Robin Chapman based his teleplay for the 1986 BBC production Blunt: The Fourth Man on a true story. Ian Richardson plays Sir Anthony Blunt, an above-reproach aristocrat and renowned art expert. In 1951, Blunt sells out his country by helping turncoat British spy Donald MacLean (Michael McStay) escape to Moscow. Blunt's stake in all this intrigue is personal: he is the former gay lover of MacLean's partner in espionage, the notorious Guy Burgess (Anthony Hopkins). The revelation of Blunt's role as the "fourth man" in Britain's most famous modern spy scandal is not made public until 1979. Blunt: The Fourth Man was first telecast in the US over the A&E cable network on July 24, 1987.