Smiley's People

Smiley's People

George Smiley

Madame Ostrakova

Lauder Strickland

Otto Leipzig

Ferguson

Toby Esterhase

Peter Guillam

Oliver Lacon

Alexandra Ostrakova

Madame La Pierre (3 episodes, 1982)

After watching the early rushes of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979), John Hopkins and John le Carré re-drafted the script of this series to subtly change George Smiley's character to use Alec Guinness's performance to greater effect.

Although the standard for British TV miniseries in the 1970s-80s was to videotape interior scenes and film exteriors, all of this miniseries was captured on film.

During its original airing on BBC television radio DJ Terry Wogan ran a "Does anyone know what's going on?" competition on a weekly basis. This amused John le Carré greatly.

Toby Esterhase: The Grigorievs left their house five minutes ago. She's driving. Most likely they die before they get here.

George Smiley: Good afternoon, Mr. Brownlow.

Toby Esterhase: I have an alibi for every day of the year hiding from my bank manager.