If you’re hunting for a high-octane spy thriller with car chases and ticking time bombs, you’re looking at the wrong show. Honestly. Summer of Rockets episodes aren't built like James Bond or even The Night Manager. Instead, Stephen Poliakoff gives us something much stranger and, frankly, more uncomfortable. It’s 1958. The UK is vibrating with the fear of the Russian bear, the "Red Menace" is under every bed, and yet, the show spends an enormous amount of time talking about... bespoke hearing aids?
It’s weird. It’s slow. But it’s also brilliant if you know what you’re watching for.
Most people coming to the Summer of Rockets episodes for the first time expect a linear narrative about espionage. What they get is a semi-autobiographical fever dream. Samuel Petrukhin, played with a frantic, desperate charm by Toby Stephens, is a Russian-born Jewish inventor. He wants to be British. He wants to belong. But the British establishment, represented by the shadowy MI5 and the even shadowier aristocracy, has other plans for him. They don't want his friendship; they want his ears.
The Slow Burn of the Six Summer of Rockets Episodes
The structure of the series is a bit of a gamble. Poliakoff, who both wrote and directed all six parts, ignores the standard "cliffhanger" TV logic.
In the first episode, we meet Samuel as he’s trying to sell his new invention: a pager. Yes, a pager in 1958. It’s a moment of historical accuracy that feels like sci-fi. He’s approached by two MI5 agents, Field and Walter, who essentially blackmail him into spying on his new friends, the Shaws. Kathleen Shaw (Keeley Hawes) and Richard Shaw (Linus Roache) are the embodiment of "Old Money" Britain. They are glamorous, tragic, and deeply suspicious.
But here’s the thing: nothing "happens" in the way we expect.
There are long scenes of people walking through woods. There are lingering shots of debutante balls. You’ve got to be patient. By the time you hit the middle Summer of Rockets episodes, the tension isn't about whether a bomb will go off. It’s about whether Samuel’s son, Sasha, will survive the horrific bullying at his elite boarding school. It's about whether the "Rockets" of the title—the nuclear tests and the space race—will actually end the world or if the world is already ending because of the internal rot of the class system.
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Episode 3 and the Pivot to Paranoia
Halfway through, the show shifts. It stops being a social drama and starts feeling like a horror movie.
The atmosphere gets thick. Samuel is caught between his loyalty to the Shaws—who treat him with a kindness he’s never known in England—and his "duty" to the state. He’s bugging their house. He’s listening to their private grief over their missing son. It’s voyeuristic. It’s dirty. Poliakoff uses the concept of "listening" as a metaphor for the immigrant experience. You’re always on the outside, ears pressed to the glass, trying to decode a language that isn't yours.
Why the Historical Accuracy Actually Matters
A lot of viewers think the "Great Fog" or the nuclear paranoia in the show is exaggerated for TV. It isn't. 1958 was a terrifying year.
The Cold War was peaking. The UK was desperately trying to keep up with the US and the USSR. When you watch the Summer of Rockets episodes, pay attention to the background noise. The radio reports, the talk of the Blue Streak missile, the fear of "The Big One." Poliakoff based Samuel Petrukhin on his own father, Alexander Poliakoff, who was indeed a pioneer in hearing aid technology and was monitored by MI5.
- Fact: The pagers shown in the series were real. Alexander Poliakoff’s company, Multitone, invented the first paging system for St. Thomas’ Hospital in London in 1956.
- Fact: The debutante season of 1958 was the last one where the young women were actually presented to the Queen. It was the end of an era.
- The tension in the Shaw household reflects the real-life disappearance of various "establishment" figures who were suspected of being Soviet moles during that decade.
The show isn't just "period drama." It’s a reconstruction of a specific kind of British anxiety. The fear isn't just about Russians; it's about the fear that the person sitting next to you at a dinner party isn't who they say they are. Or worse, that you aren't who you say you are.
The Problem With the "Spies" in Summer of Rockets
If you’re looking for the spy masterminds, you won't find them. Field and Walter, the MI5 guys, are kind of bumbling. They’re cruel, sure, but they’re also slightly pathetic.
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This is where the show gets its nuance. It suggests that the British intelligence services were often just as lost as the people they were trailing. They were obsessed with the wrong things. While they were busy hounding an immigrant inventor, they were missing the actual rot at the heart of the government.
Samuel’s journey through the six Summer of Rockets episodes is one of disillusionment. He thinks if he helps the government, he’ll finally be "British." He thinks the Shaws are the pinnacle of civilization. By the final episode, he realizes the "establishment" is a hollow shell. It’s a collection of people mourning a lost empire and taking their frustrations out on everyone else.
The Ending: Not a Bang, but a Whimper (and a Rocket)
I won't spoil the exact final beat, but the conclusion of the Summer of Rockets episodes is divisive.
Some people hate it. They wanted a big reveal. They wanted a shootout. Instead, Poliakoff gives us a moment of quiet, devastating clarity. The "Rockets" go up, but the world stays the same. The class barriers remain. The secrets stay buried.
It’s an ending that demands you think about what you just watched. It asks: was the spying worth it? Was the social climbing worth it? For Samuel, the answer is a complicated "no." His family is intact, but his innocence is gone. He’s seen behind the curtain, and it’s just a bunch of lonely, frightened people pretending to be in control.
How to Actually Enjoy This Series
If you’re going to binge the Summer of Rockets episodes, change your mindset.
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- Stop waiting for the "plot" to kick in. The atmosphere is the plot.
- Watch Toby Stephens' face. His performance is a masterclass in suppressed panic.
- Look at the colors. The show starts bright and "summer-y" and gradually turns grey, metallic, and cold.
- Don't ignore the kids. The storyline involving the daughter, Hannah, and her involvement with the burgeoning protest movements is vital. It represents the only hope in the whole show—the idea that the next generation might actually say "no" to this nonsense.
Key Takeaways for Your Next Watch
The series is a slow burn that rewards a second viewing. Once you know who the Shaws are and what MI5 is actually after, the early episodes feel much more sinister.
You should specifically look for the parallels between Samuel’s technology—hearing aids—and the act of espionage. Everyone is trying to hear something they aren't supposed to. Everyone is "deaf" to the people they claim to love. It’s a recurring theme that Poliakoff weaves through every single conversation.
If you want to understand the 1950s beyond the Mad Men or Call the Midwife aesthetic, this is the show to do it. It’s messy, it’s frustrating, and it’s deeply human.
Next Steps for the Viewer:
After finishing the series, research the real Multitone Electronics history. Seeing how much of Samuel's "crazy" inventions were actually real-world breakthroughs adds a layer of respect for the character's genius. Then, look up the 1958 "last debutantes." The footage of the actual girls arriving at the palace makes the scenes in the show look hauntingly accurate. Finally, revisit the first episode. You’ll notice the MI5 agents are much more transparent in their manipulation than they seemed the first time around.
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