Three British intelligence officers plan an operation during lockdown. What could go wrong?

We spent the pandemic seeing one another on screens. This digital panopticon deprived us of the layered subtexts that give meaning and play to human connection. We adapted to this strange condition, but wanted to subvert it too.

And so on many a Zoom we see hints – a smirk, a raised eyebrow, a suppressed snigger – that unspoken messages are being sent and received. I wanted to explore this by asking: how far could it go for those who intercept and decode signals for a living?