WHO’S IN IT?
Judi Dench (Iris), Sophie Cookson (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Tom Hughes (Cemetery Junction), Tereza Srbova (Eastern Promises), Laurence Spellman (Fury), Stephen Campbell Moore (Goodbye Christopher Robin), Ben Miles (V For Vendetta), Robin Soans (The Queen), Kevin Fuller (film debut), Ciarán Owens (film debut), Stephen Boxer (The Trial of the King Killers)
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Trevor Nunn (Lady Jane), director; Lindsay Shapero (The Head Hunter), writer; David Parfitt (Shakespeare in Love), producer; George Fenton (I, Daniel Blake), composer; Zac Nicholson (The Death of Stalin), cinematographer; Kristina Hetherington (Trespass Against Us), editor
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
In the late 1930s, young student Joan Stanley (Cookson), a Soviet and sympathiser of the Communist Party, is recruited by the KGB whilst also being employed as a civil servant for the British government. In her position, she is able to transfer secrets about the nuclear bomb to the Soviet Union, and remains their longest-serving spy until, many years later when she is much older (Dench), she is arrested by the authorities…
IN ONE SENTENCE, WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?
Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson both excel as old and young variations of the title character, in a film based on the life of convicted KGB spy Melita Norwood.