Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Opening title
Based onTinker Tailor Soldier Spy
by John le Carré
Written byDramatised by Arthur Hopcraft
Screenplay byJohn le Carré
Directed byJohn Irvin
Starring
Theme music composerGeoffrey Burgon
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes7
Production
ProducerJonathan Powell
CinematographyTony Pierce-Roberts
Editors
Running time
  • UK: 315 min
  • US: 290 min
Original release
NetworkBBC2
Release10 September (1979-09-10) –
22 October 1979 (1979-10-22)
Related
Smiley's People

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 1979 British seven-part spy drama by the BBC. John Irvin directed and Jonathan Powell produced this adaptation of John le Carré's novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974). The serial, which stars Alec Guinness, Alexander Knox, Ian Richardson, Michael Jayston, Bernard Hepton, Anthony Bate, Ian Bannen, George Sewell and Michael Aldridge, was shown in the United Kingdom from 10 September to 22 October 1979, and in the United States beginning on 29 September 1980. The US version was re-edited from the original seven episodes to fit into six episodes.

The series, which received widespread acclaim, was followed by Smiley's People in 1982.

Plot

George Smiley, deputy to the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, has been forced into retirement in the wake of Operation Testify, a failed spy mission in Czechoslovakia. The Chief of the Circus, known only as Control, had sent veteran agent Jim Prideaux to meet a Czech general who supposedly had information identifying a deep-cover Soviet spy planted in the highest echelons of the British Secret Intelligence Service—known as the Circus, because of its headquarters at Cambridge Circus in London.

The mission proved to be a trap, and Prideaux was shot in the back, captured and tortured by the Soviets. Control was disgraced by Testify and replaced by his rival Percy Alleline. Control's obsession with the possibility of a Soviet mole at the Circus was not shared by others in the organisation, who insist that any leaks and failures at the Circus were due to Control's incompetence. On the contrary, Alleline and the rest of the new leadership team at the Circus believe that they have a mole, code-named Merlin, working for them in Moscow Centre, the KGB headquarters, passing them secrets in an operation code-named Witchcraft. Others in the British and American intelligence communities have been impressed with the information produced by Witchcraft, and Alleline and his team are regarded as a refreshing change from Control.

More than a year after Testify and the shake-up at the Circus, Ricki Tarr, a British agent gone missing in Lisbon, turns up in England with new evidence backing up Control's theory of a mole at the Circus. While on a routine mission Tarr had been approached by Irina, a low-level Soviet agent who claimed to know the identity of the mole and wanted to trade it for permission to defect. As soon as Tarr informed the Circus of Irina's offer, she was abducted by the KGB and spirited back to Russia. Tarr, convinced he had been betrayed by the mole Irina was going to identify, believed that he would also be targeted and murdered. Returning to London secretly, Tarr contacts Oliver Lacon, a senior civil servant who is the liaison between the Circus and the British Cabinet.

Before his ousting, Control had narrowed his list of suspects to five men – Roy Bland, Toby Esterhase, Bill Haydon, Percy Alleline, and George Smiley – all of whom occupied high positions in the Circus. Knowing the Soviet spy is highly placed in the Circus, Lacon cannot trust the Circus to uncover the mole or even allow its personnel to know of the investigation. Smiley, who had been fired along with Control while Control's other four suspects were promoted, is recalled by Lacon and given instructions to expose the mole. With the help of his protégé, Peter Guillam, who is still in the Circus, Smiley begins a secret investigation into the events surrounding Operation Testify, believing it will lead him to the identity of the mole, whom Moscow Centre has given the cover name Gerald.

Smiley learns that Operation Witchcraft uses a safehouse to meet with Aleksey Aleksandrovich Polyakov, a Soviet agent. Polyakov appears to hand over valuable intelligence material but this is actually "chickenfeed", and the operation is a cover by which Gerald passes valuable material to Polyakov. Smiley forces Toby Esterhase to reveal the location of the safe house. Tarr is sent to Paris, where he sends a coded message to Alleline about "information crucial to the wellbeing of the Service". This triggers an emergency meeting between Gerald and Polyakov at the safehouse, where Smiley and Guillam lie in wait.

The mole is revealed to be Bill Haydon. Haydon is debriefed by Smiley but is killed by Jim Prideaux before he can be exchanged with the Russians.

Cast

Production

Shortly before filming began, Alec Guinness asked author John le Carré to introduce him to a real spy to aid him in preparing for his role. Le Carré invited Guinness to lunch with Sir Maurice Oldfield, who served as Chief of the British Intelligence Service from 1973 to 1978. During their meal, Guinness intently studied Oldfield for any mannerisms or quirks that he could use in his performance. When he saw Oldfield run his finger around the rim of his wine glass, he asked whether Oldfield was checking for poison—much to Oldfield's astonishment, as he was only checking how clean the glass was.[1]

The series was shot on location in London, including some of the intelligence agency scenes which were shot in the BBC offices; in Glasgow for scenes in Czechoslovakia, at Oxford University, at Bredon School in Gloucestershire where the character Jim Prideaux was a master, and elsewhere.[2]

