Introduction

This article is geared toward film industry directors, producers and executives. Consequently, its relevance may be limited for others. Nevertheless, if you are a follower of Bill Fairclough, FaireSansDire, TheBurlingtonFiles or Pemberton’s People, you should find it captivating.

If you are interested in producing feature films, TV series and/or documentary series based on Bill Fairclough’s life and related matters please contact us. Once you have read this you will only have yourself to blame if you don’t!

THE SPY WHO WOULD NOT DIE

“The Spy Who Would Not Die” is a catchy title. Why choose that? If you had read this mindboggling fact based article entitled Bill Fairclough’s Known Life-Threatening Incidents you would know why we chose that memorable title. What’s more, loads of films could be generated from that article alone.

By the way, you too may have unwittingly actually survived a death defying incident involving Bill Fairclough if you were staying near the River Thames in London on Christmas Eve 2001. This may sound like a Bond movie but it was for real.

Behind closed doors and beneath layers of secrecy, it was the covert intervention of Bill Fairclough and other selfless individuals that helped foil Osama bin Laden’s plan to trigger a man-made tsunami along the banks of the Thames on Christmas Eve 2001. A catastrophic act of terror was silently averted and thousands of lives saved, with no fanfare, no headlines, just the quiet precision of espionage at its finest.

Have a quick peek at this article about MV Nisha to find out more. It’s yet another example of dozens of incidents from Bill Fairclough’s life that can be adapted into documentaries and/or dramatic films.

Just because you’ve never seen a goldmine like this doesn’t mean it’s not real. We are not alone in believing this eclipses Ian Fleming’s entire book catalogue. What’s more, it is based on fact. Don’t let it be your Beatles/Decca moment.

Mainly thanks to his “friends” in British Intelligence, Bill Fairclough survived several dozen death defying incidents including 20+ attempted assassinations during his extraordinary life. He was one of Pemberton’s People in MI6 and operated as a secret agent for them and other agencies for decades while simultaneously working high up in PwC, Citicorp, Barclays, Reuters etc. His life story is as bizarre as it is exhilarating and despite not having been publicised on the silver screen it has already attracted hundreds of thousands of 007 aficionados let alone many more judicious espionage cognoscenti.

There’s plenty of material online to highlight his remarkable exploits and there’s even more secreted away elsewhere that only we can access. To get a flavour, we recommend you start by browsing through this website, https://theburlingtonfiles.org. In particular, albeit these are but the tip of a colossal iceberg, skim through the article “Bill Fairclough’s Known Life Threatening Incidents” (7 August 2023), the related piece about Pemberton’s People in MI6 (13 May 2024) and Bill Fairclough’s bio on the Author page. You can even compare him with James Bond in this humorous but deadly serious article.

Now that your appetite has been whetted, you’ll likely be eager to read selected extracts from one of our recent film pitches, which we’ve included below. Once you’re ready, please contact us to explore the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. These opportunities are not just limited to those based on Bill Fairclough’s life but cover a wide range of related matters including Beyond Enkription, The Burlington Files, FaireSansDire, Pemberton’s People in MI6 and other matters not in the public domain.

EXTRACTS FROM A RECENT FILM PITCH

DOCUMENTARIES, FEATURE FILMS, TV SERIES – WHAT TO FILM WHEN?

Background Bill Fairclough was born in 1950. By the early 1970s he became an intelligence agent engaged but not employed by British Intelligence (MI6 & MI5). He lived a remarkable maverick double life throughout much of his ensuing career and survived circa 60 death defying incidents including over two dozen attempts on his life.

Covertly he specialised in infiltration and investigatory assignments when working for intelligence agencies including the CIA. Overtly he became a respected Finance Director in the regulated international financial services sector and was an accomplished Chartered Accountant who specialised in fraud prevention and detection.

In 1978 he founded FaireSansDire. It became a niche intelligence organisation with global reach and still exists. In 2010 FaireSansDire’s website went public. In 2014 Beyond Enkription was self-published by Bill Fairclough with little publicity as the first novel in TheBurlingtonFiles series of six autobiographical novels. The remaining unpublished novels are in diverse stages of drafting.

