Stand aside 007, here’s a real spy

Sam Neill (below) was once in the running to replace Roger Moore as James Bond, and he’d have been pretty good too if this 12-part spy drama is anything to go by. Written by Troy Kennedy Martin, best known for creating Z Cars and the original screenplay for The Italian Job, it focuses on the story of Sidney Reilly, a real-life Russian-born British secret agent and a suave, sophisticated womaniser. Reilly’s major accomplishments – including the infiltration of the German army in 1917 and plotting the overthrow of the Bolsheviks a year later – are among the feats depicted in the Baftawinning series that was first broadcast in 1983 that is still a thrilling watch today. Acorn TV, from Monday