Music

The end credits music, an arrangement of "Nunc dimittis" ("Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace") from the Book of Common Prayer (1662), was composed by Geoffrey Burgon for organ, strings, trumpet, and treble; the score earned Burgon the Ivor Novello Award for 1979[3] and reached 56 on the UK Singles Chart. The treble on the original recording, Paul Phoenix, was a tenor in the King's Singers later in his career.[4]

Broadcast

The series was shown in the United Kingdom from 10 September to 22 October 1979, and in the United States beginning on 29 September 1980. In the US. it was broadcast on PBS as part of its Great Performances series, and included commentary from Robert MacNeil and LeCarre.[5]

In the US, the syndicated broadcasts were re-edited from the seven original episodes broadcast in the UK to fit into six episodes.[6] The overall running time is about the same.[7][8]

Reception

At the time of its release in the United States in 1980, Washington Post, television critic Tom Shales called the series "intricate and fascinating," and described its episodes as "six scintillating and delectable hours."[9]

New York Times television critic John J. O'Connor called Guinness's performance "uncommonly brilliant." Guinness, he said, could "say more with a slight parting of his lips than most actors can say while shouting from the rafters. He pointed out that Guinness was superb in the role even though he was older and not as heavy as Smiley was described in the novel. O'Connor praised the supporting cast and said that Hopcrofts's script was "tenaciously faithful to the spirit of the novel."[5]

Awards and honors

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
1980
 British Academy Television Awards Best Drama Series or Serial Jonathan Powell and John Irvin Nominated [10]
Best Actor Alec Guinness Won
Best Actress Beryl Reid Nominated
Best Design Austen Spriggs Nominated
British Academy Television Craft Awards Best Costume Design Joyce Mortlock Nominated [11]
Best Film Cameramen Tony Pierce-Roberts Won
Best Film Editor Chris Wimble and Clare Douglas Nominated
Best Film Sound Malcolm Webberley Nominated
Best Graphics Doug Burd Nominated
Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Drama Series Won [12]
Best Actor Alec Guinness Won
1981
 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Limited Series Jac Venza, Jonathan Powell, and Samuel Paul Nominated [13]

Legacy

Writing in 2011, Guardian critic Toby Manning wrote that the series "is still unmatched in its evocation of the chilly, cynical cold war era".[14]

In a retrospective review in The New York Times, Mike Hale lauded Guinness's performance, ("It's conventional wisdom that Guinness's performance is a landmark in TV history, and you won't get an argument here, though if you're watching it for the first time, you may wonder at the start what all the fuss is about.") and cited the production's pacing versus current techniques, stating, "Audiences used to the pace of the modern TV crime or espionage drama will need to reorientate themselves."[15] Retrospective reviewers favourably compared the series with the 2011 film version, also citing le Carré's praise of the original and referring to Guinness's performance.[16][15][17][18]

Le Carré cited the series as his favourite filmed adaptation of his work, attributing this to his experience collaborating with Guinness.[19]

Home video

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was released on VHS in 1991 (BBCV 4605) and 1999 (BBCV 6788). It was released on Region 2 DVD in 2003 (BBCDVD 1180), and in 2011 bundled with Smiley's People (BBCDVD 3535). A remastered Blu-ray edition was released in 2019 (BBCBD0465).

References

  1. ↑ le Carré, John (11 October 2002). "Over lunch, he turned himself into a spy". The Guardian. London. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  2. ↑ Powell, Jonathan (25 October 2011). Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Production Notes (DVD). Disc 1: Acorn DVD.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ↑ "Geoffrey Burgon, British composer". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. 24 September 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  4. ↑ "Voices of angels: child stars". The Daily Telegraph. 17 November 2010.
  5. 1 2 O'Connor, John J. (29 September 1980). "TV: Guinness in 'Tinker, Tailor, Spy'". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Kung, Michelle (2 December 2011). "'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' Miniseries Director John Irvin on the New Film". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 December 2014. the seven-episode series – which was condensed to six episodes for U.S. audiences
  7. ↑ "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Episode guide". BBC. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  8. ↑ Zabel, Christopher (27 May 2013). "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) Review". DoBlu.com. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  9. ↑ Shales, Tom (29 September 1980). "The Spies Have It". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  10. ↑ "BAFTA Awards: Television in 1980". British Academy Television Awards. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  11. ↑ "BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 1980". British Academy Television Craft Awards. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  12. ↑ "1980 Awards". Broadcasting Press Guild. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  13. ↑ "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Great Performances)". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  14. ↑ Manning, Toby (14 January 2011). "Your next box set: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  15. 1 2 Hale, Mike (21 October 2011). "Spycraft Dispensed With Appropriate, Deliberate Speed". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  16. ↑ "A Second Look: 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' miniseries". Los Angeles Times. 27 November 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  17. ↑ Thomas, June (8 December 2011). "Gary Oldman's Good, but Alec Guinness Was Great". Slate. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  18. ↑ Lane, Anthony (12 December 2011). "I Spy". The New Yorker. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  19. ↑ le Carré, John (8 March 2002). Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: A Conversation with John le Carré (DVD). Disc 1.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
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