Reilly: Ace of Spies

Sidney Reilly

Narrator (11 episodes, 1983)

Cummings

Dzerzhinsky

Hill

Margaret (5 episodes, 1983)

Savinkov

In 1895 Sidney Reilly had an affair with Ethel Lillian Voynich, a married Russian author. In 1897 Voynich wrote a popular novel, The Gadfly. It was rumored that the adventurous hero of the novel was based on Reilly. In 1956, the novel was made into a movie and Dmitri Shostakovich was commissioned to compose the music. The same music, "The Gadfly-Romance", is heard as the theme to the Reilly: Ace of Spies television production.

Nadia Massino did not marry Alfred Nobel - he died a bachelor in 1896 and according to the series, Reilly met her in the 20th century. Feliz Dzerzhinsky never met Reilly, and did not carry out the interrogation or execution. Reilly also was not connected with the forged letter that toppled the British government.