The Spy Who - The Spy Who Saved MI5 (Encore) | The Dominoes Fall | 4
Episode Date: July 8, 2025Operation Foot is now happening. And British government knows that its attempt to neutralise the KGB in London will be met with hostility from Moscow. But it’s not just the UK that must pre...pare for the retaliation, for Oleg Lyalin is also about to discover what it will cost to escape the KGB’s wrath.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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September 24th, 1971. The Foreign Office, London.
John Leahy strolls down the corridor towards the press briefing room.
Leahy is the Foreign Office's head of news and this afternoon there's a spring in his step.
He greets the civil servant waiting for him outside the briefing room.
How's it looking there? Full house? Yes sir. Slow news day apparently.
Well, let's see if we can't help them out with that.
Apparently. Well, let's see if we can't help them out with that.
Leahy strides into the briefing room.
The morose board journalists don't even acknowledge his arrival.
Leahy shrugs it off.
He knows today's briefing will shake them out of their apathy.
He walks to the lectern, opens his folder of notes and experiences a surge of adrenaline. Hello gentlemen.
My colleague informs me your editors are in search of some headlines.
Permit me to assist.
At quarter past three this afternoon, the permanent undersecretary handed a list of
names to the Soviet charged affair in London.
On that list were the names of 90 Soviet officials
who we have good reason to believe work as Russian intelligence officers. These men and women must
leave the country within the next two weeks. Another 15 Soviet officials who are currently
traveling outside the country will be refused re-entry to Britain. Some of the journalists leaned forward in their seats,
roused from their stupor.
No one expected such drastic action from the British Foreign Office.
The Soviets will not be allowed to replace any of those expelled.
These men and women are known to have engaged in espionage on British soil. These activities include plotting sabotage operations
on critical civilian and military infrastructure.
One of the journalists raises his hand.
Is this related to the news of a KGB defector
as reported in today's London Evening News?
No comment.
The journalist take that as a yes.
Another hand goes up.
So is you saying nineteen spies?
No.
Ninety.
Nine zero.
As the scale of the British response becomes clear,
one of the journalists rises from his chair
and runs for the bank of phones set up at the far end of the room.
Others follow.
Soon the room is filled with
urgent conversation as each journalist demands their editor hold the front page.
Leahy smiles. After months of planning, Operation Foot is underway.
105 Soviet spies are getting booted out of Britain.
But now Britain's made its move.
It must brace for the retaliation.
For there's no doubt that the Soviets will respond.
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From Wondery, I'm Raaza Jafri, and this is The Spy Who.
On the last episode, Oleg Levin and Irina Teplikova defected to Britain.
MI5 secured a treasure trove of KGB secrets and Prime Minister Edward Heath approved Operation Foot, the plan to kick 105 Soviet spies out of Britain.
Now Operation Foot is in motion.
But the government and MI5 know it's only a matter of time before the Soviets respond
to Britain's decisive strike at the KGB.
You're listening to The Spy Who Saved MI5, Episode 4, The Domino's Fall.
Around a cottage at the end of a country road in South East England, CCTV cameras swivel
and pressure-powered alarms lay hidden among the bushes.
Behind the green painted front door, Oleg Leleon comforts his girlfriend Irina Tepliakhova.
He's right, Irushka, you know as well as I that they won't stop until they've found us.
Leland's MI5 handler, Tony Brooks, nods in agreement. Plastic surgery is really the
best option here. The news of your defection has leaked. We've announced the expulsion of
your former comrades. It's only a matter of time before your names and faces appear on the front pages.
And not to sound indelicate, but we don't want two dead Russians on our hands.
Brooke's bluntness shakes Tapiekova from her grief.
He leans forward.
You don't have to decide today.
We strongly recommend plastic surgery, but it's your decision. There are other ways to disappear. Of course, and we can and will support you.
We'll provide shoes that make you taller, training on how to move and act differently
vocal work. As for location, we're thinking Bournemouth or Yorkshire,
somewhere a good distance from London. Why not London?
Seven million people live there. We'd be invisible.
The risks are too severe, Oleg.
The Soviet embassy and trade delegation are based there.
London is where you're most likely to accidentally bump into someone.
Now will we afford to live?
