''Smiley’s People'' is a 1982 British six-part spy drama by the BBC. Directed by Simon Langton and produced by Jonathan Powell, it is the television adaptation of the 1979

spy novel Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

Smiley's People ''Smiley's People'' is a spy novel by British writer John le Carré, published in 1979. Featuring British master-spy George Smiley, it is the third and final novel of the " Karla Trilogy", following ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' and '' The Hon ...

'' by

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

, and a sequel to ''

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. The novel has receive ...

'' (missing out the second book in the trilogy, ''

The Honourable Schoolboy ''The Honourable Schoolboy'' (1977) is a spy novel by British writer John le Carré. George Smiley must reconstruct an intelligence service in order to run a successful offensive espionage operation to save the service from being dismantled by ...

'', which was not filmed for cost reasons). Starring

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1 ...

, Michael Byrne,

Anthony Bate Anthony Bate (31 August 1927 – 19 June 2012) was an English actor. He is possibly best known for his role as Oliver Lacon in the BBC television adaptations of the John le Carré novels ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' and '' Smiley's People'' an ...

and

Bernard Hepton Francis Bernard Heptonstall (19 October 1925 – 27 July 2018) better known by the stage name Bernard Hepton, was an English theatre director and actor. Best known for his stage work and television roles in teleplays and series, he also appeare ...

, it was first shown in the United Kingdom from 20 September to 25 October 1982, and in the United States beginning on 25 October 1982.

Plot

George Smiley George Smiley OBE is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Smiley is a career intelligence officer with "The Circus", the British overseas intelligence agency. He is a central character in the novels ''Call for the Dead'', ''A Mur ...

is called out of retirement when one of his former assets, an émigré general, is found murdered. In tidying up loose ends for the "

Circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

", his former employer, he discovers a clandestine operation run by his nemesis, Karla, for his own personal benefit. Smiley is able to use this irregularity against Karla, forcing him to defect to the West.

Cast

as George Smiley *

Eileen Atkins Dame Eileen June Atkins, (born 16 June 1934), is an English actress and occasional screenwriter. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Aw ...

as Madame Ostrakova * Michael Byrne as Peter Guillam *

as Toby Esterhase *

as Sir Oliver Lacon * Barry Foster as Sir Saul Enderby *

Michael Lonsdale Michael Edward Lonsdale-Crouch (24 May 1931 – 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes named as Michel Lonsdale, was a French actor and author who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is best know ...

as Anton Grigoriev *

Beryl Reid Beryl Elizabeth Reid, (17 June 1919 – 13 October 1996), was a British actress of stage and screen. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for ''The Killing of Sister George'', the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performan ...

as Connie Sachs * Bill Paterson as Lauder Strickland * Siân Phillips as Ann Smiley *

Mario Adorf Mario Adorf (; born 8 September 1930) is a German actor, considered to be one of the great veteran character actors of European cinema. Since 1954, he has played both leading and supporting roles in over 200 film and television productions, am ...

as Claus Kretschmar * Tessy Kuhls as Frau Kretzschmar *

Patrick Stewart Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actors ...

as Karla *

Curd Jürgens Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 191518 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens. He was well known for playing Ernst Udet in '' Des Teufels Gene ...

as Gen. Vladimir *

Vladek Sheybal Vladek Sheybal (born Władysław Rudolf Zbigniew Sheybal; 12 March 1923 – 16 October 1992) was a Polish character actor, singer and director of both television and stage productions. He was well known for his portrayal of the chess grandmast ...

as Otto Leipzig *

Rosalie Crutchley Rosalie Sylvia Crutchley (4 January 1920 – 28 July 1997) was a British actress. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music, Crutchley was perhaps best known for her television performances, but had a long and successful career in theatre and films, ...

as Mother Felicity * Maureen Lipman as Stella Craven *

Dudley Sutton Dudley Sutton (6 April 1933 – 15 September 2018) was an English actor. Active in radio, stage, film and television, he was arguably best known for his role of Tinker Dill in the BBC Television drama series '' Lovejoy''. Early life Sutton w ...

as Oleg Kirov *

Michael Gough Francis Michael Gough ( ; 23 November 1916 – 17 March 2011) was a British character actor who made more than 150 film and television appearances. He is known for his roles in the Hammer Horror Films from 1958, with his first role as Sir Arthu ...

as Mikhel * Michael Elphick as Detective Chief Superintendent *

Paul Herzberg Paul Herzberg (born 1953) is an actor and writer, known for ''The Honourable Woman'' (2014), '' Black Earth Rising'' (2019), ''My Week with Marilyn'' (2011), '' Room 36'' (2005), '' Blood'' and ''Cry Freedom'' (1987). Early life Born in Cape ...

