EPISODE
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced out of semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet Agent within MI6's echelons.
May 1, 1917 in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, UK
8 April 1920, Coventry, Warwickshire, England, UK
February 21, 1954 in Pennsylvania, USA
31 August 1927, Stourbridge, Worcestershire, England, UK
31 August 1924, Hoxton, London, England, UK
13 July 1940, Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, UK
16 August 1934, London, England, UK
August 28, 1928 in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
November 29, 1918 in London, England, UK
27 June 1935, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
29 February 1928, North Kensington, London, England, UK
2 April 1914, Marylebone, London, England, UK
April 16, 1904 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, UK
21 March 1944, Surrey, England, UK
19 June 1918, Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Prague, Czech Republic]
17 November 1936, Ashford, Kent, England, UK
19 October 1925, Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK
14 May 1933, Bettws, Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK
5 November 1956, Wansford Camp, England, UK
23 November 1936, Blackburn, Lancashire, England, UK
January 19, 1931 in Montréal, Québec, Canada
December 06, 2018
As George Smiley, a career spy whose most effective mask was his own blank implacability, Guinness found perhaps the perfect vehicle for the witty remoteness that marked his career.
December 06, 2018
Alec Guinness, perfectly cast, might not look so good in a pair of skintight trunks, but Smiley's brains and guile are worth all of Bond's gadgets put together. His dissection of the commie conspiracy is riveting from start to bloody finish.
December 06, 2018
It's the slow-building tension and intrigue that matters. The TV series is a masterclass in pacing and gradual, teasing delivery.
December 06, 2018
There had been other screen Smileys, but Guinness's became at a stroke the definitive performance.
December 06, 2018
Irvin paces his thriller with a deliberate slowness I imagine he hoped would help people keep up with the variety of characters, twists, and turns. It might for some.
December 06, 2018
It's conventional wisdom that Guinness's performance is a landmark in TV history, and you won't get an argument here.
December 06, 2018
The BBC's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy may not be as flashy as more recent espionage dramas, but it would be difficult to find a role or performance more substantive than Alec Guinness' George Smiley.
December 06, 2018
Bovine of pace, often ugly to behold, and content to meander along byways that petered out into open country or led inexorably to dead ends, yet I was tensed and transfixed by every minute
December 06, 2018
Director John Irvin and writer Arthur Hocraft have caught the crisp, cool, sinister wittiness of Le Carre's portrayal beautifully; they have been absolutely faithful in spirit and they have contributed complementary originalities of their own.
December 06, 2018
As played by Guinness, a master of the ambiguous smile, Smiley exudes a melancholy kindness that may not be kind, and a knowledge of human frailty that's profound
December 06, 2018
The TV series is full of brooding menace, but there aren't a lot of thrills -- it's more cerebral than that.
December 06, 2018
Generally speaking, this sort of insidery detail reads better on the page, but the Tinker Tailor miniseries has one big gun to deploy: Alec Guinness.
