Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

1979 - United Kingdom

Superior television adaptation of John le Carre's spy novel about a retired spymaster, George Smiley (played by Alec Guinness), who is called out of retirement to unearth a double agent among the top ranks of the British Secret Service. 

As far as the BBC was concerned, the timing of this series couldn't have been any better. The initial broadcast coincided with the British Government announcing that Anthony Blunt, the keeper of the Queen's Pictures, was one of the Cambridge Five, a ring of spies recruited as traitors by the Soviet Union during and after the Second World War. It is against this background that Arthur Hopcraft's seven-part BBC adaptation is based. The cold war is at its height and British agents are at risk from a mole, working within the highest levels of the Secret Intelligence Service (known as the Circus). But who can spy on the spies? George Smiley, former Deputy Head of the Service, who had retired under mysterious circumstances some years earlier, is brought back to investigate. But he must tread carefully and covertly because the double agent could be any of his former colleagues. 

As Smiley, Alec Guinness gives one of his finest performances. His outwardly placid and composed demeanour masks a mixture of emotions and a seething hatred as the realisation dawns on him that the double agent he is trying to uncover is not only the same man responsible for Smiley's sudden departure from the SIS, but also for his domestic betrayal. Sian Phillips also shines in the series' final scene as Smiley's unfaithful wife Ann. There are also some fine cameos from the likes of Joss Ackland, Ian Bannen, Hywel Bennett, Nigel Stock, Ian Richardson, and Beryl Reid. The series was an immediate success and Guinness returned in the sequel Smiley's People in 1982. A 2011 big screen version was also received with equal enthusiasm.

Published on February 7th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus (2012) for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

Sapphire and Steel

"All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension...Sapphire and Steel have been assigned"

Also released in 1979

Alfred Hitchock Presents tv series

The instantly recognisable, deceptively benign visage of arguably the world's greatest director of cinematic suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, side-stepped deftly to the smaller screen of US television and welcomed viewers to a polished series of stories...

Also tagged Drama Series

Terry and June

Terry and June Medford have moved from the big city to the pastoral community of Purley in Surrey. Despite June's efforts to enjoy the tranquillity of country life, Terry just can't avoid getting into trouble.

Also released in 1979

Smiley's People

The murder of a Soviet defector forces his old handler, British spymaster George Smiley, out of retirement one last time.

Also starring Alec Guiness

To The Manor Born

Romance blossoms after a widow has to sell her stately home to a business man in order to pay off her debts.

Also released in 1979

Top Secret

A British Intelligence agent is engaged by a South American businessman to act wherever the official forces of law and order cannot or will not do so.

Also tagged Spy Series

The Baker Street Boys

Based on a group of street urchins whom Conan Doyle recruited on behalf of Holmes to perform various missions, take messages, search London following clues and going to places where the detective himself could not.

Also tagged Drama Series

The Sandbaggers

Gritty spy drama centered round a covert elite operations section of British Intelligence.

Also tagged Spy Series