They will be exactly as we agreed.
You'll be a quiet, European couple of means.
You'll get a generous lump sum plus annual payments for the rest of your life.
You can work for pleasure or interest, but you won't have to worry about money.
Tablíakova and Lalin look at each other.
Their affairs already cost them their country, their families and their children.
Now their identities and their faces are going too.
September 24th, Mayfair, London. The evening Operation Foot was announced.
In a large room at MI5 headquarters,
the team's enjoying a rare celebration.
The door of a huge vault filled with bottles of wine
and whiskey hangs wide open.
In one corner, two MI5 officers trade gossip.
So, let me get this straight.
Irina wasn't the only one.
You had three women on the go, and the rest.
Don't know how you managed them all.
What a dog.
Couldn't manage the admin myself.
The expulsion of 105 Soviet spies represents the service's greatest win
since the Second World War. It's also a much-needed victory after MI5's failure to prevent former
British intelligence officer Kim Philby's defection to Russia in 1963. Operation Foot has smashed
Soviet spy operations in Britain. The MI5 officers stop talking
as Director General Martin Furnival Jones
calls the room to attention.
Furnival Jones waits for the chatter to stop
and then addresses his troops.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I be the first to say to you all,
congratulations.
For Furnival Jones, today has been a long time coming.
After years of being outplayed by the KGB, Britain's Homeland Security Service has finally
managed to deal a blow to Soviet intelligence.
Your diligence and hard work has finally paid off. We've succeeded in turning a major Russian asset,
and that has given us grounds to expel dozens of KGB officers.
We have dealt a profound blow to Soviet intelligence operations in our country,
and upheld the security of Her Majesty's realm.
Your work is also making the world safer.
Our colleagues in France, Germany, America and beyond
are sending messages of congratulations
and now hope to persuade their governments to follow our example.
Across the world, the KGB will be feeling the heat.
Furnival Jones raises his glass into the air.
So drink.
You've earned it.
But a word of caution.
No good expulsion goes unpunished.
The Foreign Secretary will meet the Soviet Foreign Minister
in New York tomorrow.
I think we can all anticipate how that exchange will go.
The Russians, they take their vengeance
like they take their vodka.
Neat, swift, and usually in a series of shots.
Still, that's tomorrow's problem.
And tonight, we drink.
The party lasts long into the night.
But the dawn will bring with it the threat of reprisal.
The next day.
In a side room within the United Nations building in New York,
Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko jabs his finger into the chest of British Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas Hume.
Provocatia! Provocatia!
Sir Alec feigns ignorance. He's enjoying having the upper hand.
Andrei, what exactly is on your mind?
You know very well. How dare you expel our people and threaten us
what gives you the rights. My dear man I am flattered. Do you really think my
country can threaten yours? Gromiko Scowls. This is no laughing matter.
Sir Alex Manor hardens.
This is not the first time the pair have addressed the issue of Soviet spies in London.
I have written to you time and again about this problem,
and you had every opportunity to deal with this matter privately.
Instead, you just ignored my letters.
Your claims were entirely fabricated,
a mirage of your own making, another baseless attack against Russia's virtuous name.
We have no spies in your little country.
Come on now, seriously?
I resent your implication.
With the greatest respect,
why would we want to spy on England?
It's tragic in its way.
You also believe you're this great empire.
Such delusion.
Gromiko has overstepped the line.
Sir Alex spots an opportunity to deliver a counterpunch to Gromyko's ego.
Well then, I am glad that we've been able to inform you just how many Soviet officials
in Britain work for the KGB.
Or perhaps you simply lack the necessary security
clearance to be informed? Gromyko sees he's caught in a bind. This is diplomatic hooliganism.
You bear full responsibility for this provocation. Know this, if you proceed,
Know this, if you proceed, Anglo-Soviet relations will be forever ruined, and there will be consequences.
And if you retaliate by expelling our people from Moscow, we will respond in kind.
We know the identities of many other Soviet intelligence officers operating in our country,
and won't hesitate to boot them out too, if we must. The two men glare at one another for a
moment. Then, with a sharp nod, Sir Alec leaves the room. He just hopes his threat is enough to protect Britain from the Soviets' retaliation.
