The BBC and German broadcaster ZDF have teamed up to order the Cold War thriller series Honey from Sally Woodward Gentle’s Sid Gentle Films (a BBC Studios-owned production label), best known for Killing Eve. Honey was commissioned by Lindsay Salt for BBC iPlayer and BBC One, and by Frank Seyberth, head of Co-production (International Fiction), for ZDF. It is being executive-produced by Woodward Gentle and Lee Morris for Sid Gentle Films. Christopher Hall is the producer.

Emma Moran, who penned the Disney+ series Extraordinary and How to Kill Your Family, with Anya Taylor-Joy, is going to be the lead writer of the series as well as serving as executive producer. She said: “I’m excited to dig into the sexy madness of our version of Cold War East Berlin. Romantic comedy plus espionage is a dream combination for me.” Emme Hoy (Renegade Nell) will also be writing on the “tender and flirty, slick and dangerous” series.

The 6x45-minute show will be set in 1982 in East Berlin and will centre on 24-year-old Marta, a deep-cover agent for MI6. The young woman will find herself trying to escape from Friedrich Bauman, the new head of counter espionage for the Stasi, while also surviving intricate plots, which put her at risk of being found out. CIA operative Aaron Neeland will also be causing trouble, turning out to be a potential love interest for the protagonist, who will get involved in a dangerous ménage à trois.

Producer Woodward Gentle described the project as a thrilling product: “Set against the stark brutalism of East Germany, the characters and storylines in Honey are smart, violent and sexually charged. Emma’s scripts are characteristically take-no-prisoners witty, sophisticated and pacy while quietly and desperately romantic.”

Salt said: “Honey is a smart, playful and irresistible tale of an MI6 agent drawn into a deadly and dysfunctional love triangle. Set against the backdrop of Berlin in the early 1980s, this brilliant new series from Emma and the team at Sid Gentle Films Ltd subverts genre conventions in the best possible way.”

Arvand Khosravi, senior VP, Scripted Television Strategy at Fifth Season (in charge of global distribution), added: “We’re thrilled to be partnering again with the talented team at Sid Gentle and the BBC; we have a long history of making iconic shows a reality together. Honey is as groundbreaking and as elevated as our previous collaborations, and it's great to already be seeing strong international interest in the title.”