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A major arms control treaty is in the works. The foreign service is for it, so Burnside is against it. What can he do? Work with the KGB who also want to scuttle the treaty behind the back of the Politburo? Tricky tricky... [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Oct 16, 2016 - 5 comments

Burnside gets his annual medical exam. He needs a break. Hey, that post in Madrid just became vacant...
posted by the man of twists and turns on Sep 27, 2016 - 2 comments

A Briton in Prague has died in a 2 am car wreck after leaving a party at midnight. He was also an excellent intelligence source. The crash scene was only five miles from the party. Where was he for the two hours?
posted by the man of twists and turns on Sep 25, 2016 - 2 comments

Burnside is approached by an old colleague to place a long-term mole in the Soviet Union. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Sep 23, 2016 - 3 comments

Burnside takes a working holiday to Rhodes with Peele and Wellingham. Willie Caine fills in as D-Ops, and fields a request - and some snark - from the CIA. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Sep 20, 2016 - 3 comments

D-Int takes a working holiday to Malta. Is everything on the up-and-up? [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Sep 17, 2016 - 2 comments

Acting on a tip from D-Int, Burnside starts investigating whether Jeff Ross’s wife is being targeted by MI5. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Sep 14, 2016 - 3 comments

C tenders his resignation. Who will replace him? And who does Burnside want? And there's another resignation to follow... [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Sep 10, 2016 - 5 comments

Burnside receives his annual report and finds that his career prospects have suddenly dimmed. Willie Caine and Karen Milner returning from a conference in Sri Lanka when their flight is hijacked by terrorists and forced to land in Turkey. Burnside struggles to put together a rescue mission when the rest of the government has decided not to act.
posted by Grimgrin on Apr 22, 2016 - 4 comments

One year after the disastrous mission in last season's finale. The head of the Bulgarian Secret Service offers detailed information on active agents abroad, but demands that a Sandbagger makes the trade, that night. Burnside fears a setup, but ultimately the prospect of the information being offered is too tempting and the mission goes ahead.
posted by Grimgrin on Apr 8, 2016 - 6 comments

An East German photo technician who has been spying for the SIS, becomes convinced he's under surveillance. Laura Dickens is sent into East Berlin to bring him out, together with a cache of photos of a new missile base. [more inside]
posted by Grimgrin on Apr 1, 2016 - 8 comments

A British engineer specializing in missile engines goes missing in Cypress. Around the same time a Russian engineer specializing in guidance systems goes missing in Syria. Willie Caine is sent to Cypress to investigate after a SIS officer stationed in Cypress is gunned down. Meanwhile Burnside and Laura Dickens begin a relationship.
posted by Grimgrin on Mar 25, 2016 - 4 comments

After the deaths of two Sandbaggers, Burnside and Caine seek new agents for the special section. The only suitable new recruit, Laura Dickens, will be the first woman to be recruited as a Sandbagger. While shorthanded Burnside has to deal with two crises, as the #2 Algerian SIS officer is murdered in Gibraltar and Jeff Ross alerts Burnside possibility that the SIS may hae been compromise. The CIA has discovered that Colin Grove, a highly placed operations officer, has been seeing a psychiatrist that may be a KGB spy. [more inside]
posted by Grimgrin on Mar 11, 2016 - 11 comments

Jake Landy, Sandbagger 2, is killed when a mission goes wrong. After the mission Alan Denson, Sandbagger 3 decides to leave the service and marry his girlfriend. Burnside attempts to sabotage Denson's relationship in order to keep him in the Sandbaggers. Meanwhile, the SIS is called to investigate a homosexual relationship being carried on by a highly placed officer in the UK embassy in Paris, who's brother is a leader in the opposition party in Westminster.
posted by Grimgrin on Mar 4, 2016 - 10 comments

The chief scientific advisor of the British government is spotted in Vienna when he is supposed to be on vacation in Scotland. While investigating the possible defection, Burnside attempts to get approval to assassinate an East African head of state in retaliation for the murder of British citizens.
posted by Grimgrin on Feb 26, 2016 - 8 comments

Neil Burnside (Roy Marsden), The Director of Operations for the Special Intelligence Service, notices he's being tailed on his way to work. The tail turns out to have been set by the new chief of Norway's intelligence service, Lars Torvik, seeking to train his agents on MI6 personnel. Torvik asks for Burnside to assist in training his agents in exchange for intelligence the Norwegians are in the process of gathering. When the Norwegian operation goes wrong, Torvik asks the Burnside to put together a dangerous rescue mission in Soviet territory, but soon becomes frustrated by Burnside's apparent lack of action. [more inside]
posted by Grimgrin on Feb 19, 2016 - 17 comments