First in a three part series shown on BBC2 in 2002 that examines the 'Secret State' intelligence services of MI5 and Special Branch, including interviews with ex-spies who infiltrated protest and political groups. This episode features actor Ricky Tomlinson who was considered a subversive and spied on in the 1970s because of his trades union and left wing activity.
The programme revealed for the first time how fear of revolution led to the formation of the Special Demonstrations Squad in 1968, whose operatives used dead children's identities to spy on Marxist and Trotskyist groups and also the Anti-Apartheid movement. Ex-Special Branch officers interviewed include Tony Robinson, and Ken Day. Amongst the 'subversives' interviewed are Tariq Ali, Arthur Scargill, Jack Dromey - an organiser in the Grunwick Dispute of 1976-78 - and a trades unionist from Liverpool named Tom who was blacklisted from Ford,