Data sources There exists a vast treasure trove of intriguing content that could be used to base authentic espionage films on whether or not those films be documentaries, feature films and/or a TV series. That content is in Beyond Enkription, the drafts of the other books comprising TheBurlingtonFiles, Bill Fairclough’s biographies, the FaireSansDire and TheBurlingtonFiles websites, FaireSansDire’s records, data about Pemberton’s People and Bill Fairclough’s and others’ private records.

What to film and in what order There are almost too many options available. However, FaireSansDire believes that it might be most efficacious to start with productions based solely on Bill Fairclough’s life story in 1974 as reasonably accurately depicted in Beyond Enkription. Whether or not those productions are documentaries, feature films and/or a TV series is open to debate. Since the productions would initially be based on Bill Fairclough’s life story alone, the plots and themes within Beyond Enkription relating to other members of the Burlington/Fairclough family would only feature if directly relevant to his life story. Ensuing productions could be based on the data sources referred to above which could include a lot of intriguing material that is not yet in the public domain.

Themes Thematically, Bill Fairclough’s life story could be approached from many angles such as: the mushroom management of secret agents; his astonishing longevity in service; an accountant by day, a spy by night; MI6’s Achilles heel, secrecy; MI6, Philby, Le Carré and Fleming, ignorance and disinformation; or is any of MI6 real?

What differentiates all this from other spy sagas Once you have read this article, ask yourself how many lifetime secret agents have commented so forthrightly on their past assignments and what they have done in the name of British (and US) Intelligence. What is more, subject to confidentiality agreements, further disclosures should clarify beyond doubt that this saga is so different from all the others. If only one of Pemberton’s People, Major Freddie Mace were still alive you could have asked him. Sadly or otherwise, MI6 no longer tolerates its staff advertising their silent killing skills.

Realism, rejection and success Beyond Enkription is deep rooted in real-life experiences. It was written for spies by a spy and very few real agents (ie not officers) have put pen to paper. TheBurlingtonFiles concept was rejected by book publishers because Beyond Enkription had been self-published before they were approached. Mind you, at about that time publishers also rejected Mick Herron’s award winning Slough House series. Enough said, but nevertheless, Beyond Enkription has been heralded by those who should know as “being up there with [the two classic British espionage autobiographies] My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”.

Furthermore, many well-known espionage novels including some of John le Carré’s books such as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Robert Ludlum’s Bourne identity series never made it in the book charts but films based on them were box office sensations and deemed epics in their genre. As for the realism of Beyond Enkription, it is rumoured that it is so authentic that it has become mandatory reading for some states’ intelligence induction programs (eg allegedly in Holland and Bulgaria).

Since 2010 we have both approached and been approached by film directors/producers about filming opportunities. More information on that will be made available privately if requested. Those who have approached us have been turned down for a variety of reasons including having affiliations with Russian intelligence, being disrespectful, offering empty promises and even trying to pull the wool over our eyes with their prestigious lawyers. In turn, global issues have derailed those we were negotiating with such as when MGM was bankrupted in 2010 but we have been turned down almost entirely because as was the case with Kudos in 2010, the best film production businesses were fully booked for years into the future or our project was perceived to be too big to swallow.

Market potential Any production based on Beyond Enkription would be readily marketable. Apart from the huge oven ready audiences usually attracted by espionage productions, white collar workers at large would be interested in Bill Fairclough’s story especially if they had ties with accountancy firms, banks and more specifically with his past employers such as PwC, Citi, Barclays and Reuters. These named businesses alone have many millions of past employees, associates etc and circa 750,000 current employees.

Furthermore, Bill Fairclough has about 250,000 followers/contacts/friends spread throughout social media although these have never been analysed to determine how many duplicates exist therein. Interestingly, were it not for Bill Fairclough’s authoring some articles about the Russian Ukrainian war, PwC emailed him to say that they would have published an article in their alumni magazine about him (which he drafted at their request).

Global appeal Beyond Enkription is mainly set in the UK, the Caribbean and the USA where Edward Burlington aka Bill Fairclough worked unwittingly for MI6 and “eyes wide open” for the CIA. During his life Bill Fairclough has undertaken assignments in over 100 countries and FaireSansDire has operated in over double that number. Since going public in 2010, TheBurlingtonFiles website has had hundreds of thousands of visits from in excess of 200 jurisdictions and Bill Fairclough’s biographies have been browsed through or read by hundreds of thousands of people. All that goes to show that global appeal already exists and can be expanded and leveraged.

