The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door

The inside story of the poisoning of Sergei Skripal

Year: 2026

Watch now on Sky

When the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were brought into a hospital in Salisbury in March 2018, it became apparent that they had been poisoned by his former spymasters using the nerve agent Novichok. That such an attack could have taken place on British soil, and particularly in such a sleepy place as Salisbury, was shocking, and this feature-length, CNN-produced documentary tells the story of it all from the inside. 

We hear from Dr Stephen Cockroft, an intensive care consultant who remembers Sergei and Yulia coming into the hospital; from Amber Rudd and Theresa May – the Home Secretary and Prime Minister at the time; from Richard Dearlove and John Sawers, former heads of MI6; and from Viktor Makarov, a former KGB officer who now lives in the UK, having graduated at the same time as Vladimir Putin. 

This insider perspective makes you realise how events could easily have gone another way – it could have been seen as an act of war – and offers insight into the Russian approach to disinformation, with one contributor observing how, in the Russian mindset, lying and everyone knowing you are lying – but carrying on anyway – is a sign of power. Thankfully, both Sergei and his daughter survived the attack. They disappeared afterwards, but we hear from Sergei, after a fashion, through a reading of the statement he made to police before he left. (79 minutes)