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The grey zone is described as the area between war and peace, home to assassinations, cyber hacks and disinformation. Such weapons are used by states against each other in that space that sits under the threshold of war, but could be just as dangerous if ignored.

This nine-part series from Sky News’ award-winning podcast team, presented by the network’s foreign affairs editor, Deborah Haynes, features a series of exclusive interviews with spies and military chiefs, offering an insight into the murky evolution of warfare which it is argued could unravel democracies around the world without a shot being fired.

This is an invisible battlefield, but one that could prove to be just as deadly as the real thing, as the series reveals the covert tactics used by states, criminals and terrorist groups to deceive, gain influence and sometimes kill.among the subjects being

looked at are the attempted assassinations of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, with Haynes travelling to Salisbury – where the attack took place – with the widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. There is also the Wannacry attack, blamed on North Korea, which hit the NHS in 2017 and impacted the care of thousands of patients, and the strike on little-known British organisation, the Institute For Statecraft, which ran a programme aimed at combating suspected Russian disinformation.

The series also looks at how China and Iran allegedly operate in the grey zone, and why democratic elections are being threatened.

And Haynes travels to a remote cottage where the battle against fake news and online trolls is being combated, because the frontline can be anywhere in the grey zone.