The Ipcress File (TV Series)
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''The Ipcress File'' is a British
cold war The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
spy thriller 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 intelli ...
miniseries based on the 1962 novel of the same name by
Len Deighton Leonard Cyril Deighton ( ; born 18 February 1929) is a British author. His publications have included cookery books and works on history, but he is best known for his spy novels. After completing his national service in the Royal Air Force, D ...
. Written by
John Hodge John Hodge may refer to: *John R. Hodge (1893–1963), United States Army officer *John E. Hodge (1914–1996), American chemist *John Hodge (politician) (1855–1937), British politician *John Hodge (engineer) (1929–2021), British-born aerospace ...
and directed by James Watkins, it stars
Joe Cole Joseph John Cole (born 8 November 1981) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or winger. He was long touted as a child prodigy and as the hottest prospect in English football, wi ...
,
Lucy Boynton Lucy Boynton (born 17 January 1994) is an American-born English actress. Born in New York City and raised in London, she made her professional debut as the young Beatrix Potter in ''Miss Potter'' (2006). She appeared in television productions ...
and
Tom Hollander Thomas Anthony Hollander (; born 25 August 1967) is a British actor. He trained with National Youth Theatre and won the Ian Charleson Award in 1992 for his performance as Witwoud in ''The Way of the World''. He made his Broadway debut in the ...
. ''The Ipcress File'' was first broadcast at 9pm from Sunday 6 March to 10 April 2022 on
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...
. The entire series was available for streaming, with commercials, on
ITV Hub ITVX is a British over-the-top and ad-supported streaming service operated by ITV plc. The service offers original content from the broadcaster, livestreams of the ITV television channels, FAST channels, and exclusive and licensed programming ...
after episode 1 was broadcast. Within a week the full series was also available, commercial-free, on
BritBox BritBox is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Video on demand#Subscription models, video on demand Streaming television, streaming service founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, ITV which operates in eight countries across Australi ...
in the United Kingdom.


Premise

In 1963, spy chief Major Dalby gives small-time crook and black-marketeer Corporal
Harry Palmer Harry Palmer is the name given to the anti-hero protagonist of several films based on spy novels written by Len Deighton, in which the main character is an unnamed intelligence officer. For convenience, the novels are also often referred to a ...
a way out of Military Prison at
Colchester Garrison Colchester Garrison is a major garrison located in Colchester in the county of Essex, eastern England. It has been an important military base since the Roman Britain, Roman era. The first permanent military garrison in Colchester was establishe ...
by offering him a job as an intelligence officer in his small but influential
Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...
security unit, WOOC(P). The unit's investigation into a missing British nuclear scientist expands into a case of international espionage which is documented in the contents of the eponymous "IPCRESS File". WOOC(P) is a (fictional) civilian department of the British intelligence community, reporting directly to the
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...
. In the novel it is described as "one of the smallest and most important of the intelligence units" but it is never stated exactly what the initials stand for, only that it is ‘provisional.' In episode one of the series, Dalby states that the unit is called ‘War Office Operational Communications (Provisional)’ and enjoys the fact that both
MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
and
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
are envious of it.