as Villem Craven *Stephen Riddle as Nigel Mostyn *Tusse Silberg as Alexandra/Tatiana *

Norma West Norma West (born 19 November 1943) is a British actress, Born in Cape Town, South Africa, her best known television appearance was as Queen Elizabeth of York in the BBC series ''The Shadow of the Tower'' (1972). She played the part of Number ...

as Hilary * Ingrid Pitt as Elvira *

Lucy Fleming Eve Lucinda "Lucy" Fleming (born 15 May 1947) is a British actress. Biography Early life and ancestry Fleming was born in Nettlebed, England. She is the second daughter of actress Celia Johnson and writer Peter Fleming (brother of James Bon ...

as Molly Meakin *Andrew Bradford as Ferguson *Joe Praml as Paul Skordeno *

Alan Rickman Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his deep, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a member of the Royal Shakesp ...

as Mr Brownlow *Tanya Rees as Beckie Craven *

Alex Jennings Alex Jennings (born 10 May 1957) is an English actor of the stage and screen, who worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. For his work on the London stage, Jennings received three Olivier Awards, winning for ...

as PC Hall

Production

The series was produced in partnership with the BBC and

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

with a budget of $3 million. Due to the success of ''Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'', director

John Irvin John Irvin (born 7 May 1940) is an English film director. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, he began his career by directing a number of documentaries and television works, including the BBC adaptation of John le Carré's '' Tinke ...

had begun making movies and was unavailable. Later in pre-production, Simon Langton replaced John MacKenzie, Irvin's initial successor as director of the series. During filming, Guinness was not satisfied with Langton, writing; "I felt dubious about Simon's work... I greatly miss John Irvin's grip and inner tension." Arthur Hopcraft declined the offer to write the screenplay and was replaced by John Hopkins. Author le Carré was called in to help resolve technical difficulties within the script. In contrast to the

public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

broadcast of ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'', ''Smiley's People'' was telecast in the U.S. in November 1982 as an

Operation Prime Time Operation Prime Time (OPT) was a consortium of American independent television stations to develop prime time programming for independent stations. OPT and its spin-off syndication company, Television Program Enterprises (TPE), were formed by A ...

presentation on some 100 independent commercial stations across the country. The bridge leading from East to West Berlin for the defection scene was found in the Midlands city of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

. Other location shooting was done in Berne, Hamburg, Paris, and London.

Reception

The initial reviews were good, but the enthusiasm decreased as the series progressed. A contemporary review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the production as a "marvelously riveting television film" and referred to Guinness's performance as stunning and the supporting company as outstanding. The review summarized the series as "the best show you are likely to see on television for the time being." In a retrospective review, Neal Justin of the ''

Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

'' called Guinness's portrayal of Smiley as "a master class in subtle acting." Mark Lawson of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' called the adaptation, "among the most beautiful and enduring achievements of TV drama."

Awards

In 1983 ''Smiley's People'' won four BAFTA awards, including Best Actor (for

) and Best Actress (for

), and was nominated for six others. The series also won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

. In 2010, ''

'' ranked the series at number 17 in their list of "The Top 50 TV Dramas of All Time"."The top 50 TV dramas of all time"
''The Guardian'', 12 January 2010. Retrieved 2016-01-14.

Commercial releases

''Smiley's People'' was released on VHS in 1991 (BBCV 4606) and 1999 (BBCV 6767). It was released on Region 2 DVD in 2004 (BBCDVD 1183), and in 2011 bundled with ''

'' (BBCDVD 3535). A remastered Blu-ray edition was released in 2020 (BBCBD0502). Patrick Gowers' soundtrack was released by BBC Records in 1982 (REP 439, vinyl and ZCH439, cassette), and re-released on blue vinyl (DEMREC710) and as MP3 in 2020 by

Demon Records Demon Music Group (DMG) is a record company owned by BBC Studios that is mainly concerned with back-catalogue rights and re-issuing recordings as compilations on physical media (CDs and vinyl) via supermarkets and specialist stores. History DM ...

References

External links

*
The New Yorker: "We Are All Smiley's People"
{{John Hopkins 1982 British television series debuts 1982 British television series endings 1980s British drama television series BAFTA winners (television series) BBC television dramas 1980s British television miniseries English-language television shows Television shows set in England Espionage television series Television series about the Cold War Films based on British novels John le Carré Peabody Award-winning television programs Television shows based on British novels Secret Intelligence Service in fiction