Rogue Agent

In the midst of a tumultuous decade, the Irish Republican Army waged a relentless bombing campaign across England, fueled by their unyielding quest for Irish reunification. In response, Britain's MI5 security service embarked on an innovative strategy, enlisting everyday English citizens as freelance spies to gather intelligence on suspected IRA members.

Against this backdrop of heightened tension and intrigue, we find ourselves in the picturesque countryside of Shropshire, where a young man is navigating the dual demands of his agricultural college coursework and part-time bartending duties. The airwaves are abuzz with news of a recent student arrest for alleged IRA membership, raising concerns about the institution's unwitting involvement in terrorist activities.

As fate would have it, this same young man has secretly been recruited by MI5 to become one of their amateur freelance spies. He soon enlists the aid of three college companions – Ian and the charming Sophie and Mae – to form a makeshift spy squad. Under his guidance, they embark on their first covert mission, tasked with uncovering incriminating evidence within the residence of an Irish student. To everyone's surprise, this motley crew of amateur sleuths manages to succeed in their objective.

However, just as things seem to be going smoothly, our protagonist suddenly awakens his friends in the dead of night, revealing that their identities have been compromised and ordering them to flee the college immediately. The consequences of this hasty retreat will only become apparent nine years down the line.

Fast-forwarding to a prosperous litigation lawyer named Alice Archer (Gemma Arterton), we find her returning from an office celebration when she's abruptly approached by a charismatic stranger. This chance encounter marks the beginning of a complex web of events, as Alice is unwittingly drawn into a world of espionage and deception.

The suave Robert Hansen (James Norton) – familiar to us as the young man who had earlier been entangled in MI5's amateur spy program – has now reinvented himself as a luxury car salesman. As Alice visits his dealership, she finds herself apologizing for her earlier rebuff, only to have Robert offer her a ride and, subsequently, ask her out on a date. Despite his promise, he fails to materialize, leaving Alice feeling perplexed and annoyed. Little does she know that this seemingly innocuous encounter will eventually unravel the tangled threads of their intertwined pasts.

As the initial spark between Alice and her enigmatic suitor, Robert (played by), begins to smolder, he reveals that his sudden disappearance was due to a family emergency - his father's grave illness. With every passing moment, Alice finds herself captivated by Robert's quick wit, confident demeanor, and genuine charm, ultimately forgiving his absence and deciding to take a chance on their budding romance. Their whirlwind courtship culminates in a romantic getaway to a secluded lighthouse, where they share intimate moments and forge an unbreakable bond.

However, the idyllic facade is shattered when Alice discovers Robert's cell phone buzzing with an unknown number - Sophie (Marisa Abela), whose calls he has been skillfully deflecting as mere updates from his ailing father. The veil of deception lifted, Alice hires a private investigator to scrutinize her lover's past, only to uncover a shocking truth: there is no record of Robert Hansen in the entire country.

Confronted with this revelation, Robert confesses that he has been operating under an assumed identity, a ruse necessary for his covert work as a spy within MI5. He warns Alice that her involvement with him will inevitably attract the attention of his employers, who would test her loyalty by spinning outlandish tales about his past. Undeterred, Alice chooses to stand by Robert and face whatever challenges come their way.

As their relationship flourishes, Alice confides in Robert about her dissatisfaction with her professional life, yearning for a business venture that truly represents her passions. Robert proposes a joint venture - leasing luxury cars together - which she initially accepts. However, his suggestion takes an unexpected turn when he meets and charms her parents during a formal lunch, leaving Alice both thrilled and slightly perplexed.

Meanwhile, the private detective who had earlier piqued Alice's curiosity shares a startling discovery: a court case involving Robert Hansen-Freegard, whose charges of stalking and harassing Julie Harper were eventually dismissed. This new information raises more questions than answers, casting a shadow over the seemingly perfect relationship between Alice and her enigmatic boyfriend.

As Alice's trepidation grows, fueled by Robert's assurances that his employers would attempt to manipulate her trust, she makes a clandestine meeting with Bridget, Julie Harper's mother. The contact had been initiated by the detective, and Alice is eager to unravel the tangled web of deceit surrounding Robert. The encounter reveals a shocking truth: Julie had borrowed twenty thousand pounds from her parents, supposedly to fund a marriage that never materialized, allegedly at Robert's behest. This revelation prompts Alice to confront Robert during their lunch meeting.

Robert, however, spins a contradictory narrative, claiming Julie was his first love, and her mother only knows part of the truth. According to Robert, Julie had been struggling with addiction and he had tried to steer her towards rehabilitation, but she was reluctant to share her secret with her parents. Instead, she borrowed money under false pretenses, stating it was for a wedding that never took place. Furthermore, Robert alleges that Julie had brought false charges of harassment and stalking against him after he attempted to intervene on her behalf just before her rehab program began. As Robert leaves the scene, he insults Alice with parting shots.

Just as Alice is reeling from this latest revelation, she receives a distressing phone call from another individual. The visitor shares a harrowing tale of how Robert Freegard allegedly kidnapped their daughter, Sophie, and coerced her into severing ties with them. This account resonates deeply, as it echoes the story of the young woman Robert had recruited at his agricultural college. According to this couple, Sophie vanished from the college one day, only to reappear, claiming she was safe and working on a clandestine project with fellow recruits.

The parents explain that Sophie subsequently demanded they hand over her inheritance, which they believe Robert has since exploited. As Alice absorbs these chilling stories, she realizes that Robert's true nature is far more sinister than she had initially imagined.

