The Service

The Service

The day John Daniell turned 10, his mum told him she had been a spy. Now, he and Guyon Espiner are investigating a family story that could reveal New Zealand's biggest Cold War secret.

Episodes

June 3, 2020 3 mins

Just before he died, John Daniell's step-dad told him a secret from his time as a spy. A secret that was possibly New Zealand's biggest of the Cold War and that has never been revealed. Until now.

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In the midst of the Cold War, first John Daniell's mum and then his step-dad worked for New Zealand's Security Intelligence Service (SIS). Spies stayed in the...

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On his 10th birthday, John Daniell's Mum tells him she used to work for the SIS. But that's just the start of the secrets...

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

John Daniell grew up in a house where spying was the family business. His mum had worked for New Zealand's Security Intelligence (SIS) before he was born and his step-dad worked for them throughout his childhood.

Through the ...

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June 8, 2020 61 mins

New Zealand has Cold War spy stories we know about - and some we don't. Even now, it's hard to get people to talk. The big question is: who do you trust?

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

Throughout the Cold War a front-line of sorts stretched around the world, with intelligence officers in the trenches. It reached even to New Zealand, as the two nuclear superpowers squared off over political ide...

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June 9, 2020 51 mins

In the mid-1980s, New Zealand's anti-nuclear policy is attracting international attention. With the ANZUS alliance in crisis, the KGB see an opportunity.

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

The world lived under the shadow of the nuclear bomb through the 1980s and New Zealand briefly took centre stage in the debate when it went nuclear-free in 1986. It angered the Americans and put pressure on the ...

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June 9, 2020 59 mins

The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance with roots that go all the way back to World War II. It's a tight club - but just what does membership demand of us?

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

As the Iron Curtain came down across Europe at the end of World War II and allies united against Nazism splintered into Capitalist and Communist camps, a fraternity of intelligence agencies was created, kn...

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June 10, 2020 60 mins

In the final episode, we close in on the details around the joint MI6/SIS operation targeting the Czechoslovakian Embassy. Finally, someone who was on the raid breaks their silence. But there's a twist...

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

Wadestown, Wellington: 1986. A group of MI6 and SIS intelligence officers break into the Czechoslovakian Embassy to steal codes used by Warsaw Pact countries to...

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June 30, 2020 7 mins

More raids. More embassies. More breaking of international law. Ongoing investigations have uncovered other break-ins by New Zealand's SIS to bug and steal from embassies in Wellington, teaming up with the CIA as well as MI6.

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

Ongoing investigations have uncovered other break-ins by New Zealand's SIS to bug and steal from embassies in Wellington.

It turns out ...

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November 1, 2020 48 mins

Guyon and John break radio silence with new revelations about SIS operations, the reactions from Iran and India and news about surveillance of one of New Zealand's most renowned writers. And Guyon re-thinks his conclusions.

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

Four months on from its release, John Daniell and Guyon Espiner return with a special episode of The Service revealing their continuing inv...

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