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The Sandbaggers

All Episodes 1972 - 2002

  • Ended
  • #<Network:0x00007fd14cf161a0>
  • 1978-09-18T20:00:00Z
  • 50m
  • 20h (20 episodes)
  • Ian Mackintosh
  • United Kingdom
  • English
  • Drama
"The Sandbaggers" was a taut British spy series comprising twenty 50-minute episodes produced by Yorkshire Television. The stories centered on the elite covert operations section of British Intelligence, nicknamed the Sandbaggers, and their boss, Neil Burnside (Roy Marsden), himself a former Sandbagger, but now having to battle more with British bureaucracy than enemy agents. It was set contemporaneously with its original broadcast in the late '70s and early '80s when the Cold War still dominated the Western intelligence agenda. Burnside's main operative is Willie Caine, his most experienced agent. Burnside's main opponents in the series are not his KGB adversaries but the bureaucrats and functionaries of his own government, often his own superiors. He he is constatly at odds his his Deputy Chief and occasinally with the head of the Secret Service codenamed "C".

25 episodes

Special 2 The Sandbaggers Files

  • 2002-11-01T21:00:00Z50m

A Candid Interview with Ray Lonnen and Bob Sherman about their time on the series

Series Premiere

1978-09-18T20:00:00Z

1x01 First Principles

Series Premiere

1x01 First Principles

  • 1978-09-18T20:00:00Z1h

Neil Burnside, the Director of Operations for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, objects to sending his best agents, the Sandbaggers, on a mission into Russia for Norway's Secret Service.

The Sandbaggers may be sent to Vienna to keep tabs on a possible defector, while Burnside tries to get official approval to assassinate an African dictator.

Alan Denson threatens to quit the Sandbaggers after a rough, unauthorized mission near the Soviet border, so Burnside applies pressure to Denson's fiancee

1978-10-09T20:00:00Z

1x04 The Most Suitable Person

1x04 The Most Suitable Person

  • 1978-10-09T20:00:00Z1h

Sandbagger One Willie Caine goes to Gibraltar to investigate the murder of an SIS agent, and potential new Sandbagger Laura Dickens goes to Morocco to get more clues in the case.

1978-10-16T20:00:00Z

1x05 Always Glad to Help

1x05 Always Glad to Help

  • 1978-10-16T20:00:00Z1h

Dickens is assigned to find out where an Arab sheik's sympathies lie while Burnside clashes with Deputy Chief Matthew Peele and the Ministry of Defence over a covert scuba-diving operation.

1978-10-23T20:00:00Z

1x06 A Feasible Solution

1x06 A Feasible Solution

  • 1978-10-23T20:00:00Z1h

Caine and an agent fresh out of field school go to Cyprus on the trail of some missing rocket scientists while Neil lets his romantic guard down at home.

1978-10-30T21:00:00Z

1x07 Special Relationship

1x07 Special Relationship

  • 1978-10-30T21:00:00Z1h

Laura Dickens is the most qualified agent for a risky mission in East Berlin and Burnside has to double-deal to make sure her presence there won't pose other security risks as well.

Season Premiere

1980-01-28T21:00:00Z

2x01 At All Costs

Season Premiere

2x01 At All Costs

  • 1980-01-28T21:00:00Z1h

The head of the Bulgarian Secret Service asks to meet with Sandbagger Tom Elliott in Sofia, but Burnside doesn't like it and intends to give Elliott backup whether his bosses approve or not.

1980-02-04T21:00:00Z

2x02 Enough of Ghosts

2x02 Enough of Ghosts

  • 1980-02-04T21:00:00Z1h

Permanent Under-Secretary of State Sir Geoffrey Wellingham goes missing in Brussels and the Sandbaggers are dispatched to find him, for Burnside's sake as well as Wellingham's.

1980-02-11T21:00:00Z

2x03 Decision by Committee

2x03 Decision by Committee

  • 1980-02-11T21:00:00Z1h

On an airline flight back from Sri Lanka, Caine and CIA covert-action agent Karen Milner run into trouble during their stop in Turkey, and Burnside runs into bureaucratic opposition when trying to help them.

1980-02-18T21:00:00Z

2x04 A Question of Loyalty

2x04 A Question of Loyalty

  • 1980-02-18T21:00:00Z1h

Sandbagger Mike Wallace runs afoul of the local SIS station while on a risky mission in Warsaw, and Burnside risks his own career to show him support by sending him on a subsequent mission to Stockholm.

1980-02-25T21:00:00Z

2x05 It Couldn't Happen Here

2x05 It Couldn't Happen Here

  • 1980-02-25T21:00:00Z1h

In the wake of the assassination of one U.S. senator, the Sandbaggers are assigned to bodyguard another, while Burnside gets wind of a traitor in the British cabinet.

Season Finale

1980-03-03T21:00:00Z

2x06 Operation Kingmaker

Season Finale

2x06 Operation Kingmaker

  • 1980-03-03T21:00:00Z1h

When there's talk of getting a new 'C', Burnside decides to back Peele for the job, believing him more malleable than the other most likely candidate, whom Burnside once clashed with.

Season Premiere

1980-06-09T20:00:00Z

3x01 All in a Good Cause

Season Premiere

3x01 All in a Good Cause

  • 1980-06-09T20:00:00Z1h

CIA Head of London Station Jeff Ross asks for Burnside's help when Ross' marriage is in trouble, but then Burnside starts to suspect that the KGB and MI5 have an interest in that marriage as well.

1980-06-16T20:00:00Z

3x02 To Hell with Justice

3x02 To Hell with Justice

  • 1980-06-16T20:00:00Z1h

SIS Director of Intelligence Edward Tyler meets a suspicious woman while on holiday in Malta, so Burnside secretly sends the Sandbaggers to keep an eye on him.

1980-06-23T20:00:00Z

3x03 Unusual Approach

3x03 Unusual Approach

  • 1980-06-23T20:00:00Z1h

'C' orders Burnside to go on a working holiday in Rhodes, and while he's gone, Ross asks Caine for some risky backup in the USSR, but as Acting D.Ops., Caine would have to send Wallace.

1980-06-30T20:00:00Z

3x04 My Name Is Anna Wiseman

3x04 My Name Is Anna Wiseman

  • 1980-06-30T20:00:00Z1h

Burnside tries to get approval to plant a woman in the Soviet Union as a long-term double agent, but he neglects to mention that her real mission is short-term human rights propaganda.

When a British intelligence source is killed in an accident in Prague, Caine is sent in to find out what really happened while Wallace and Burnside look for clues at home.

1980-07-14T20:00:00Z

3x06 Who Needs Enemies

3x06 Who Needs Enemies

  • 1980-07-14T20:00:00Z1h

When a rival for Burnside's job gets hold of a CIA document that describes Burnside as a divisive influence, SIS upper management contrives to promote Burnside ``sideways'' to Madrid.

Season Finale

1980-07-28T20:00:00Z

3x07 Opposite Numbers

Season Finale

3x07 Opposite Numbers

  • 1980-07-28T20:00:00Z1h

Burnside is opposed to an East-West arms treaty being negotiated in Malta, so he and the Sandbaggers conspire to scuttle the talks by encouraging a Soviet double agent to defect.

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