Having just re-watched this series that I was riveted-to when it was first released (well, I believe I saw its first airing on CBC), I'm delighted to report that it seems not to have aged a day in 39 years. It's solid, masterful, and enduring.

I traversed to this series in a descending order - I saw the 2011 film adaptation and was impressed with the plot and the presentation. I went on to read(I rarely read novels) the novel and found it captivating. After years, I decided to watch this series. I couldn't help but compare this series with the film and the original book.The star cast is apt and the performances are solid. Except Roy Bland, I vividly recall every character and their countenances, personas. The bleak English climate, the somber and choking atmosphere in the Circus and the lives of the people involved, the no-nonsense portrayal of the events, a non-invasive background score are a perfect treat. One can actually feel the emotions and the tension e.g: when Control learns about the disaster, his face reflects 'All is lost'.The series does leave us desiring. While some techniques like checking for the 'baby sitters', delivering secret messages by hand etc. are depicted, how the spies evade surveillance, the transistor sound used by Smiley in the hotel(read this in the book) to avoid eavesdropping and so on could have been covered, even at the expense of adding another episode.To summarize, this is a series not to be missed, especially, if espionage is your interest.

There are generally two types of spy fiction. One type is the larger-than-life adventure of a charming hero who battles nefarious and mysterious enemies bent on world control. The other type is a more realistic, bleaker tale of a spy battling in a world where his own allies would turn on him, for something that most people hold insignificant or irrelevant. This story falls under the second type, but while not so entertaining is one of the best spy stories ever done.Based on the classic spy novel by John Le Carre, this series tells the story as follows: In the 1970s, a fiasco at the British Secret Service shakes things up, forcing the head of the Service out and all his subordinates, including protagonist George Smiley. In his place steps in Percy Allenine, a pompous and arrogant official who smugly claims access to a source of Soviet intelligence that will revive the Service's reputation. However, a maverick spy named Ricki Tarr appears with information about a Russian spy hidden within the Service; he is dismissed, but raises enough concern for George Smiley to be recruited to make an investigation. The story is intelligently written, but the true power of the story lies in its emotional impact. Smiley was thrown out of work and then dragged back to clean up a mess he had nothing to do with; he has to deal with insufferable superiors who want to stay secure with no blame attached to them; his allies go through nightmares that cost them greatly; and finally, when the mole is revealed, the weary cynicism that led him to commit treason against (this character is one of the most ironic and tragic characters despite what he's done). And yet, Smiley and his allies doggedly strive for something pure and noble in the miry sordid world they live in, and their eventual victory and reward, while it may be small, is made sweeter and grants a touch of hope. This miniseries moves at a slow but masterful pace, having Smiley trace out the mole's ruinous track and identity in the manner of a detective story; the adaptation is done wonderfully, with expert expansion and removal of the novel's passages into a solid unique work. The cast is wonderful, with Alec Guiness leading an all-star ensemble; Guiness who usually plays a lean, dignified Brit, delivers a masterful performance as the meek, frog-like Smiley. Ian Richardson does a wonderfully ironic role as Bill Haydon and Ian Bannen is haunting as the wounded agent Jim Prideaux. A particular standout is Patrick Stewart as Smiley's enemy the Soviet spy Karla, who commands intensity and menace without uttering a single word throughout his appearance. On the whole, if you want to see how real spies do their work, this is the show for you to watch. It will not be exciting or easy, but it will be worth the watch.

After 34 years I've finally got round to watching this highly acclaimed UK BBC TV series, and saw all 7 episodes in one day too. Was it because so many people over the years had recommended it to me as something special, or was it because I was being held as an immobile prisoner to gout in front of the TV? Either way I thoroughly enjoyed this doleful meander through 1970's British high politics.Ex secret agent Alec Guinness is called upon by top brass to unmask the top traitorous mole in the Russians pay in the British secret service, he does it his way with a little laconic help from agent Michael Jayston and a lot of cynical opposition from his old bigwig friends in the service. It's a lot more complicated than that of course, and it's the unfolding story itself that counts for me, not the supposed denouement which is as flat as last years rice pudding. The character interplay, although sometimes laboured and obvious is wondrous to behold – what a bleak and dreary world it successfully conjures up for us now. They were simply crying out for smartphones and scanners to be invented. Guinness was as impeccable as he was in Last Holiday from 30 years before, the omnipresent Jayston perfect as a sidekick – has he ever spoken in a non-documentary voice? It would have been nice for George Sewell and Joss Ackland to have had a few extra minutes each, though as the series repeatedly indicates nothing and no one is perfect. But even Hywel Bennett turned in a good performance in here! The camera work was stark and static capturing the talky bitterness precisely.So what does someone who's never going to read the book or even interested in mundane espionage make of it all? I forced myself to stay awake through parts of the first episode but soon found the rest of the series to be totally engrossing stuff – therefore try to stay with it. The way all the civil servants were two or three-faced and the civil service routinely requiring and arranging meetings to discuss anything rings very true. I find it amusing to think that all the niggling bigwigs depicted in Tinker presumably drew large salaries and amidst all their cloak and dagger doings would've still had the time to check their payslips were correct every month. That the rival capitalist countries of the world including Britain and the USSR could expend such vast sums of money on such a pointless industry, and still do, beggars belief.What a shame UK BBC can't make TV mini-series as good as this any more.