COLD WAR CABARET

"One, Two, Three" meets "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold".

Berlin, 1959: Communism and capitalism stand face to face and the prospect of a nuclear Armageddon hangs over everything. Here, in a nightclub nicknamed Cabaret of the Cold War, the city's spies, politicians, crooks, businessmen and ladies of the night meet, accompanied by the sultry sounds of Hannelore Eckert (stage name Hanna Dietrich), the beautiful, cynical singer with the voice of an angel and the mind of a Machiavelli.

It's the fiercely contested phase of the race by the superpowers to get into space – and so far the Russians are clearly in the lead, while on the American side, one rocket after another explodes on the launch pad.

Washington suspects the Russians of sabotaging its space programme, and as both sides employ German scientists who previously worked on Hitler's weapons programme, a daring CIA man is assigned to investigate.
Meanwhile, the KGB boss decides to use a secret from his past to force him to become a double agent.

At the same time, a British agent, who has just lost his position as Hanna's lover to Tony, is working on a sophisticated plan to intercept communications by the Russian military.

Sometimes working together, sometimes against each other, all three now try to penetrate the complex web of deceptions in which scores from the Second World War, love affairs, betrayal and shady business transactions are intertwined. Meanwhile, Hanna Dietrich is willing to do anything to keep the secrets of her past from being uncovered and to keep her Cabaret alive. In the meantime, the clock is ticking down relentlessly to a spectacular finale in which the first man is finally sent into space.
But will this historic astronaut be a Russian or an American?

Cold War Cabaret is a cynical, fast-paced story interlaced with dry humour that looks back at the cool retro era of the early James Bond and John le Carré stories – and the true events that inspired them.

Series
Concept: Uwe Kersken
Scriptwriter: Gavin Scott