Le Carre's classic spy thriller adapted into an absolutely enthralling piece of television drama. George Smiley is brought out of retirement to find the enemy agent who has infiltrated the British Secret Service. He quietly and assiduously goes to work in a world where spies spy on spies and nothing is quite as it seems.
This 13-part series, produced for BBC television,
starred (among others) Alec Guinness as George
Smiley, Bernard Hepton as Toby Esterhase, Ian
Bannen as ... more >
This 13-part series, produced for BBC television,
starred (among others) Alec Guinness as George
Smiley, Bernard Hepton as Toby Esterhase, Ian
Bannen as Jim Prideaux and Patrick Stewart as
Karla. It was totally faithful to the book, and
superbly acted and filmed. What was probably most
remarkable about this production (and its sequel,
"Smiley's People") was that Guinness' portrayal
of Smiley establishes the ageing spymaster's persona
in the visual sense every bit as well as LeCarre
established it in the literary sense. It is no
coincidence, then, that Guinness' face appeared
on the covers of paperback editions of both works.
In all, a masterful adaptation of an excellent
book. < less