Five days later, outside the Soviet embassy in London, Daily Express reporter Roy Blackman
watches the door, ready to pounce on any Soviet official that emerges.
Blackman's editor has dispatched him here to try and get the scoop on the identity of the KGB defector.
So far, neither the British or Soviets are naming him.
Blackman spots Vladimir Pavlinov leaving the embassy and rushes over.
He knows Pavlinov is a new arrival, sent in by Moscow to deal with the unfolding chaos in London.
Mr Pavlinov? Roy Blackman, Daily Express. Moment of your time, please. What do you want?
What is the name of the Soviet who defected to Britain?
Pavlinov pauses and lights a cigarette.
He senses that this could be an opportunity to regain control of the situation.
The British are already arresting the agents Lelin knows about. Siraj Abdul Khadir and two
others are already facing imprisonment. Maybe he can save others from the same fate. You understand
I am not permitted to give you his name.
And if your own government won't help you with your story, why should I? But he is a spy, that's true, right? I'm as puzzled as you about these claims.
He's a man of little importance, and who knows, maybe he'll come back to us, so
it would be foolish to brand him. If he is of such minor importance,
you won't mind
sharing his name then.
Pavlinov flicks his cigarette onto the ground and stubs it out with his heel.
You know the traitor's name already.
You published it in your paper a month ago.
Ten lines.
How can I put it?
He is someone who likes to drink. How does that help? We know
he's Russian. And who likes to drive. Pavlinov smiles as the reporter races away. By morning,
Lelin's name and photo will be known across the world. Every agent he hasn't already
betrayed will have a chance to cover their tracks.
And with the fallout from Leland's defection contained,
the Soviets can now focus on how to respond
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["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
September 27th, 1971, Moscow Airport. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev stomps down the gangway towards the VIP lounge with a face like thunder.
He's just cut short a tour of the Balkans to fly back to Moscow for an emergency meeting of the Politburo, the Communist Party committee that runs the Soviet Union. As he enters the lounge the other members
of the Politburo rise to their feet. Sit. Sit. I've cut short my tour and cancelled
tonight's banquet of the Prime Minister of India because of this mess in London.
Andropov, explain yourself. KGB chief Yuri Andropov calmly adjusts his thick glasses.
He knows Brezhnev will want to pin this on him and use it to reign in the KGB's power.
And he has no intention of allowing that.
The British expulsions are a temporary setback.
We still have a strong presence in Britain.
I don't care about the expulsions Brezhnev cuts in
I care about this traitor Lelen
He knows all about Department V and his plans knowledge that will undermine my attempts to reduce tensions with the West
Why was this allowed to happen?
Lelen is a drunk and a womanizer this much we already knew
But the officer we dispatched to investigate
Lelen failed to press these concerns with sufficient vigor, causing the risk to be ignored.
The officer will be punished for this." Rejnev bristles at Andropov's maneuvering.
None of this helps. Department V has been exposed. This failure has set back our efforts to find
a way to counter NATO's military advantage by years. It will be fixed, it won't. Not
by you at least. I am taking control of this situation. You will dismantle Department V and recall its officers to Moscow."
Andropov looks dismayed.
Brezhnev's order will risk the lives of his officers and weaken the KGB's presence across
the world.
That would immediately confirm the recalled agents as spies.
They'll be unable to work outside the USSR again.
Better ex-spies at home than live spies in enemy hands. The damage must
be contained and drop-off sees. It is clear that Brezhnev is using Lelin's defection
as an opportunity to wrest control of the Soviet Union away from the KGB. Why punish
our agents for Lelin's betrayal? There is another way. We respond
to the expulsions in kind. We could wipe out the British presence in Moscow.
That is no longer your call to make. Comrades, Rejnev has made his point. It's time to leave.
As the meeting breaks up and Dropov pulls aside one of his deputies,
what are you waiting for? Find Leran. Kill him.
The deputy nods in understanding. The traitor must pay.
Three days later, Marlborough magistrates court, London.
Order!
The magistrate looks around his packed courtroom.
So many people turned out to see Oleg Lelin stand trial for drink driving, that some had
to be turned away.
Lelin's name has been splashed across the front pages and the world's press
want a glimpse of the man the papers call a KGB super spy.
