Secret Service is based on this ITV news presenter's book and they even make a cameo
"I met a lot of spies"
Secret Service, Gemma Arterton’s new globe-trotting spy thriller, is based on a book – and it comes from the mind of an ITV news presenter.
Arterton isn’t a stranger to the world of espionage. She’s an ex-Bond girl, starring alongside Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace. She also played one of the Kingsmen’s gun-toting founders in The King’s Man.
In Secret Service, a timely, present-day thriller, she plays an MI6 officer who suspects there’s a Russian mole within the UK government.
Where it ranks among the best ITVX dramas remains to be seen. However, it’s based on an ITV news anchor’s best-selling book, billed as being perfect for fans of Line of Duty and Bodyguard.
Who wrote Secret Service?
Not only is Secret Service based on a book by ITV News’ Tom Bradby, but he co-wrote the screenplay.
The book (also called Secret Service) was originally published in May 2019, releasing to rave reviews and becoming a Sunday Times bestseller.
While Brady may be immediately recognisable as one of ITV News at Ten’s anchors, he was also a political editor between 2005 and 2015 and presented his own show (The Agenda) for four years.
He’s been with ITV for his whole career, starting as a trainee and rising to become ITV’s Ireland correspondent in the mid-90s. He covered major stories (like the IRA ceasefire) before pivoting to Asia, where he was shot and injured while covering the 1998 Jakarta riots.
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Bradby returned to the UK in the early 2000s, taking on a stint as a royal correspondent before becoming political editor.
Secret Service isn’t the only book he’s written, either.
How Tom Bradby’s real-life experience led to Secret Service
Bradby isn’t a spy (though, he wouldn’t admit it, would he…). But he has spoken to several spies over the course of his career.
“I met a lot of spies over the time I was UK Editor and Political Editor and generally found them impressive,” he told the Royal Television Society.
“They’re usually quiet, not showy, not flashy. They’re doing a very important job. It was really important to me that we were going to do a drama where the politics felt real and the spying felt real.”
Conspiracy theories about clandestine Russian activity in western politics have become increasingly common. For Bradby, this became the inspiration for his Secret Service story.
“What really interested me was: what if you are the MI6 officer and have your family life that you’re juggling, and you get this bombshell of intelligence that one of your leading politicians may be a Russian asset. How does that play out?” he said.
Look out for Tom Bradby’s cameo
Brady appears several times throughout Secret Service, reporting on events that trigger major developments in the story.
He doesn’t play a spy, or a different character: he’s simply playing himself, in a fun, meta cameo.
He’s not the only news presenter or journalist who appears in the show either. Susanna Reid and Ed Balls make appearances, as well as ITV’s Robert Peston, all playing themselves.
How to watch Secret Service
Secret Service will air its first episode on ITV1 at 9pm on Monday, April 27.
However, much like Gone and The Lady, you can stream the whole five-part series straight away on ITVX now.
Read more: The best movies on ITVX you can stream for free
