When Madame Ostrakova (Eileen Atkins) is accosted by a man as she tries to board a bus, we discover that she has a secret Soviet past that saw her flee, leaving her daughter in Moscow. Faced with a difficult choice, she contacts the one man who might be able to help. Thats Gen. Vladimir (Curd Jürgens) who just happens to have some links with the once again retired Smiley (Sir Alec Guinness) who is drafted out of his intellectual slumbers to piece together a mystery that involves his own wife Lady Ann (Siân Phillips), his arch nemesis Karla, this woman and her abandoned daughter. John Le Carré had an hand in adapting his own story here, and again there is a very strong and considered effort from a Sir Alec who has very much moulded his own characterisation of this patient and wily spy-master. Sadly, though, unlike Tinker Tailor..., this one lacks that sense of the enigmatic. To be honest, it is pretty clear who is whom and the dots are far easier for us to join with this story. The supporting cast deliver well with starring contributions from both Beryl Reid and the always reliable Michael Lonsdale; Jürgens brings a gravitas to his role and Michael Byrne (the new iteration of Guillam) and Anthony Bates Lacon also contribute well as the story shines a different light on the ways in which the Soviet manipulation machine menacingly controlled its foreign operatives. Its well paced if you like your drama more cerebral, theres an effective paucity of dialogue and plenty of opportunity for audience participation in doing some deducing of our own. Its not quite so good a sequel - thats really because its not so good a follow-up story, but its still a compellingly photographed six-parter that allows some of Britains best character actors to do their stuff with a script that teases the riddle from the plot nicely.
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