Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
 
 


Published in 1974, John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is regarded by many after Graham Greene's Our Man In Havana as the greatest espionage novel ever written. First broadcast on BBC2 in November 1979 and frequently repeated ever since, Arthur Hopcraft's 1979 adaptation of the novel is equally regarded.
 

Tinker, Tailor... succeeds both on the printed page and on the TV screen because of its absolute simplicity and its superb characterisation. Screened at the height of the Cold War, the story is simply that of the hunt for a traitor in the employ of "Moscow Centre" at the heart of the "Circus", a department of the British Secret service so named because of its location at Cambridge Circus, London.  The great strength of both the book and the TV adaptation is the superb characterisation.  The staff of the Circus and other characters herein are not James Bondian Supermen but real human beings, some brilliant, some less so, but in one way or another all flawed.  A trait which makes them all believable and which thus made for 7 weeks of flawless gripping drama.

Arthur Hopcraft's adaptation is very faithful to the original novel and both are structured in such a way that we get to know the characters and their motivations and the back-story very well indeed.  Although no-one was to know it at the time, the timing of the story was to prove very relevant as life was to imitate art; it was around the time that episode 3 of Tinker, Tailor... was first broadcast that Sir Anthony Blunt, the Queen's art adviser was revealed as the hitherto mysterious 4th man in the Philby, Burgess and Mclean spy scandal of the 60s.

If the TV adaptation has one flaw, and it is to all except purists like myself a minor one, it is that the TV adaptation is not dated, so we are unsure whether it follows the timing of the book entirely from Summer 1971 when Operation Witchcraft is firmly established through to late November 1973 when the mole codenamed "Gerald" is captured or whether it is exactly contemporary in late 1978 or early 1979 (proven by the large amounts of snow on the ground in many scenes).  Thankfully the lack of precise dating does not spoil the narrative in any way.  Here I should note that for the benefit of anyone who has not seen or read Tinker, Tailor... and might wish to do so, in order to maintain the identity of the mole, herein I shall refer to him by his codename "Gerald" throughout this article.

Central to the story, indeed, the whole Karla trilogy is George Smiley (A first TV role for Sir Alec Guinness), a veteran Circus investigator and one of their most trusted men.  Owing to the machinations of "Gerald", Circus operations have been failing for many years, covers and intelligence gathering networks have been blown.  Blame for much of this is placed at the door of the head of the Circus, "Control" (a brilliant world-weary performance from Alexander Knox). The final nail in Control's coffin comes in 1972 when having discovered that there is a mole at the heart of his organisation, he sends one of his senior men Jim Prideaux (pronounced "Priddo") to Czechoslovakia on "Operation Testify" where he has been told a Moscow Centre agent will tell which senior Circus operative is "Gerald".  By this time Control has narrowed his field down to five men - Percy Alleline (Michael Aldridge) with one eye on Control's chair, "the shop-soiled white hope" Roy Bland (Terence Rigby), Toby Esterhase, who had earlier been Smiley's protégé (Bernard Hepton), the suave Bill Haydon (Ian Richardson) and "My devoted deputy" George Smiley.  The operation is bound to fail as it is another of "Gerald's" plans.  Prideaux is shot and captured, although later released, Control is blamed for the failure of Testify and because of his failing health is forced to resign to be succeeded by the mediocre Alleline.

The next scene is one of the most intriguing in the entire story.  In this first major TV role Guinness, a veteran of such films as Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Ladykillers, Bridge on the River Kwai and Star Wars, captures the intellectual brilliance and deep-rooted insecurity of the character superbly.  Smiley, a graduate and former lecturer in German Literature is purchasing a volume in a bookshop near his home in Chelsea when he sees the sports car of Peter Guillam, head Scalphunter (assassins), pull up.  Smiley beats a hasty retreat only to be met by Roddy Martindale (Nigel Stock), an effeminate member of the Foreign Office who gossips incessantly as Smiley tries vainly to take his leave.  This scene gives us the first of many intriguing clues as Martindale claims that Control, who died a month after resigning, has been seen alive and well at Johannesburg Airport.  The scene of Smiley angrily walking home through pouring rain emphasises the loneliness of the character and is a particular credit to the story's director, the sadly-underrated John Irvin.

As Smiley enters his living room, he finds Guillam (Michael Jayston) awaiting him. Guillam says that he has been sent to fetch Smiley by Sir Oliver Lacon (Anthony Bate), the Government's special adviser on espionage affairs.  This scene gives us another oddity; a few hours earlier, Smiley had been keen to escape Guillam.  Now he becomes once again the consummate professional, Control's devoted deputy as he and Guillam set off through the winter cold to Lacon's Berkshire seat.  Either Smiley misses the Circus more than he is letting on or maybe anything is preferable to Roddy Martindale!

Upon arrival, Smiley and Guillam find Ricki Tarr, (Hywel Bennett)  a circus 'bad boy' awaiting them with Lacon. Ricki had been having an affair with a Russian agent called Irina (Susan Kodicek) who has told him that the Russian spymaster Karla is running an English mole just as Control had suspected over a year previously.  As the first episode draws to a close, Tarr warns the three men "I'm going to tell you a story.  It's all about spies and when I've finished, you boys are going to need a whole new organisation…."

The second episode of the story is largely the dullest of the seven.  For the most part, it tells only of Tarr's relationship with Irina up to the point where she provides him with the information, which he has now passed on to Lacon.  By the time the episode is three quarters through, Tarr's usefulness to the narrative is almost complete, thus making him no more than a messenger boy.  This is a shame as Le Carre could have made much more use of this fascinating character, who although a seasoned agent looks nothing like the usual Oxbridge types who usually comprise Circus personnel.

By the episode's conclusion, Smiley, along with Lacon and the retired CID officer, Mendel (George Sewell) are resident in The Islay run by Mrs Pope-Graham (Pauline Letts), a hotel renowned for its poor service, bad food and clashing wallpapers!  Smiley, Mendel and Guillam start leafing through such documentation relating to Operation Testify that Lacon has been able to acquire.  At the end of the episode Lacon, who always seems to have one eye on his Minister, looks generally alarmed when Smiley decides to visit Oxford and a "very old friend….."

Episode three is perhaps the best of the seven. The old friend in question is the Circus' former Queen of Research, Connie Sachs, an Oxford don now bent with arthritis. The world of espionage is so much more real than the real world to Connie, who since the reorganisation and the failure of Testify comforts herself with gin, the Times crossword and the occasional game of football. In a cameo lasting no more than 10 minutes, Beryl Reid gives a mesmerising performance as Connie, spanning as she does the gamut of human emotion. Connie confirms that she had suspected as far back as 1964 (if we are to use Le Carre's datings) that Alex Polyakov was not a cultural attaché but a Karla agent;

"I watched Pretty Poly for 8 years. Then last year, we got him!!! That smashing November morning at the Wreath laying. We photographed his medals, 4 gallantry 2 campaign. Cultural attaché? Balls!!! Alex Polyakov was a star solider!"

Despite seeking help from Alleline and Toby Esterhase (Bernard Hepton) Connie's suspicions are dismissed by Alleline;

"Not every warrior's a Karla agent says Percy!"

This attitude is part of "Gerald's" plan to remove Connie from the Circus as her remarkable memory, which contains everything she has ever learnt about Moscow Centre, is a threat to him as are loyal and brilliant officers like Smiley, Jim Prideaux, Jerry Westerby (Joss Ackland) and Guillam, who is moved to the old schoolhouse at Brixton which is the HQ of the Scalphunters.

From this stage in the narrative all the clues are in place and the story becomes one of interrogation and deduction. Back at the Islay, by comparing the stories of Tarr and Connie, Smiley deduces that Karla has representatives all over the West. Alexi Alexandrovich Polyakov (George Pravda) being his man in London Smiley next discovers what Control meant by his statement to Prideaux - "There are three of them and Allelline". To the viewer, particularly from Control's meeting with Prideaux in episode one, it is fairly obvious that the three are Roy Bland, Toby Esterhase and Bill Haydon along with Percy Alleline - "London station", the guardians of the Moscow Centre source material, "Witchcraft".

The joy of these latter episodes is that whilst under observation and interrogation, it gives individual cast members a chance to shine. One such is Bernard Hepton as Toby Esterhase. Up until now Esterhase has just been a quiet presence sat in on meetings of "London Station"; from this point of view, it is hard to accept Esterhase as head "Lamplighter", but his interrogation by Smiley catches him off-guard. It is obvious that Esterhase is covering up the fact that his Lamplighters department knew far more about Operation Testify than Esterhase lets on. The question posed to the viewer is an interesting one - is Esterhase holding back to save his own skin, because he is afraid of Alleline or because he is "Gerald"?

The scene is a fascinating one. Smiley wonders whether the Lamplighters have been doing any special jobs which Esterhase couldn't mention in his departmental worksheets, but Esterhase counters this by asking "Who would I do that for, George?" Smiley counters back "If Percy Alleline asked you to do something……" This makes Esterhase uneasy and Smiley realises that the ambitious, but under-rated Esterhase is covering up and tries to persuade Esterhase that Control might move him up a few rungs.

Next on Smiley's list is Roy Bland (Terence Rigby), the Oxford-educated son of a dock worker.  Bland rather lives up to his name, and his character is a mirror of the class prejudices which pervade both the Circus and the narrative. Bland is perhaps the most poorly developed member of "London Station", spending most of his time giving vent to his smoker's cough.  Indeed, he is seldom seen without a cigarette in his hand. Bland is rather looked down upon by his fellows because he went to a redbrick university rather than Oxbridge.  This would seem to be a common prejudice amongst the senior Civil Service as it mirrors the famous exchange of dialogue in the comedy Yes, Minister; "Hacker went to the LSE you know…." "So did I!" "Oh…I AM sorry!"

Bland seems to be interested in himself and solely in himself rather than internal promotion. A comment from Bland makes a silent Smiley wonder if he is in the pay of Moscow Centre;

"As a good socialist I'm going where the money is, as a good capitalist, I'm sticking with the revolution cos that's where the money is these days….."

Another comment from Bland "You scratch my back, I'll drive your Jag…" provides a response from Smiley which sets the viewer thinking; "Is that one of Bill's (Haydon's) jokes about materialist England?" Considering that apart from Bland, the staff of "London Station" are all firmly rooted in the bourgeoisie one wonders why an arch conservative like Haydon should make jokes about materialist England? One can but wonder if this is a clue or a red herring.

Smiley next speaks to Haydon with the following:

Haydon: "I thought that was Roy's job…"

Smiley: "Bland makes the translation, you write the covering reports. They're typed on your machine, the material's not cleared for typing……"

It becomes ever more obvious that Haydon, Bland, Alleline and Esterhase are planning to unseat Control, which they eventually did in November 1972 when Operation Testify backfired….

Smiley: "They think Percy's on the make….."

Haydon: "So he is, I also want to be head boy and Toby and Roy have designs on your job…."

Needless to say in November 1972 Smiley, Connie Sachs, Jerry Westerby and Sam Collins are all dismissed from the Circus at the very height of Gerald's machinations.

Here we see a flaw in Smiley's probing but unflappable nature as he snaps:

"Who runs Merlin? Who is Merlin? What's going on?"

Haydon counters by knocking Smiley off guard by mentioning his better noir, Smiley's errant wife Ann (Sian Phillips) who is also Haydon's cousin with whom he had had an affair in April 1971, merely by asking how she is.

Back in real time at the Hotel Islay, Smiley bemoans to Guillam the fact that he hasn't got nearly enough information on Testify and asks Guillam if he could find some more. Guillam agrees, but his visit to the Circus registry is a disaster as Esterhase tells him that Percy Alleline would like to see him. Arriving at "London Station" Guillam finds not only the conceited pipe-smoking Alleline, but Haydon, Bland, Esterhase and the new Head of Research Mo Delaware awaiting him. It would appear that Alleline is aware that Ricki Tarr is back in England, and tries with minimal success to interrogate Guillam.

At this juncture we not only learn a little about Karla, but see him too. Smiley tells Guillam that Karla was detained in India in the 50's on some "trumped up immigration nonsense…" though he wasn't at this point the legendary Karla, but using the name Mr Gestmann. Smiley acting as a "sort of commercial traveller…" is sent to interrogate him. The scene is like one of Graham Greene's classic novels. Make up artist Elizabeth Rowell succeeds admirably in making Guinness, then 68, look as young as he did in such films as Kind Hearts and Coronets. Karla is brought with manacled hands and feet into the dirty interrogation room in Delhi. Patrick Stewart 8 years away from his most famous role as Capt Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation remains silent as the future Head of Moscow Centre, but his eyes blaze throughout the scene with loathing and hatred for Smiley and for the West. Without uttering a word, Stewart makes Karla a dangerous and menacing, yet very human adversary as would be borne out in the sequel TV series and novel, Smiley's People.

Most of Part 5 is given over to the victim of Operation Testify, Jim Prideaux. In the two years since the Testify disaster, Prideaux has now become a schoolmaster at Thursgood's prep school. An intriguing part of this episode is Prideaux's relationship with the fat asthmatic schoolboy Roach. There is nothing untoward in this. Since Testify, Prideaux has become ever vigilant and Roach sees the master he calls "Rhino" as the nearest thing he has to a friend. The fact that Roache finds that Prideaux keeps a shotgun in his caravan almost overwhelms the boy.

In between the intense psychological examination of a betrayed man, Smiley interviews Sam Collins. Another loyal officer who was thrown out after Testify, when he was the night duty officer on the night that Prideaux was shot. John Standing plays Collins as a rather subtler version of the gentleman hero. Rather like Roy Bland, Arthur Hopcraft (and perhaps to a greater extent John Le Carre) doesn't really flesh out Collins making him one of the more two-dimensional characters in the story. Collins role is not much greater than that of Connie Sachs in Part 3, but nowhere near as memorable.

