I’ve written before about a lingering fascination for the Cold War. In recent weeks, I’ve been re-visiting Yorkshire TV’s 1978-80 spy drama “The Sandbaggers”. Only 20 episodes were produced (across three series), in large part because the creator and main writer, Ian Mackintosh (a former officer in the Royal Navy) disappeared, and in apparently mysterious circumstances.

Putting aside the occasional non-PC language, the series stands up today. The core geopolitical themes remain relevant (even down to names of the principal parties); the ongoing friction between the espionage industry and their political and bureaucratic bosses; the continued unease between ideological purity, political pragmatism and operational reality; and the paradox of the surveillance society in the pursuit of preserving our individual liberties and personal freedoms.

The scripts are taut, with no spare dialogue. We don’t need to see every step in the plot in order to follow the narrative. The characters are not particularly appealing, but we still manage to feel some empathy for them. And although the production does incorporate library footage for some external shots, there is enough location filming to make overseas sequences appear credible and authentic.

The series was filmed and set when the Cold War was still at its height. Since 1974, the Doomsday Clock had sat at 9 minutes to midnight; in 1980, it was back down to 7 minutes to midnight (the same as its post-war setting); and by 1981, it was just 4 minutes to midnight. By 1991, this trend had been reversed, in the wake of Glasnost and Perestroika in the former Soviet Union, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Even China seemed to be opening up under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping.

Now, the Clock is showing less than 2 minutes to minute – and who knows what a similar scenario to the August 1914 “Month of Madness” could lead to in the theatre of nuclear war.

Next week: American Art Tour