The Sandbaggers is a British spy thriller television series created by Ian Mackintosh, about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War.

Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV from 1978 to 1980, The Sandbaggers examines the effect of espionage on the personal and professional lives of British intelligence officers and their American colleagues.

Although commonly known as MI6 among the general public, the service is only ever referred to as SIS in the series to reflect the ethos of realism and factual accuracy employed in the writing.

Several episodes revolve around Burnside's frustration at trying to operate his directorate in the face of budget cuts and what he believes to be unwarranted bureaucratic or political interference.

Some of the details surrounding their disappearance have caused speculation about what actually occurred, including their stop at an abandoned United States Air Force base and the fact that the plane happened to crash in the one small area that was not covered by either US or Soviet radar.

The Sandbaggers ends on an unresolved cliff hanger because the producers decided that no one else could write the series as well as Mackintosh had and chose not to continue it in his absence.

Ray Lonnen, who played Sandbagger Willie Caine, indicated in correspondence with fans that there were plans for a follow-up season in which his character, using a wheelchair, had taken over Burnside's role as Director of Special Operations.

Because of the atmosphere of authenticity that the scripts evoked and the liberal use of "spook" jargon, there has been speculation that Mackintosh might have been a former operative of SIS or had, at least, contact with the espionage community.

The Sandbaggers undercut many of the accepted conventions of the spy thriller genre, in direct contrast to the "girls, guns, and gadgets" of James Bond.

The scripts are laced with black humour, depicting the high emotional toll taken on espionage professionals who operate in a world of moral ambiguity.

Burnside is a harried spymaster who doesn't drink; Willie Caine is an intelligence officer not a "super spy", who abhors guns and violence, and is paid a basic civil servant's salary.

The producers successfully used the modernist and brutalist architecture available in Leeds and Yorkshire to create convincing vignettes of eastern bloc locations, but much of this has been redeveloped, reclad or demolished in recent years.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Whitehall and the adjacent King Charles Street appear regularly, and this is where the statue of Robert Clive is sited, looking out into St James's Park.

In Gibraltar, Caine is pursued by a white Mercedes down Waterside in Knaresborough, from the junction with Water Bag Bank, past the Old Manor House painted like a chessboard, and down towards the viaduct.

The episode opens with set-up shots of the north entrance to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) main building on Horse Guards Avenue, Westminster.

In Cyprus, Caine and Ferris are ambushed on a dirt road, filmed at Caley Crags on the Otley Chevin, north of Leeds.

Ross tells Burnside the mission is "go" on Cavendish Street at the south entrance to the Parkinson Building on the Leeds University campus.

In Sofia, Burnside and Caine swap TWA bags with Ross on a bench outside the biology department in zone 1, campus west of York University.

The interiors and exteriors of the farm house where Wellingham does his paperwork, and Caine and Wallace do some driving, were most likely filmed in flat lands of the Vale of York or Humberhead Levels (location tbc).

Caine and Lincke wait for the Brussels police on York Place, Leeds (the Hotel Metropole is clearly visible in the background).

Milner meets Burnside in the fog on the south west steps of Lambeth Bridge, Westminster, in front of Thames House.

Later, Burnside and Milner drive south down Bolton Street, turn right onto Piccadilly and head towards Knightsbridge via the Hyde Park Corner road underpass.

D'Arcy and Burnside stroll along Carlton House Terrace in London, past the Royal Society, turn right down the steps at the Duke of York column, cross The Mall and walk into St James's Park.

That night, Burnside takes a stroll along Charing Cross Road, before running into some skinheads in Leicester Square and ending up in St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth.

Art In series one and two, the large painting that hangs in Greenley's office is "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Robert Alexander Hillingford.

He is arrogant and obsessively dedicated to his job, and regularly finds himself at odds with his superiors, politicians, the Foreign Office, and the Security Service (MI5).

Peele is generally disliked by most characters, but displays considerable tact and intelligence throughout the series, as he is often more aware of/concerned with the bigger picture than Burnside.

He goes on to note, concerning the seventh episode ("Special Relationship"): "Although the issue of love versus duty is overdrawn and the tale, like others, is a bit forced in places, the Burnside character and the urgency of the story-telling make it work.

[9] When reviewing the 2013 Network DVD release of The Sanbaggers: The Complete Series, Toby Manning wrote: "this 70s spy drama about a cold war dirty tricks department is cynical, tough – and has a compelling star in Roy Marsden's brute in a well-cut suit.

Several characters and situations in Queen & Country parallel The Sandbaggers, including a fatherly "C" who is eventually replaced by a more political and less sympathetic appointee; a Director of Operations who is fiercely protective of the Special Section; a Deputy Chief antagonistic to the independent nature of the Minders; a rivalry with MI5; and a cooperative relationship with the CIA.