The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door

● In a brand new documentary, The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door tracks the tragic and terrifying events of March 2018 in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

● When a man and his daughter are found collapsed on a park bench, a local event turns into a global panic as it’s discovered the man is Sergei Skripal – a former Russian spy.

● As the British government worries that deadly nerve agent Novichok has been released to the general public, 44-year-old local Dawn Sturgess becomes the tragic victim in an international incident.

● The one-off film features in-depth interviews from a range of people involved – including Theresa May, then Prime Minister of the UK.

● The documentary makes its UK premiere on 4 August on Sky and NOW.

In March 2018, the highest political powers of Great Britain were thrown into a panic when Sergei Skripal – a former Russian intelligence officer – is found with his daughter Yulia collapsed on a park bench in rural England after being poisoned.

When his identity is revealed, and it’s discovered the pair were poisoned by deadly nerve agent Novichok, the small-town incident quickly turns into an international crisis. The government fears the attempt on the spy’s life may be the start of a widespread chemical warfare. But why start in the rural historic town of Salisbury, Wiltshire?

In The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door, those involved in the investigation, those that knew Skripal, and Skripal himself, opens up about his life and what led up to the terrifying leak that would leave Dawn Sturgess, a 44-year-old unsuspecting mother-of-three, dead.

Climbing all the way up to Vladimir Putin himself, the film features rare interviews with then-Prime Minister Theresa May, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, MI6 Chiefs Sir John Sawers and Sir Richard Dearlove, as well as journalists, MI6 agents and former KGB agents.

As well as the key geopolitical players, residents of Salisbury who had first-hand experience with the situation open up for the first time – including the doctors that saved the lives of Skripal and his daughter, and Dawn’s partner who, after finding what he thought was a discarded bottle of perfume, unwittingly gave his girlfriend the deadly dose of Novichok.

Christo Grozev, a journalist who exposed those responsible, also ties together the eight-year-old event with modern times, with the effects of the Salisbury poisonings continuing to have wider effects to this day.

The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door features key politicians, intelligence operatives, local residents, investigators, and one survivor throughout the course of the film.

This includes:

● Theresa May – Former Prime Minister (2016 to 2019)

● Amber Rudd – Former Home Secretary (2016 to 2018)

● Mark Sedwill – Former National Security Advisor (2017 to 2020)

● Richard Dearlove – Former Chief of MI6 (1999 to 2004)

● John Sawers – Former Chief of MI6 (2009 to 2014)

● Viktor Makarov – Former KGB Officer

● Neil Basu – Head of Counter Terrorism Policing (2018 to Present)

● Dean Haydon – Senior National Co-Ordinator, Counter-Terrorism Policing

● Christo Grozev – Investigative Journalist specialising in espionage exposure

● Dr Stephen Cockroft – Former Intensive Care Consultant, Salisbury District Hospital

● Mark Urban – BBC News Journalist and Author of The Skipal Files

● Emma Volney – Local News Journalist, Salisbury

● Charlie Rowley – Novichok survivor, partner of the late Dawn Sturgess

● Meg Edgar – Salisbury artists and eye-witness to the attack

● Reverend Kevin Inglis – Church of England priest who served in Salisbury at the time of the attack

● Ebru Ozturk – Salisbury Shopkeeper and acquaintance of Skripal.

The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door will be available on Sky Documentaries from August 4th.

It will also be available on streaming service NOW.