Cast

*
Joe Cole Joseph John Cole (born 8 November 1981) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or winger. He was long touted as a child prodigy and as the hottest prospect in English football, wi ...
as
Harry Palmer Harry Palmer is the name given to the anti-hero protagonist of several films based on spy novels written by Len Deighton, in which the main character is an unnamed intelligence officer. For convenience, the novels are also often referred to a ...
, a WOOC(P) intelligence officer. *
Lucy Boynton Lucy Boynton (born 17 January 1994) is an American-born English actress. Born in New York City and raised in London, she made her professional debut as the young Beatrix Potter in ''Miss Potter'' (2006). She appeared in television productions ...
as Jean Courtney, a WOOC(P) intelligence officer. *
Tom Hollander Thomas Anthony Hollander (; born 25 August 1967) is a British actor. He trained with National Youth Theatre and won the Ian Charleson Award in 1992 for his performance as Witwoud in ''The Way of the World''. He made his Broadway debut in the ...
as Major Dalby, director of WOOC(P). *Joshua James as Philip "Chico" Chillcott-Oakes, a WOOC(P) intelligence officer. *
Anastasia Hille Anastasia Hille (born 1965) is an English film, television and theatre actress and ceramicist. Early life Born in Lambeth, London, her mother was Finnish. Hille was a student at London's Drama Centre and won second prize at the Ian Charleson ...
as Alice, a WOOC(P) intelligence officer. *
Ashley Thomas Ashley Thomas is a fictional character from the British soap opera ''Emmerdale'', played by John Middleton. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 5 December 1996. It was announced on 22 October 2015 that Middleto ...
as Paul Maddox, a
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
intelligence officer. *
David Dencik Karl David Sebastian Dencik (; born 31 October 1974) is a Swedish-Danish actor. He has acted in both Swedish and Danish films, his break-through in Sweden being his role in the mini-series '' Lasermannen'' and has then had major roles in English- ...
as
Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
Gregor Stok, a senior
Soviet intelligence This is a list of historical secret police organizations. In most cases they are no longer current because the regime that ran them was overthrown or changed, or they changed their names. Few still exist under the same name as legitimate police fo ...
officer. *
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (born 4 November 1977) is an Irish actor. He is best known in Ireland for his roles as Nigel 'Nidge' Delaney in the RTÉ One series '' Love/Hate'' (2010–2014), and is known internationally for his role as Ebony Maw in '' ...
as General Cathcart, a senior US military commander. * Paul Higgins as Douglas Campbell MP, Minister of Defence at the pre-1964
Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
(MoD). *
Matthew Steer Matthew Steer (born 24 April 1978) is an English actor and writer. He made his stage debut in 1989 and is known for his roles as Ricky Ryan in ''Silent Witness'', Matt Lindsay in ''EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap o ...
as Professor Dawson, British nuclear physicist. *
Tamla Kari Tamla Kari Cummins (born 27 July 1988), known as Tamla Kari, is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Constance Bonacieux in the BBC television series '' The Musketeers'', Danielle Fisher in the ITV television series '' The Job ...
as Deborah, Palmer's ex-wife. *
Anna Geislerová Anna Geislerová is a Czech actress. The recipient of five Czech Lion awards, three for Best Leading Actress and a further two for Best Supporting Actress, Geislerová is best known for her role of Eliška in the Academy Award-nominated movie ...
as Dr. Polina Lavotchkin, Russian physicist and defector to the West. * Corey Johnson as Capt. Skip Henderson, US military. * Mark Quartley as Pete, Deborah's new husband. * Chris Lew Kum Hoi as Lin Hai. *
Nora-Jane Noone Nora-Jane Noone (born 8 March 1984) is an Irish actress. In 2020, ''The Irish Times'' ranked her 47th on its list of the greatest Irish film actors of all time. She made her screen debut in her breakthrough role film ''The Magdalene Sisters'' ( ...
as Dr. Karen Newton, an American psychiatrist.


Production

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...
commissioned the series in December 2020. Filming on the series began in March 2021 in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, Wirral and
Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...
. Further locations in Croatia were used, including
Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
(
King Tomislav Tomislav (, ) was the first king of Croatia. He became Duke of Croatia and was crowned king in 925, reigning until 928. During Tomislav's rule, Croatia forged an alliance with the Byzantine Empire against Bulgaria. Croatia's struggles with the F ...
Square and the
Archaeological Museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological artifacts. Many archaeology museum are in the open-air museum, open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum.David Watkin. ''The Roman Forum ...
),
Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...
,
Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...
and
Opatija Opatija (; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Croatia, town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in northwestern Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean climate and its historic bu ...
. The visual effects were done by the UK-based company Koala FX. Contrary to previous adaptations, the story has been extensively reworked, with plot and some characters radically altered and a lot of new material added, making the TV series significantly different from Deighton's original. The series is also influenced by the 1965 film, most obviously by adopting the "Harry Palmer" and "Jean Courtney" character names coined for the film. Visually, director James Watkins makes several nods to the direction of
Sidney J. Furie Sholom Joseph Furie (born February 28, 1933), commonly known as Sidney J. Furie, is a Canadian film and television director, screenwriter, and producer. After early work at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Furie made his feature film debu ...
, with regular use of angled camera work, and in places borrows almost shot-for-shot the framing of certain scenes. One of the most recognisable homages to the film is during the opening sequence in episode 1, featuring coffee grinding and coffee making, and the very first opening shot of Palmer's glasses. Watkins said " t was alittle wink ... the gaze is out of focus and then it finds focus when he puts the glasses on." Writing in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' Stuart Jeffries comments that "this opening reference to 57-year-old movie eyewear is a surprising gambit by director James Watkins and writer John Hodge, given their creative betrayal elsewhere of the source material."


