Defence of the Realm

On a foggy night a car containing two men is pursued by police. The radio is discussing the country being on high alert due to a terrorist attack in Ankara. Going down a dead end one (Steven) escapes over a high barbed wire fence but the other one is caught.

Dennis Markham (Ian Bannen), a prominent Member of Parliament is reported by a London paper to have been seen leaving a woman's home on the same evening as she is visited by a military attaché from East Germany, Markham's loyalty to his country is questioned. The media men debate whether or not to print the story.

Vernon Bayliss (Denholm Elliott), Nick Mullen (Gabriel Byrne) and Jack Macleod (Bill Paterson) all work together for the Daily Dispatch. Bayliss is sent for a private meeting with Markham and explains the link to the German agent (which Markham is unaware of). Meanwhile, Mullen interviews Nina Beckman (Greta Scacchi), Markham's secretary, and then speaks to Markham's wife while, initially, pretending to be a policeman.

The story, written by Mullen, breaks as the "Markham Affair" on television and throughout the newspapers.

Markham is hounded by the media and forced to resign.

Mullen continues his work alongside Bayliss, who suspects that Markham was framed. When Bayliss dies from a supposed heart attack the same night as Bayliss's flat is ransacked by someone who was not after money or valuables, Mullen suspects something deeper at work. He breaks into Bayliss's desk and finds press-cuttings and a tape which insinuate a different motive behind the attack on Markham.

Mullen visits the young man in prison (caught by police at the start of the film) telling him that his accomplice is dead. This leads him to go to the site where the film began a high security but seemingly unmanned military base run by the USAF near the village of Brandon. Mullen realizes that the USAF presence in the UK involves a nuclear weapon capability and Markham seems linked to aims to rid the UK of such. This may have been the motive to start a mudslinging campaign.

With the help of Nina Beckman, Mullen continues to investigate the affair despite a break-in at his flat, surveillance and other attempts to stop him.

When he goes to publish the story his editor calls him in to say it is a great story but they cannot publish due to the Official Secrets Act. Moreover, the newspaper owner Kingsbrook (a character akin to Lord Beaverbrook) has personally intervened to make sure it isn't published. But how did he know it existed?

Mullen discovers the "KGB agent" was actually a British agent so asks the editor where they got the source that said he was KGB. He gives up the name Anthony Clegg. But when he confronts Clegg in a gentleman's club he is grabbed by two henchmen and driven to an office for questioning by senior officials. Without explanation he is then left alone in an industrial building. He returns to his ransacked flat. Nina arrives at the door but as she steps in a bomb goes off.

However, she had posted the incriminating evidence to Germany and the story of the near-nuclear-disaster spreads across the globe through the European press.

• Gabriel Byrne as Nicholas "Nick" Mullen
• Greta Scacchi as Nina Beckman
• Denholm Elliott as Vernon Bayliss
• Ian Bannen as Dennis Markham
• Fulton Mackay as Victor Kingsbrook
• Bill Paterson as Jack Macleod
• David Calder as Harry Champion
• Frederick Treves as Arnold Reece
• Robbie Coltrane as Leo McAskey
• Annabel Leventon as Trudy Markham
• Graham Fletcher-Cook as Micky Parker
• Danny Webb as Danny Royce (photographer)
• Prentis Hancock as Frank Longman
• Mark Tandy as Philip Henderson
• Oliver Ford Davies as Anthony Clegg
• George Ellis Jones as D.C.S. Catterick
• Lyndon Brook as Pugh
• Philip Whitchurch as Cuttings Librarian
• Laurance Rudic as Charlie
• James Fleet as Clegg's assistant in the Ministry

Halliwell's Film Guide described it as an "efficient political melodrama, basically too old-fashioned to start a cult".[2] Denholm Elliott's performance has been singled out for particular praise. Roger Ebert wrote, "The acting is strong throughout, but Elliott is especially effective. What is it about this actor, who has been in so many different kinds of movies and seems to make each role special? Here he is needed to suggest integrity and scruples, and does it almost simply by the way he looks... Defence of the Realm ends on a bleak and cynical note – unless you count the somewhat contrived epilogue – and gets there with intelligence and a sharp, bitter edge."[3] Radio Times gives the film four stars out of five, claiming, "The role of the sozzled veteran reporter who for once finds himself involved in a meaningful story is brought wonderfully to life by Denholm Elliott... Gabriel Byrne, as Elliott's ambitious young colleague, is less effective, but the film has plenty of tension and co-star Greta Scacchi proves a worthy accomplice."[4]

• Denholm Elliott won a BAFTA for best supporting actor.

• Defence of the Realm at IMDb
• Defence of the Realm at Rotten Tomatoes
• Defence of the Realm at AllMovie