At 10.30 sharp the court jailer stands to address the room.
Remand number one sir, no answer. A police sergeant steps into the empty witness box
and turns to the magistrate. No appearance sir. A police sergeant steps into the empty witness box and turns to the magistrate. No appearance, sir. The magistrate surveys the audience. He wonders if any of the people in
the gallery are KGB assassins sent in the hope that Leland would make an appearance.
He nods at the police sergeant in the witness box. Very well.
Everyone in court looks puzzled at the magistrate's lack of concern at Lelen's no-show.
But the government's already told him it's too dangerous for Lelen to attend court
and that it plans to dismiss the charges.
October 1971, MI5 safe house, South East England. Sit still please Mr Lelen, these photographs are a vital part of the process.
In Lelen and Teplje Ková's heavily guarded countryside hideaway, a plastic surgeon hired
by MI5 photographs Oleg Lenin's face.
All being well, the spy will undergo the first of several operations to alter his appearance the following week.
Make sure you get my best side.
On that note, do you take requests this jawline could do with a tuck?
Please, stop moving.
It's not like I'll be working in the canteen of the Soviet Embassy.
At least, permit me to keep my looks. Mr. Lelin, I'm not here to fix your flaws. I'm here to make you
someone else. Turn around, please. How long will the operation take?
Operations, Mr. Lelin. This will be a multi-stage process. Your wounds should have healed by the
spring. The surgeon puts down his camera and uses a pen to mark out lines for incision on Lelen's
face.
Lelen holds still as the surgeon draws dotted lines beneath his eyes.
"...And what about my arena?
You're doing her too, right?"
"...I hope so.
You have a steady hand, I can see.
By the way, if you need some inspiration for a makeover, I have a few suggestions.
I'm surprised you think this is funny, Mr. Lennon.
I'm being serious.
As am I.
My job is not to flatter you, but help you stay alive.
Hold still.
The surgeon picks up his camera
and takes another reference photo.
and takes another reference photo.
October 4th, 1971. Tilbury docks, Essex.
Through the autumn fog, more than 200 expelled Soviets and their families watch as dockers load their belongings onto the aging cruise ship, Baltica.
Yellow stains streak from the ship's portholes and smoke rises lazily from her chimney stack.
A hammer and sickle flag flutters from the stern.
At the foot of the gangway,
one expelled Russian diplomat
barks at the dock workers
as they ready his belongings
for the crane to lift on board.
Careful with that,
I will hold you personally responsible
for any breakages.
Sure thing, Vlad.
Send me the invoice when you reach Leningrad.
Like many of his colleagues,
the diplomat has filled his luggage with luxuries
that fetch a high price on the black market back home.
Items like Coca-Cola, cigarettes and whiskey.
Bewildered children clutch their teddy bears and watch as a crane lifts their parents' cars
into the air and onto the ship.
The diplomat heads up the gangway.
He glances at the press photographers peering through their lenses from behind the dock's
wire fence, each of them hoping to capture the moment the KGB caught the boot.
He steps aboard and joins the crush of Soviets lining the ship's decks.
All aboard!
We're ready to sail!
Das Gerava, London.
As the Baltica sails along the River Thames and out into the North Sea, the diplomats
watch London and Britain disappear into the mist. Their
mission here has failed, but each man comforts himself that even if they
personally won't ever get the opportunity to return, the Soviet Union
will surely kick Britain's diplomats out of Moscow in revenge.
October 7th, 1971, Moscow.
In the lobby of the British Consul building, a distraught 51-year-old Russian woman
rages at the receptionist.
You lie! You lie! You have my daughter!
British Consul Ralph Griffiths hurries out of his office to see what's going on.
Excuse me, ma'am. I am the British Consul. Is there something I can assist you with?
The woman spins round to face him, her eyes reddened by tears and rage. I am Elizaveta Stetsenko, and I demand to see my daughter!
I'm sorry, Mrs. Stetsenko. I don't understand. Who is your daughter?
Irina Tepliakova! Your government has taken her hostage!
I assure you, that's not the case. But please, come to my office and we will discuss.
Griffith leads Stetsenko into his office.
Can I get you something?
Some tea, biscuits?
I don't want your English biscuits.
I want my daughter.
Why have you kidnapped my Irina?
