1. A very popular genre – whether it be modern, cold-war or even historical – a good ‘cloak and dagger’ story always works well.
2. A genre that works extremely well with the medium of radio – all those word pictures, voice inflections and sound effects create vivid mind pictures.
3. The images represented in these radio series meant that each individual listener created their own mind pictures – rather than images created by someone else.
4. Traditionally these series were broadcast later in the evening (so that the children didn’t go to bed and have nightmares).
5. The Adventures of Major Gregory Keen (the first of which is Dossier on Dumetrius) was one of the first post-war espionage series. Its outstanding success meant the follow-on adventure (Deadly Nightshade) was commissioned almost immediately. There are five adventures in the series.
6. Long regarded as a forerunner to the James Bond franchise, The Adventures of Major Gregory Keen were penned by Lindsay Hardy – who had met and mixed with some of the inspirations for his characters when he was in London.
7. Other popular titles in this genre include A Mask For Alexis, Goodbye Gwynnevere, The Red Gardenia and Undercover.
8. We also have a series titled I, Spy in which each episode is a self-contained story – supposedly a true story – in which a person or event is detailed.
9. As the behaviour of spies and commandos necessarily involves an element of crime – these stories are usually categorised as ‘Crime & Mystery’. Who are we to draw a line on what is crime and what is espionage??
10. We’ve been told on more than one occasion – that people who listen to these stories in their cars have missed their turn-off due to their focus on the plot.

Each episode is introduced by Gregory Keen, brilliantly played by Bruce Stewart.  No narrator is used, so the programe is alive the instant each chapter takes the air.  Touches of actuality create an atmosphere of realism throughout.  From the opening scenes, as the web is spun to enmesh the characters one after another to the climax – the suspense mounts, the pace quickens.