Sacha Baron Cohen stars as Mossad agent in Netflix thriller, The Spy

Sacha Baron Cohen stars as a legendary Mossad agent in Netflix’s latest thriller, The Spy, which is released this week.

Eli Cohen worked undercover in Syria between 1961 and 1965 and developed close ties with the political and military hierarchy, before becoming the chief adviser to the Minister of defence.

But his cover, under the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet, was eventually blown and Cohen was put on trial and executed by Syria in 1965.

The intelligence he gathered before his arrest was credited by then-prime minister Levi Eshkol as being a significant factor in Israel’s success in the Six-Day War.

Now his intriguing story has been brought to life by Homeland creator Gideon Raff, who writes and directs the six-part drama.

Baron Cohen stars alongside The Americans actor Noah Emmerich as Dan Peleg, Eli’s Mossad handler who is conflicted with guilt over the sacrifices the spy has to make and Hadar Ratzon Rotem (Homeland) as Eli’s wife, Nadia, who is left to raise their family on her own while harbouring suspicions over her husband’s cover story as a government worker.

The Spy is available on Netflix from Friday