would take to discover who had warned them.
2:10.6	MI6 had no idea that it was Kim Filby, their own former counterintelligence chief, and a Soviet spy all along.
2:24.8	Hi, I'm Mr. Ballin, the host of Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 14 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery | Ballen Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery | Ballen Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.