Episode Information

The summer of 1586. Elizabeth I was in fear of her life. A group of Catholic extremists were planning to kill her and install her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, on her throne. Behind the terrorists was the might of Spain, whose forces were ready to invade were the plot to succeed. But one man stood in the way: Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s spymaster and security chief. Walsingham is recognised as one of history’s master spies, thanks to the extraordinary trap that he set for Mary. Using a sophisticated network of double agents, informants, and secret codes, he allowed Mary falsely to believe that she was master-minding a plot to destroy Elizabeth. But his quiet brilliance is tinged with fanaticism. In a gripping day-by-day account of the action, we unfold the remarkable events across eight weeks in 1586, when danger was at a height. In this tense documentary we explore new visual evidence that will transform our understanding of Walsingham’s dark world.