Pack of Lies

In 1961, Peter and Helen Kroger, two Americans living in a London suburb, were convicted of spying for the Russians and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. From these true facts Hugh Whitemore has written a powerfully moving fictional account of the events leading up to their arrest with the action centered on the totally unsuspecting Jackson household, Bob, Barbara and their daughter Julie. The Jacksons live opposite the Krogers, believing them to be a convivial Canadian couple and their closest friends. Then a mysterious stranger arrives, announcing he is from MI5 and quietly coerces the Jacksons into allowing their house to be used as a surveillance post. In the nightmare months that follow, the Jacksons' decent, happy life is shattered as the truth about their much-loved friends is gradually revealed to them and, helpless in an alien, sordid world of deception and treachery, Barbara reaches breaking point with the agonizing realization that the Krogers have betrayed her and she, in turn, has betrayed the Krogers.

Hugh Whitemore is an English playwright and screenwriter. He began his writing career in British television with both original teleplays and adaptations of classic works. He twice won a Writers' Guild of Great Britain award. His work for American TV includes Concealed Enemies, and The Gathering Storm, which focused on a troubled period in the marriage of Clementine and Winston Churchill just prior to World War II. He won an Emmy Award for each. He also nominated for his adaptation of the Carl Bernstein/Bob Woodward book about President Nixon, The Final Days. His most recent teleplay was My House in Umbria (2003), an adaptation of the novella by William Trevor starring Maggie Smith.