Red Joan is a film based, although highly romanticised, on the true story of spy Melita Norwood who stole British nuclear secrets for the Soviets. Inspired by the true story of a female spy, this is “an infectious page-turner, as crafty and nuanced and impassioned as any classic thriller” (The National).Inspired by the true story of Melita Norwood, unmasked as the KGB’s longest-serving British spy in 1999, at age eighty-seven, Red Joan centers on the deeply conflicted life of a young physicist during the Second World War. The pull of “Red Joan”—an adaptation of Jennie Rooney’s bestselling novel by screenwriter Lindsay Shapero—oddly isn’t in the search and reveal of an answer to this question. Is Red Joan a true story? ... Melita Norwood was known as the “granny spy.” In … The inspiration for Red Joan comes from the story of Melita Norwood and her outing in the press at the age of 87 as the KGB’s longest-serving Cold War spy. “In the same circumstances, I know that I would do the same thing again”—Melita Norwood, convicted KGB spy. Admittedly, the expected attributes of a slick espionage thriller (like globe-trotting mystique and heart-pumping moments of suspense) aren’t great in number here. Melita Stedman Norwood (née Sirnis; 25 March 1912 – 2 June 2005) was a British civil servant and KGB intelligence source who, ... Red Joan. Red Joan is an adaptation of the very readable novel of the same name by Jennie Rooney, which was in turn inspired by the life of Melita Norwood, a British woman who was discovered at age 87 to have been a spy for the KGB many years earlier. Norwood gave a famous press conference in garden of her very conventional London … Red Joan is a 2018 film very loosely inspired by Norwood's life, starring Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson. Red Joan changes the story slightly, Melita becomes Joan, a Cambridge physics graduate, (Sophie Cookson) who is drawn into the spy world by her lover. In real life, Norwood … New film Red Joan tells the tale of Melita Norwood - a KGB 'man on the inside' who went undetected in Britain for almost 40 years Credit: Lionsgate/ Supplied by LMK. It was directed by … Based on a Jennie Rooney novel of the same name and loosely inspired by the life of British KGB informant Melita Norwood, Red Joan is a … How Melita Norwood inspired Judi Dench's portrayal of Joan Stanley The new film is actually based on one of the most surprising spy stories in British history. Film Red Joan portrays a KGB agent as a harmless do-gooder but she was Russia's greatest asset. A wasted opportunity, since five minutes reading about Melita Norwood (the real life character on which Red Joan is based) on Wikipedia is more illuminating, more satisfying and, as a bonus, leaves 96 minutes banked. ‘Red Joan’ Review: Judi Dench Loses Spy Game to Younger Self in Fractured WWII Tale. Red Joan Starring Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tom Hughes & Tereza Srbova Directed by Trevor Nunn In cinemas Red Joan is loosely based on the spying activities of British civil servant Melita Norwood, who was nearly 90 years old when she was exposed as a Soviet agent.