Episodes


Reception

Nick Hilton of ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' gave the first episode four out of five stars, praising its 'vintage' approach to spy thrillers. Chris Bennion in ''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
'' laments that "Joe Cole is horribly miscast as Harry Palmer" but "the rest is terrific", calling this adaptation of Len Deighton's novel "atmospheric, cool and compelling." ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...
'''s James Walton praised the "impeccably twisty" production but said its main aim "is to be as cool and stylish as the 1960s films and TV it was paying tribute to" and that "everyone involved will continue to speak and act not like people in real life, so much as characters in cool and stylish spy films." Writing in ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', Barbara Ellen gave ''The Ipcress File'' a cool review, saying that these types of show all hang on the leading man, stating that Joe Cole is "just too young looking, too choirboy-pretty" but goes on to write that "he's sneaking into the role like a cat through a side window. It's all in the cocky backchat, the crackles of masked intelligence, the wary glints; the acknowledgment that whatever else is going on in cold war Britain, for Palmer, surfing the class system is part of it.’. “It would be a pretty good drama”, said Anita Singh in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' if it didn't have to live up to the 1965 film. “Gorgeous period stylings, an atmospheric production and assured direction all do justice” to the story, but it lacks "charm". Still, the costumes are “fabulous”, the look of the show is "beautiful" and the story "motors along nicely," and Singh praises the production for sticking with Len Deighton's original creation and not trying to "turn Palmer into an action hero." Writing in ''The New Statesman'', Rachel Cooke asked "Why remake The Ipcress File?", saying that "despite there being so many good spy novels waiting to be adapted, ITV proved it has no imagination by commissioning a reworking of the classic." Cooke laments Joe Cole's 'lack of charisma', says Lucy Boynton is "as woefully stiff as a '' Thunderbirds'' puppet", but praises Tom Hollander's performance as he "oozes patrician superiority". Cooke's piece concludes that "there's something more than a little ersatz about this series, as well as something quite boring." Stuart Jeffries, writing in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
,'' suggests that what makes ''The Ipcress File'' worth reviving is that "now, as then, the
Etonian Eton College ( ) is a public school providing boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated prime ministers, world leaders, Nobel laureates, Academy Award and BAFTA a ...
death grip on politics and public service imperils Britain more than any tooled-up Russian''.''" He gave the first episode four out of five stars, praised Cole's performance and the preservation of the novel's "snarling class politics". Writing in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' about episode one, Carole Midgley asked if we need a remake of ''The Ipcress File'' and said Cole did a "restrained, nuanced job" but "it was always going to feel like watching the understudy standing in" and praised Tom Hollander as "the best thing in it", giving episode one three out of five stars. By episode two, Midgley admitted to enjoying the show "more than I expected" and being won over by Cole's "cocky insouciance and grounded humanity... making, dare I say it, the character more his own." Also writing in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', Hugo Rifkind praised ITV's "cool and stylish" remake but found it a little too "cartoony and shallow". On the whole Rifkind enjoyed it saying that "It's Sunday night, it's ITV, and while the goodies might be a bit of a mess, at least the baddies are definitely bad. What more could you want?”. Rachel Sigee writing in the i gave the first episode four out of five stars. She praised Joe Cole's "fine performance" but said it was "a little detached for an everyman hero." Sigee says "the show looked sensational" and "a spy drama centred around the Soviet nuclear threat couldn't be more relevant" but given Russia's current
war in Ukraine The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...
, "it's a little hard to stomach." Michael Hogan described it as "a gripping period thriller…where the script does the talking….the most enjoyable ITV drama in ages…"


See also

* ''
The Ipcress File ''The IPCRESS File'' is Len Deighton's first spy novel, published in 1962. The story involves Cold War brainwashing and includes scenes in Lebanon and on an atoll for a United States atomic weapon test, as well as information about Joe One, ...
'', 1965 film starring
Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, 14 March 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinct Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over Michael Caine filmography, a career that spanned eight decades an ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ipcress File (TV series), The 2022 British television series debuts 2022 British television series endings 2020s British drama television series ITV television dramas 2020s British television miniseries British thriller television series Television shows based on works by Len Deighton Television series by ITV Studios Television shows filmed in England Television shows filmed in Croatia British English-language television shows Television shows shot in Liverpool