From Vietnam to the global battle against communism – spies, secrets and the story of the CIA under Lyndon B. Johnson

The utterly gripping, award-winning drama Central Intelligence returns, revealing further inside stories of the CIA and featuring an all-star cast. Told from the perspective of Eloise Page (Kim Cattrall), who joined on the Agency’s first day in 1947 and, in her 40-year career, became one of its most powerful women, the series takes us behind the closed doors of American intelligence as the Cold War enters a new and increasingly dangerous phase.

It’s 1964. John F. Kennedy is dead, Lyndon B. Johnson (Kelsey Grammer) is in the White House, and the CIA is fighting communism across the globe. In Chile, Washington is determined to prevent another Cuba, and the Agency sets out to influence an election without leaving fingerprints. In British Guiana, independence threatens to bring another left-wing government to power, while a dispute between LBJ and Harold Wilson over British trade with Cuba puts the Special Relationship under strain.

But Vietnam is rapidly becoming the crisis that will define Johnson’s presidency. A Pentagon war game delivers an ominous verdict: bombing the North cannot secure victory. The CIA sees the danger, but the White House has other ideas – and the Gulf of Tonkin provides the trigger for an escalation that will transform America and the Agency.

As the Cold War intensifies, Richard Helms (Johnny Flynn) rises through the ranks of the CIA. From political interference in Latin America and covert operations in the Dominican Republic to the expanding conflict in South-East Asia, the Agency finds itself drawn ever deeper into the defining struggles of the 1960s. New technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for espionage, with satellites, surveillance and increasingly ingenious intelligence operations changing the way secrets are gathered.

At the centre of it all is Eloise, watching the CIA's power grow while navigating the rivalries, ambitions and moral compromises within Langley itself. As opposition to the Vietnam War mounts and suspicion turns increasingly towards enemies at home, where does intelligence end, and politics begin?

Featuring spies, covert action, political intrigue, surveillance and secret wars, this thrilling third instalment of Central Intelligence continues the epic story of the organisation that helped shape modern global politics.

Starring Kim Cattrall as Eloise Page and Kelsey Grammer as Lyndon B Johnson, with Johnny Flynn, David Duchovny and a full cast.

Credits
Written by Greg Haddrick, who created the series with Jeremy Fox

Sound Design and Editing by Adam Woodhams, Andreina Gomez Casanova and John Scott Dryden
Assistant Director: Flynn Hallman
Sonica Studio Sound Engineers: Mat Clark & Paul Clark
Sonica Runner: Lily Lefkow

Director: John Scott Dryden
Producer & Casting Director: Emma Hearn
Executive Producers: Howard Stringer, Jeremy Fox, Greg Haddrick and John Scott Dryden.
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4

©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd