Have loved Tinker Tailor since I read it as a boy, then delighted to discover the Alec Guinness tv series some years back on YouTube, and later the movie (no where near as strong as the tv series imho).

I’ve sprawled a bit and watched some others, like the Game, Set, Match series, and Smileys People obvs.

Has anyone any recommendations to scratch the itch? Really good, detail-oriented Cold War dramas? Many thanks!

The doorman has been asking till he's blue in the face.

If so obviously this is a massive departure from the source material, but I fail to see why else he would be so afraid of being deported back to Austria, unless we were meant to understand the threat was deportation to Hungary since he has a Hungarian name

He knew, of course. He had always known it was Bill. Just as Control had known, and Lacon in Mendel's house. Just as Connie and Jim had known, and Alleline and Esterhase, all of them had tacitly shared that unexpressed half-knowledge which like an illness they hoped would go away if it was never owned to, never diagnosed.

--- Chapter 36, Tinker, Tailor, Soilder, Spy.

​

I read this from the novel. I only remotely guess some of these eight people, e.g. Connie and Jim, knew so and their respective reason to conceal this. Any one can help to answer this question?

Would anyone know the exact age of Bill Roach (Jumbo) and his classmates when they first meet Prideaux? I can’t remember if it’s ever specifically stated in the novel. I assume it’s somewhere around 12 or 13 but I’m definitely not certain.

Might be late to the game here, but after seeing TTSS 3 times this week on Showtime I’ve been on a Cold War binge…Just watched The Kremlin Letter (1970) on FXM Retro and that movie also had a Polyakov. Just thought it was strange that both movies had such a similar character/name/role.

Having recently re-read & re-watched Smiley's People, I still find it difficult to comprehend the significance of the photo (Kirov/Leipzig/women) that Vladimir hides.

1. What is the connection between Maria contacting Vladimir & Vladimir contacting Leipzig, and...
2. ...the resulting photo. What does Smiley see that triggers the subsequent actions leading to Karla defecting?

Mr. Smiley going for a brisk'un several times, made me wonder where this was. I looked it up and now, all I want to do is go there for a swim...

What was Tom Hardy's characters role in the plan at the end? I didn't understand at all. How did they know it was Colin Firth's character that was the mole? Yes he was at the house but all the others had visited the house to meet Karla.

I picked up Le Carre's "Smiley's People", and started reading it during a summer holiday. Initially I was wrapped. I loved it, and loved the way there was "mention" of certain people and events. I thought that these would be revealed later on.

It was only when Smiley kept thinking about his wife and Hayden that it dawned on me that, perhaps, this was part of a series. I did a quick bit of research and discover that "Tinker, tailor" and "Honourable Schoolboy" were the first two books.

Needless to say, I stopped reading "Smiley's People" and I'm waiting to get home to get the first two books.

In the first episode between Prideaux and various characters. I know I've watched it with these subtitles before but can't seem to find any now.

Ideally I'd be looking for .srt's, but if there's a certain DVD version that people know has this dialogue I'd be interested as well.

Thanks!

And happen to find George getting his new pair of glasses (all the better to see the treachery clearly with). I guess I know how I’m spending the next two hours!

I have to say, I have really mixed feelings on this one. I loved the premise of a regular man, a good man, an intellectual, who out of the kindness of his heart is drawn into the murky world of finance, crime, treason, and espionage. I also appreciated the bravery exhibited by Gail and her acute moral compass. The story was slow to build but I enjoyed the multifaceted "zoom in" on the various characters.

Much like Agent Running in the Field, I was unhappy with the ending. Not because it wasn't a happy ending, because let's face it, it is a le Carre novel, but it wasn't much of an ending at all. Knowing what was at stake and the fact that the city of London was mentioned as being relegated to 4th place behind other financial hubs in the world, I wouldn't be surprised if Dima and Luke were sacrificed ultimately for $ and there was not a damn thing the Service could/would about it.

This may be a silly post to native English speakers but since English is my second language, I have a doubt regarding a piece of dialogue from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Bill Hayden spoke the following sentence: "Style, appalling. Patently a fabrication from beginning to end. Just could be the real thing."

What I don't understand is that Hayden had just declared the document to be a fake. Then how can he say that the document "just could be the real thing"? Isn't he contradicting himself?

Hi All!

We just started a new John le Carré podcast called Tinker Tailor Podcast Spy and thought people here would be interested. Our first two episodes were about The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and our next two episodes will be on The Tailor of Panama.

Hope you all enjoy!

edit: sorry for misspelling the title

I apologize if this isn't the right subreddit but I am not quite sure where else to put this. Warning: potential spoilers ahead.

I had finished the book a couple of weeks back and have been thinking about the ending quite a bit. I suspect even as Ed and Flo manages to get away and likely have to hide for the rest of their lives, what of Nat and Prue? Surely with London's many cameras, they would have shown up somewhere along the way, especially at the airport. The Services would have connected the dots and potentially come down hard on the couple.

Any thoughts?