Wonderry Plus subscribers can binge full seasons of the Spy Who early and add free on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app.

August 30th, 1971, 3.30am, Curzon Street, London.

A car screeches to a halt outside MI5's headquarters.

An assistant director Peter Wright rushes out.

There's a look of panic etched onto his face.

Wright hurries inside, where Oleg Leland's bearded case officer, Tony Brooks, is waiting for him.

Tony, what on earth is going on? What's the emergency?

It's Leland. The bloody fool's gone and got himself arrested for drunk driving.

He's being held at Tonton Court Road Police Station.

Christ.

Do the Russians know? You don't think they could get to him inside, do you? We've got special branch on guard, but who knows what the KGB could try? We don't know where they might have people,

or what they're capable of. Right, you'd better come with me. They enter Wright's office and shut the door behind

them. Wright kneels down, unlocks his safe, and removes a small bag resembling a builder's

toolkit. Okay, these are the antidotes to every known poison used by the KGB, at least the ones for which

antidotes exist. This is for a nerve agent like Sarin, and this is for thallium. You'll need to know

how to spot the symptoms. You can talk me through on the way to the police station. Good thinking.

Let's move. The two men rush out of the office. They are now in a race with the KGB to

reach Leland first, and it's a race they can't afford to lose. For if they fail, MI5 could find

itself with a dead double agent and its push to kick the Soviet spies out of Britain in ruins.

This episode is brought to you by Netflix and their new four-part documentary,

Attack on London, hunting the 7-7 bombers, available now.

You may, like me, remember where you were when news broke of the deadly attacks on London's transport system 20 years ago. 52 people of 18 nationalities were killed and 800 injured.

...