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Comedian Angela Barnes is an ardent nuclear bunker enthusiast with a passion for all things Cold War. Angela's latest Edinburgh show - Fortitude - featured nuclear bunkers heavily and whilst in Edinburgh, Angela performed her show in a decommissioned Cold War bunker in Fife.

Featuring a perfect blend of archive and studio interviews, Angela Barnes' Cold War Secrets explores this fascinating, frightening and relevant period in modern history. Using both factual and comic archive to reveal what we didn't know then but we do know now, the show brings a unique and surprising insight into the Cold War - from bunkers and other civil defence plans, to the Royal Observer Corps, numbers stations and the secret police services behind the Iron Curtain.

In her journey to find out more about this period of history, Angela talks to Author Anna Funder (Stasiland), discusses pre unification Germany with Henning Wehn and strategizes for the end of the world with comedian John Robins.

Batten down the hatches, ready the invisible ink and prepare your code names.

Programmes featured include:

• Le Carre on Spying – A very special comedy offering from sketch group The Penny Dreadfuls. Prepare to enter 1960s Germany and a hotbed of intrigue and espionage, starring The News Quiz’s Miles Jupp as David Cornwell and Mark Heap as the narrator.
• The Bed-Sitting Room - This atmospheric, surrealist play was originally written by John Antrobus and Spike Milligan, and has been adapted for radio by John Antrobus and Paul Merton with an all-star cast including Derek Jacobi, Catherine Tate and Bernard Cribbins.
• Excerpts from documentaries ‘Broadcast from the Bunker’ and ‘The Stasi Jigsaw Puzzle’.

Producer: Adnan Ahmed for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Studios

Made for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4 Extra.