I understand this must be very difficult for you Mrs Stetsenko, but the British government
has not kidnapped your daughter.
She asked to stay in Britain.
Lies, lies.
Your country is always harassing innocent Russians.
Stetsenko pulls out a copy of the Communist Party newspaper Pravda from her handbag.
She opens it to a story about the recent expulsions and angrily taps the page.
See here, it says how your intelligence services beat up our diplomats and steal from them.
That is, look, I don't know what I can tell you.
Your daughter is a free woman.
That cannot be!
It can't!
I have written twelve letters to Irina, but I have had not one reply.
Why?
This is not like her, and nobody here helps me.
I don't know if she's well, or even alive, where she is, or what happened to her.
Mrs. Stetsenko, I can assure you Irina is alive and well.
I can't tell you where she is because I have not been told.
But I can tell you she has requested asylum in Britain, along with Oleg Lelin.
Stetsenko's face contorts in disgust at the mention of Lelin.
That man is a traitor. What woman would abandon her husband and child, her child,
to be with such a man? My daughter would not disgrace our family name this way. It is impossible. Mrs. Stetsenko, if you have a message or a letter you wish to pass on to your daughter,
I can make sure it reaches her. But whether she replies or not is out of my hands.
Stetsenko glares at Griffiths for a moment and then calls a letter addressed to Tepliakhova
from her handbag.
She passes it to the British diplomat and hurries through the door.
Two days later, the British Embassy, Moscow.
Inside the embassy, Sir John Killick settles down for his evening meal of soup.
Sir John's the new British ambassador to the Soviet Union.
He's a veteran diplomat with a stiff, graying moustache, and he's not easily flustered.
He removes his napkin from its silver holder and tucks it into his shirt collar.
from its silver holder and tucks it into his shirt collar. As he raises his spoon to his lips,
a flustered official bursts into the room.
Sir, the Soviets demand your immediate presence at their foreign ministry.
Sir John sips the soup.
Sir, I heard you.
I'm sure whatever it is the Kremlin wishes to tell me
can wait until I've finished
my supper. I do not enjoy cold soup." Do you enjoy cold soup? No, sir, it's just they demanded an
immediate summons. Sir John takes another slow sip of soup. He thinks of the pressure the Soviets have placed on the British
embassy in recent weeks. The barrage of anti-British stories in Pravda. Diplomatic vehicles tailed
bumper to bumper. British mothers refused access to their children's Soviet nurseries.
Extra police posted outside the embassy. The expulsions are surely next. The official presses to John again,
sir they insisted you come immediately. Well now, I am sure the Russians are eager to inform me of
all the ways in which they plan to punish us. They'll have their moment. But I learned a long time ago never to rush
to a telling off. I'll be there soon. Very good, sir."
Sir John takes another sip of soup. He will answer the Russian summons, but at his own pace.
the Russian summons, but at his own pace. An hour later, Soviet Foreign Ministry, Moscow.
Sir John strolls into the office of the Soviet Union's deputy foreign minister.
You asked to see me immediately. The Soviet minister scowls. He's been waiting an hour for Sir John to show.
He moves straight to business.
Your government has undertaken senseless and absurd action in recent weeks, all based on
unfounded fabrications.
These actions are clearly provocative and hostile to the Soviet Union.
So, to ensure the security of our country, we hereby order the expulsion of five
British diplomats. They must leave the USSR within 14 days. Sir John, the British ambassador in Moscow,
listens as the official spells out the Soviet
Union's response to Operation Foot.
Philip Hanson and Lewis.
Sir John feels relief as the names of the barred British diplomats are read out.
These reprisals are minimal, designed to save face rather than punish.
Britain's threat to expel more Soviets seems to have tempered the Kremlin's response.
Finally, Sir Alec Douglas Hume's impending visit to Moscow will also be cancelled, as
the minister's intentions could be hostile.
Sir John nods and rises from his chair.
Sir Alec will be most disappointed. I shall of course
convey this message to my government." Sir John smiles as he walks away. After
weeks of threats, the Soviet response to Operation Foot is more a squeak than a
roar. Britain has reasserted itself, restored the reputation of its intelligence services,
and neutered the Soviet spy threat at home. The KGB is now in turmoil,
and the USSR's claims to be world peacemaker lies in tatters.