Prideaux puts Roache and the other boys on alert when he sees Mendel wandering around the school grounds. Eventually though, Prideaux and Smiley do meet up and George learns more about the fateful mission that Control sent Prideaux on after warning him about the mole.

Prideaux is still very bitter about his betrayal This time it is Prideaux's turn to make Smiley uneasy telling him of his interrogation by an agent called Stevchek who gave him a cigarette lit with a lighter which was a present to Smiley from Ann which Stevchek had come by in a confrontation with Smiley many years earlier. Again, this Ann-linked memory of this makes Smiley extremely uneasy.

These scenes are a credit to director of photography Tony Pierce-Roberts and designer Austin Ruddy as there is a cold, fresh naturalness about them which subtlety emphasises the coldness of the winter in which the story is set.

Smiley's next visit is to the spy-cum- journalist, Jerry Westerby (Joss Ackland), aka 'The Honourable Schoolboy' who lends his nickname to the second book of the Karla trilogy. Westerby is an affable figure who bombards Smiley with questions in a similar way to Roddy Martindale, although in a much less boring and far more meaningless way. Smiley's conversation with Westerby is rather odd. It would seem that shortly after Smiley was dismissed from the Circus, Westerby sent him a letter which voiced concerns about Toby Esterhase.

Westerby's story again is told in flashback as he reports what he's been told about Testify to Toby Esterhase, and again, Toby's vanity comes to the fore as he calls Westerby "an embarrassment…"; it appears that Jerry has been rather indiscreet in his journalistic capacity. The odd thing is that throughout all these interrogations, Smiley seems almost obsessed with the idea of someone saying something about his wife Ann.

At this point we learn during a rugby match at Thursgood's that Jim Prideaux has disappeared, leaving the headmaster (a cameo by satirist John Wells) very angry and Roach and the other boys worried for their master's welfare; they haven't forgotten the day Mendel came snooping around the grounds.

The next scenes are quite amazing as Esterhase meets Guillam at a safe house. The whole thing is a clever ploy devised by Smiley and Guillam who trick Esterhase into thinking that they have arranged to meet a Polish furrier who might have information. It becomes clear now to an increasingly uneasy Toby that Smiley now knows who the mole is. It appears that although Toby isn't "Gerald" he has certainly been acting as gofer for "London Station", albeit in order to protect their valuable source. Now Esterhase saves his own bacon by switching sides at the right moment to reveal the address of the Witchcraft safehouse. As the penultimate episode ends Smiley, Lacon and Guillam devise their plan to flush out "Gerald".

One cannot say too much about most of the final episode, without revealing the identity of the mole "Gerald" which, as the climax builds, is the most exciting and tense of the seven. Having received a coded message from Tarr - devised by Smiley and his team - Polyakov and the members of "London Station" are lured to the Lock Gardens safehouse, purchased when the flow of information from source Merlin was at its height and guarded by an old Circus hand, Ailsa Brimley. After a tense encounter involving the members of "London Station" and Polyakov, all having been lured there via the coded message, "Gerald" is finally captured and held at the Circus training school in the village of Sarratt waiting deportation to the Soviet Union. However an embittered Jim Prideaux is still smarting at the memory of his betrayal by "Gerald", and still AWOL from Thursgoods, locates the training school and kills "Gerald" .

The members of "London Station" are now in disgrace and many are fired. Alleline is sent on 'extended leave'. Lacon assures Smiley that there is a lot of work to be done in the wake of the Haydon scandal, but before Smiley can do any more he meets with his wife Ann, who is now living with a racing driver. The novel described George Smiley as "A brilliant spy, but a totally inadequate man…" Ann neatly summarises this by saying "Poor George. Life's such a puzzle to you isn't it?" which sums up Smiley perfectly. Like his old friend Connie Sachs, the world of espionage seems to offer Smiley security away from a real world which he simply does not understand.

Although a very highbrow piece of drama, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy is a brilliant, gripping and ultimately watchable piece of drama superbly produced by Jonathan Powell proving that production is far more his forte than being a TV executive. The incidental music by Geoffrey Burgeon is intense and satisfying and Tony Pierce-Roberts' photography adequately captures the intensity of the production.

The greatest production plaudits must go to Arthur Hopcraft whose adaptation is very faithful to Le Carre's novel, which even back in 1979 was something of a rarity to find a novel so faithfully adapted. 25 years after it was first shown and 16 years after the end of the Cold War, Tinker, Tailor Soldier Spy hasn't really dated although the political and espionage landscape has changed significantly and with releases on video, DVD and occasional repeats, most recently in commemoration of the life of its star, Sir Alec Guinness, it remains extremely watchable and hopefully it will delight new generations for years to come.

article copyright PPS / G.Phillips 2004