The two 90-minute Second World War spy thrillers will feature “a combination of historically located, intelligent narratives, interlaced with flawed, romantic and utterly compelling characters”.

Speaking at the Edinburgh Television Festival at the weekend, BBC Four controller Richard Klein commented: “Alan Furst is one of the world’s finest writers on war and the costs of war on human relationships. It is with great pleasure that I can confirm that BBC Four will be dramatising for television one of his best known novels, The Spies of Warsaw. Furst and Four are a very good fit and I hope our audiences will enjoy the result of this collaboration.”

Richard Fell, Head of Drama at Fresh Pictures, added: “Dick and Ian’s scripts have brilliantly caught the extraordinary atmosphere of Alan Furst’s books. The films will bring to life these compelling thrillers set against the impending disaster of the Second World War.”