Five months later, Highgate, London. Oleg Lele steps outside a familiar pub a few streets away from the Soviet Trade Delegation Compound where he once worked.
The wounds from his plastic surgery have healed. He and Tepliakova are almost ready to start their new lives. But before that new life can begin,
Lenin must put his new permanent disguise to the test.
Lenin enters the pub.
He glances around, then freezes.
Three of his former colleagues from the Soviet trade delegation
are sitting drinking and laughing at one of the tables.
He fights the urge to run and
walk slow and steady to the bar. The barman looks up from cleaning glasses.
Afternoon, what's your poison? My poison? Oh, I see. A pint of bitter, please.
Lelen waits at the bar as the barman pulls his pint.
He worries that the Soviets sitting nearby might have recognized his voice.
But he resists the urge to glance back at them.
Instead, he stares ahead
and catches his own reflection in the mirrored glass behind the shelves,
laden with bottles of spirits.
A stranger stares back at him. The old cleft in
his chin is gone. His new nose is rounded and snub. The thin mustache and close-cropped dark hair
are gone, and his face is clean-shaven and framed with a mop of dyed blonde curls.
with a mop of dyed blonde curls. He wonders how much of his old face remains visible beneath the new. The barman places his pint of bitter on the bar.
That'll be 12 pence. Lelin places the coins on the bar and carries his pint
over to a small table with a clear view of his former colleagues, the Soviets pay him no attention.
So he unfolds his newspaper. Leland sips his pint, half reading the headlines,
half eavesdropping on his countrymen. When he reaches the bottom of the glass,
he considers ordering another. But there's no need. The point is proven.
His new face has rendered him invisible.
Leland folds up his newspaper, places his empty glass on the bar, and walks with confidence
past his former colleagues towards the exit.
But then he hears a voice. Excuse me.
Lelin pauses and turns around.
One of the Soviets has stood up
and is looking right at him.
Your keys.
You dropped them.
Oh, gosh.
Glumsy.
Thank you.
As Lelin scoops his keys off the floor, the Russian sits back down.
Leland steps away from them and with renewed confidence walks out the door, onto the street
and towards his new life. The removal from Britain of 105 Soviet diplomats and trade officials following the defection
of Oleg Lenin represented the single biggest expulsion of Soviet agents by any Western
government during the Cold War.
The following year, in 1972, the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev ordered the disbanding of
KGB Department V. Thanks to Lelin's defection, British intelligence was able to counter Soviet
sabotage plans in the UK and alert the security services of its allies to similar threats
across the world.
MI5 gave Lelin and Irina Tepliehova new identities.
They went on to live freely among English society.
It's unclear where they lived or whether their relationship lasted.
Neither returned to Russia nor, reportedly, had any contact with their former families, including their children.
Lelin died in 1995 somewhere in northern England. His new identity was never made public.
The five volumes of notes containing the details of Soviet espionage that Lelin revealed to MI5 interrogators in 1971, remain sealed to this day.
On the next episode, author and journalist Tristan Donovan, one of the writers of this series,
explains how Leland's cooperation completely transformed the fortunes of MI5,
after years of high-profile defections within British intelligence. Wondery Plus subscribers can binge full seasons of The Spy Who early and ad free on Apple
podcasts or the Wondery app.
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From Wandery, this is the fourth episode in our series, The Spy Who Saved MI5.
A quick note about our dialogue.
We can't know everything that was said or done behind closed doors, particularly far back in history.
But our scenes are written using the best available sources.
So even if a scene or conversation has been recreated for dramatic effect, it's still based on biographical research.
The Spy Who is hosted by me, Raza Jafri.
Our show is produced by Vespucci with writing and story editing by Yellow Ant for Wondery.
For Yellow Ant this episode was written by Simon Parkin and researched by Marina Watson,
with additional research by Louise Byrne.
Karen Lowe is our story editor and our managing producer is Jay Priest.
For Vespucci our senior producer is Thomas Curry and our sound designer is Ivor Manley.
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Executive producers for Vespucci are Johnny Galvin and Daniel Turkin.
Executive producer for Yellow Ant is Tristan Donovan.
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