To underscore that point, Bill Fairclough was approached in 2024 to do interviews on Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), Spain’s equivalent of the BBC. Unusually he agreed to do so having turned down all similar offers before. The first interview called “El hombre de Pemberton – MI6” took place during prime time on 22 March 2025. It was conducted by Sasi Alami on the international espionage cognoscenti’s radio program of choice, Código Crystal on RTVE. That programme first aired in 2019 and it is believed that Bill Fairclough’s interview attracted one of their largest audiences ever.

Adaptability for the screen Beyond Enkription, the only book published so far in TheBurlingtonFiles series, was tailor-made for film adaptation having been written with filming in mind. One reviewer even complained that it read like a film script! Its labyrinthine plots make each chapter feel like an episode unto itself. Most of the diarized 39 chapters end with tantalizing twists and cliffhangers that leave readers eager for more. Written ahead of its time, the binge-worthy episodic nature of Beyond Enkription would be ideal for adaptation to suit modern streaming platforms.

Topicality and relevance Beyond Enkription is set in 1974 but could hardly be more topical and relevant than now. What with Bond in hiatus, no more genuine le Carré novels and world headlines (reminiscent of MI6’s “Operation Standpipe”) dominated by rogue states operating hand in glove with organized crime, it’s as if now was destined to be the time for Beyond Enkription’s adaptation. It would fill a void with its grittier, smarter approach, satisfying audiences hungry for intelligent fact based yet action packed narratives. Indeed, the timing couldn’t be better for a fresh espionage franchise.

Content The six books in the TheBurlingtonFiles series were intended to cover roughly half a century of Bill Fairclough’s life as a spook including FaireSansDire’s activities spread over several decades. Estimating the likely quantum of their content is impossible at this juncture. Nonetheless, the content of Bill Fairclough’s biography on TheBurlingtonFiles website and Beyond Enkription together are estimated to contain more riveting stuff that films could be made of than exists either in Joe Weisberg’s excellent smash hit “The Americans” which comprised 75 hour long episodes or Ian Fleming’s bibliography.

Looking at Content from another angle, the series “SAS Rogue Heroes” reminds viewers that the weirder it gets the more likely it is to be accurate. Similarly, in Bill Fairclough’s life the truth is invariably stranger than fiction. Hence, there is no need for suave tuxedos, martini specials or fancy gadgets. After all, a pencil can not only kill but also neutralise voice activated surveillance cameras and AI controlled drones. This is espionage in its rawest, most visceral form. Audiences crave realism, and Beyond Enkription delivers.

Character depth The gripping narrative and rich tapestry of characters in TheBurlingtonFiles based on real spies will captivate audiences worldwide. It also combines the high-stakes intrigue of a John le Carré production like Tinker Tailor with the raw intensity of The Bourne franchise. It pulls back the curtain on what it means to work as a plausibly deniable secret agent. The protagonist, Edward Burlington, is no cardboard low-dimensional hero.

His journey is one of vulnerability, resilience, and moral ambiguity, offering a layered character study that evolves throughout the series. From his tumultuous personal relationships to dozens of genuine death-defying missions, his struggles and triumphs resonate deeply. Also, supporting family and characters, whether Machiavellian manipulators or double-crossing rogues, provide endless room for character arcs, shocking revelations and emotional depth.

Summary of customer reviews Those who have read Beyond Enkription reckoned it was: (1) a raw noir realistic espionage thriller based on gritty real events and real characters who had actually “walked the talk”; (2) cerebral yet action packed thereby pleasing fans of the likes of Bond, Smiley, Palmer and even “grey men” as on occasion found on Netflix; (3) open to multi-dimensional interpretation which those who have read Beyond Enkription more than twice can confirm as each reading was like reading another book; and (4) an exceptional fusion of interwoven plots as Beyond Enkription itself transformed into a series within a series with plot after sub-plot depicting duplicity in deceivingly disingenuous ways such that trying to distinguish twixt good and evil, fact and fiction, truths and falsehoods faded into a fog of intriguing disinformation.

Above all it was about “An accountant by day and a spy at night”. Who would have thought that a meagre accountant involved in comparatively humdrum routine work could be transformed into a maverick spy involved in exhilarating clandestine operations? No wonder the spy did not want to die! Wouldn’t you too want to know what lies Beyond Enkription?

RELEVANT HASHTAGS

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