As Alice and Robert engage in a charade of reconciliation at her home, their words are laced with deceit. Despite their pretenses of apology and forgiveness, the trust between them has been irreparably shattered. The next morning, Alice's world is turned upside down when she discovers that the joint account they had opened for their business has been closed, with all £120,000 withdrawn - a sum equivalent to her entire contribution. Her suspicions are confirmed: Robert has orchestrated the heist, and his treachery cuts deep.

Meanwhile, Robert Hansen-Freegard is busy manipulating Sophie, convincing her that she's working on covert freelance missions for MI5. For months, she remains oblivious, laboring as a maintenance worker at a hotel, believing she's there to monitor operational timings and guest lists. Robert feeds her lies, telling her that she's just one mission away from becoming an official member of the security service. Unbeknownst to Sophie, Robert has already pilfered Alice's passport and replaced the photograph with Sophie's, using it to clear out their joint account.

Robert's exploitation of Sophie knows no bounds - he uses her for his own sexual gratification and then abandons her in a seedy neighborhood, instructing her to lay low until she's called up for recruitment into the security service. As Sophie struggles to survive on spoiled food and the streets, Robert charms his way into the life of Jenny Jackson (Sarah Goldberg), an American psychology academic, demonstrating his calculating ability to manipulate and deceive those around him.

As Robert's manipulation of Jenny reaches new depths, he expertly orchestrates a ploy to exploit her vulnerabilities. With calculated precision, he convinces her that her skills in psychology would be highly valued by the MI5, but only if she could cover a rather significant financial burden - a staggering eighty-thousand-dollar debt hanging over her head. To facilitate this, he instructs Jenny to solicit the funds from her parents across the Atlantic, fully aware that he intends to pilfer the money and abscond once it arrives. Meanwhile, Robert has also discovered Jenny's dependence on antidepressant medication, which he callously confiscates, proclaiming that she would no longer require it as he would supposedly restore her happiness.

As Jenny's withdrawal symptoms intensify, her body rebels against the abrupt absence of her medication, leaving her wracked with violent outbursts. Robert, however, remains patient, biding his time for the funds to materialize from afar. It is amidst this toxic backdrop that Alice gains insight into Robert's true nature through a chance encounter with Ian Preston, one of his unsuspecting college acquaintances.

Ian shares his own harrowing experiences at the hands of Robert, revealing how he would consistently identify and exploit his victims' pressure points. Ian's account also sheds light on Mae Hansen (Freya Mavor), the third student who had managed to escape Robert's clutches only by being granted a reprieve by the master manipulator himself.

Armed with this newfound understanding, Alice persuades Sonny Chandra (Shazad Latif), the detective tasked with her case, to launch an investigation into Mae Hansen's whereabouts. The trail ultimately leads them to uncover a shocking truth - that Robert is not only Mae's husband but also the father of their two young daughters, whose existence he has kept hidden behind a veil of business trips and distant dalliances.

As Alice's fingers dance across the keys of Mae's mysterious pocket-diary, a series of phone numbers springs to life, beckoning her to unravel the tangled threads of deceit. With Sonny's guidance, she embarks on a journey to the American embassy, where concerns over Jenny Jackson's well-being have reached a fever pitch. The once-lost American citizen had abruptly severed ties with her parents in the States, only to reappear with an outlandish demand: eighty thousand dollars, allegedly required for an employment opportunity engineered by her new beau, Robert Freegard.

As Alice navigates this labyrinth of intrigue alongside Harland (Edwina Findley), a seasoned special agent from the US embassy, their combined efforts yield a breakthrough. By convincing Sophie, one of the diary's unsuspecting recipients, that they are representatives of MI5 seeking to recruit her, they procure crucial intel that ultimately leads them to Robert's supposed abode, where Jenny lies captive.

In a stunning reversal of fortune, Jenny's parents unwittingly send the requested funds, and their desperate calls to their daughter's phone serve only to further entrap her in Robert's clutches. As Jenny teeters on the brink of death from withdrawal symptoms, Robert receives the call, feigning innocence as he prepares to flee with his hostage.

The very same moment, Alice, Sonny, Harland, and Sophie converge on the unsuspecting Robert, their suspicions confirmed. It is then that Robert attempts a hasty retreat, only to be thwarted by Alice's timely intervention. As her car rams into Robert's, Sophie's true intentions are revealed: she had been secretly driving Alice's vehicle, having seized control of the steering wheel and brought an end to Robert's reign of terror.

In this tense standoff, the façade of Robert's deception shatters, exposing the calculating manipulator who had exploited and betrayed Sophie for years. As the dust settles, Alice faces her tormentor once more, their complex history hanging precariously in the balance.

As the law closes in on Robert Freegard, Jenny's rescue mission reaches its triumphant conclusion, with the young woman slowly regaining consciousness at the hospital after her harrowing ordeal. Meanwhile, Sophie is reunited with her overjoyed parents, marking a poignant moment of closure for the family. Two years later, Alice takes center stage as a key witness in Robert's highly publicized trial, her testimony weighing heavily on the minds of the judges and jury. The verdict is unanimous: Robert is found guilty of the charges leveled against him, and he begins serving his sentence behind bars.

In the years that follow, Alice has transformed herself into a shrewd businesswoman, leveraging her entrepreneurial spirit to build a lucrative career in leasing high-end vehicles to corporate clients. As she visits the lighthouse where Robert had once whisked her away on a romantic escapade, the convicted felon's machinations continue unabated from within the confines of his prison cell. A vigilant security guard approaches him with a probing inquiry: "Is it true that you're an undercover MI5 agent?" Robert's response is characteristically enigmatic, his expression betraying nothing but a hint of mischief as he remains tight-lipped about the supposed espionage activity.