Sky Documentaries has announced an engrossing new one-off film based on one of the most brazen attacks in recent times of a British citizen on home soil by a foreign regime: The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door.

This is the most extraordinary true spy story in modern British history. The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door (90 min) is a cinematic portrait of loyalty and betrayal and a prescient tale of Russian aggression which is relevant to us all today.

In March 2018, a former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia collapse on a park bench in Salisbury, England - a quaint, historic city where nothing normally happens. But what starts as a local incident explodes into a geopolitical crisis which exposes the covert espionage war being raged between Russia and the West.

At its heart, this is a story about loyalty and betrayal, and the collision of two men: Sergei Skripal and Vladimir Putin, the dictator determined to settle an old score.

Through bold and propulsive storytelling with a deeply human lens, the film reconstructs Skripal’s life as a spy using his own words and takes us through the dramatic events when he was poisoned with the deadly nerve agent Novichok.

The film features rare interviews with a top-level cast of experts directly involved in the crisis: former Prime Minister Theresa May, former Home Secretary Amber Rudd, National Security Advisor Sir Mark Sedwill, MI6 Chiefs Sir John Sawers and Sir Richard Dearlove, counter-terrorism officers Neil Basu and Dean Haydon and ex-KGB agents. Journalist Mark Urban also shares insight from his conversations with Sergei Skripal in the months following the poisoning.

The film also features raw testimony from Salisbury citizens who experienced this story on the ground - a local priest and journalist, a shopkeeper who sold Sergei his groceries, and the doctor who saved Sergei and Yulia’s lives in hospital. There’s also an exclusive interview with Charlie Rowley, the innocent local man who accidentally found the bottle of Novichok poison discarded by the Russian assassins, and gave it unwittingly to his partner Dawn Sturgess, who died – an innocent victim of a secret war.

Interwoven through this story are exclusive scenes with investigative journalist Christo Grozev, the man who first exposed the culprits behind this attack, and who remains in Putin’s crosshairs through his continued quest to take on the Russian regime. Christo’s groundbreaking investigative work was previously featured in the Academy Award®-winning CNN Film Navalny. His contribution brings this story alarmingly up to date, as he explores the current state of grey conflict between Russia and the West.

Directed by BAFTA-winning Dan Vernon and produced by Alex Brisland with executive producers Hamish Fergusson and Kari Lia. CNN Films presents The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door, a Passion Pictures production in association with Propagate Content and West Buttermilk.

The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door was acquired on behalf of Sky by Katie Keenan, Group Director of Acquisitions and Amy Swinglehurst, Senior Acquisitions Executive, with Propagate Content handling international distribution.