 Concerning a young writer who is recruited by wartime intelligence into a world of moral ambiguity, the mechanical narrative of the original material allowed few of the side-tracking excitements of action.Having worked with producer Michael Wearing on both Rainy Day Women and Ashenden, Pirie's 1992 conspiracy thriller Natural Lies (BBC) became something of a return to the form of the producer's acclaimed Edge of Darkness (BBC, 1985).At the centre of the plot was the then-current subject of BSE, or 'Mad Cow Disease', spreading to humans with lethal consequences.