To mark the return on popular thriller series The Undeclared War, we had the pleasure in speaking to leadin g stars Simon Pegg and Hannah Khalique-Brown, as the duo discuss meeting real-life spies at GCHQ and why modern cyber warfare is even scarier than we realise. Returning as GCHQ’s Head of Operations Danny Patrick and brilliant young coder Saara Parvin, Simon and Hannah explain how real intelligence experts helped make the Channel 4 thriller frighteningly plausible. They also reveal what visiting GCHQ was really like – including why they weren’t allowed into its surprisingly high-security Greggs, which naturally leads into a conversation about their iconic sausage rolls (because here at HeyUGuys we like to dig in to life’s serious themes).

Meanwhile, Hannah discusses learning programming languages to play Saara, her character’s evolution in Series 2 and how the first series became her first major acting role. Simon talks about his real-life relationship with technology, moving between blockbusters and dramatic projects, and how Spaced and Shaun of the Dead changed his career, while talking about his collaborations with the improvisation-king Jamie Adams.

Watch the full interview with Simon Pegg & Hannah Khalique-Brown here:

Plot

Set in 2024, immediately after the end of season one, the team in the Malware Department at GCHQ come to terms with a massive Russian cyber-attack. But just as the British finally gain the upper hand, Danny and his team realise that Russia were not the real architects of the attack. They have a new adversary who is set to attack. And not only that, but the team realise that they have a mole in GCHQ.

The Undeclared War S2 is available to watch on Channel 4 now