Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema: Spies

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Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Mark Kermode reveals the film-making tricks and techniques behind classic movie genres.

Mark Kermode reveals the film-making tricks and techniques behind classic movie genres, from romcoms to horrors.

Series 2

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Mark Kermode

Kim Newman

John Das

Nick Freand Jones

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema: Series 2: Spies

Spies

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Mark Kermode uncovers the cinematic and storytelling secrets of spy movies.

Mark Kermode uncovers the cinematic and storytelling secrets of one of the most popular genres of all - the spy movie.

Mark Kermode explores one of the most distinctive and popular genres of all. The spy movie plays on our paranoia and feeds our fears as well as fulfilling our fantasies of secret missions and special skills. It has also given us perhaps the most famous hero in all of cinema – James Bond. 

Spy movies capture a world not of black and white but shades of grey. But if the morality is often ambiguous, the genre is full of tried and tested conventions. Mark opens up the cinematic agent’s essential toolkit, from the spy boss to the mysterious McGuffin, surveillance techniques to a striking set of opening titles, and he traces the development of the genre from its earliest days.

Whether you’re a blockbuster superspy or a compromised cold warrior, Mark reveals all you need to survive in the murky yet thrilling world of big screen espionage.

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema: Series 2

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

Mark Kermode dives into superhero movies, spy films and cinema's take on British history.

Mark Kermode explores the conventions that underwrite the movies we love the most and the techniques film-makers use to keep us coming back for more.

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