Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy BBC4 Tues 19/11 10pm

ilovewallander · 14/11/13 - 00:12

I've just noticed this acclaimed tv adaptation will be repeated starting with two episodes next Tuesday followed by a Storyville documentary about Kim Philby at 11.40pm called The Spy who Went into the Cold (a repeat from next Monday night at 10pm which is followed by Mark Lawson Talks to John Le Carre Monday at 11.15pm if anyone's interested)

I'm so glad this is getting another airing as I've never seen it and I've heard it's excellent.

degsyhufc · 14/11/13 - 00:24

Thanks for the heads up. I only recently watched the film version.

It would be good if they reshowed Cambridge Spies.

ilovewallander · 14/11/13 - 00:28

degsyhufc wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up. I only recently watched the film version.

It would be good if they reshowed Cambridge Spies.

I've been hoping BBC4 would repeat TTSS! Cambridge Spies would be another good one to show again. I think Alibi repeated it a few years ago really late at night, I'm sure it got overlooked by people as it was on past midnight!

mike65 · 14/11/13 - 00:40

Brilliant!

BBC4 the only thing worth paying for.

ilovewallander · 14/11/13 - 00:44

mike65 wrote: »

Brilliant!

BBC4 the only thing worth paying for.

I agree, I love BBC4. I always find things to watch on that channel and Borgen lll starts on Saturday so that's something else I'm really looking forward to.

swingaleg · 14/11/13 - 00:49

Is this the original TV series ?

Alec Guinness, Hywel Bennett, Beryl Reid etc............

I've seen that a few times including the original showing

It's terrific but I don't think I'd watch it yet again !

Ancient IDTV · 14/11/13 - 00:50

Got it and Smiley's People on DVD. Both are well worth watching (a few times). Alec Guinness really is superb in both.

I would also recommend The Sandbaggers, and Callan.

ilovewallander · 14/11/13 - 00:54

swingaleg wrote: »

Is this the original TV series ?

Alec Guinness, Hywel Bennett, Beryl Reid etc............

I've seen that a few times including the original showing

It's terrific but I don't think I'd watch it yet again !

As far as I know it is the original. There haven't been other tv adaptations have there? I've seen the film version with Gary Oldman, but not the version with Alec Guinness.

ilovewallander · 14/11/13 - 00:55

Ancient IDTV wrote: »

Got it and Smiley's People on DVD. Both are well worth watching (a few times). Alec Guinness really is superb in both.

I would also recommend The Sandbaggers, and Callan.

Thanks for the recommendations

Is Callan with Edward Woodward?

swingaleg · 14/11/13 - 00:57

ilovewallander wrote: »

As far as I know it is the original. There haven't been other tv adaptations have there? I've seen the film version with Gary Oldman, but not the version with Alec Guinness.

There was the film but I haven't seen that

Agree with the poster above that The Sandbaggers was fantastic...........very much in the Tinker, Tailor genre but a bit faster with more action

ilovewallander · 14/11/13 - 01:01

Has anyone seen Mr Palfrey of Westminster? I've never heard of it before but saw it as I was looking on Amazon for The Sandbaggers. I'll have to try that and Callan, they sound brilliant.

degsyhufc · 14/11/13 - 01:09

swingaleg wrote: »

There was the film but I haven't seen that

Coincidentally the film version with Gary Oldman is also on this Tuesday at 9pm on Film4.

swingaleg · 14/11/13 - 01:11

degsyhufc wrote: »

Coincidentally the film version with Gary Oldman is also on this Tuesday at 9pm on Film4.

cheers, I might watch that then..........

Ancient IDTV · 14/11/13 - 01:14

ilovewallander wrote: »

Thanks for the recommendations Is Callan with Edward Woodward?

Yes. Unfortunately, quite a few of the black and white episodes have been lost/wiped. The remaining episodes, plus all the later colour ones, are well worth checking out, though.

Ancient IDTV · 14/11/13 - 01:20

ilovewallander wrote: »

Has anyone seen Mr Palfrey of Westminster? I've never heard of it before but saw it as I was looking on Amazon for The Sandbaggers. I'll have to try that and Callan, they sound brilliant.

I particularly like The Sandbaggers because even though they're expected to carry out vital extremely dangerous and politically sensitive missions all over the globe, they're always short of funds and agents. Roy Marsden's character has to constantly grub around for funding. Sometimes they only have one agent available, or even none.

ilovewallander · 14/11/13 - 01:27

Ancient IDTV wrote: »

I particularly like The Sandbaggers because even though they're expected to carry out vital extremely dangerous and politically sensitive missions all over the globe, they're always short of funds and agents. Roy Marsden's character has to constantly grub around for funding. Sometimes they only have one agent available, or even none.

A sort of cut-price Spooks

There's a DVD of Callan called 'The Monochrome Years' and another called 'The Colour Years.' It's such a shame some of the episodes have gone.

Ancient IDTV · 14/11/13 - 01:37

Maybe they'll turn up in a loft in Cairo or something, like those Doctor Who episodes. I hope so. Btw, some of the surviving black and white episodes have particularly poor picture quality. I found that I soon got used to it, and concentrated on the storyline, but I know that some folk might find it too distracting. Probably looks really bad on a 1080p tv set. Mine's only a 720p set.

johnloony · 14/11/13 - 06:05

Hooray! I was only 10 when it was first shown, so I wasn't old enough to be interested in it. But I was aware of my father being a fan of it. That made me watch the 2011 film version, which in turn led me to read the book and also get the DVD set of the original 1979 TV series. It's very good and well worth watching if anybody hasn't yet had the chance.

ClarkF1 · 14/11/13 - 06:16

Thanks for the heads-up about the Kim Philby doc.

Lost count of the number of times I've watched TTSS.

My dad came home with it one evening. The next day he went out and I decided I'd watch one to see if I liked it. I ended up very hungry after watching the entire series in one go without a break!!!

planets · 14/11/13 - 13:25

like Ancient IDTV i have this on dvd and it's fantastic....excellent writing and fabulous acting...totally recommend it for anyone who hasn't seen it.....much more detail than the film

[Deleted User] · 14/11/13 - 19:59

I think TTSS is one of the finest British TV dramas ever made. Even in the HD/widescreen age it still makes gripping TV, Watched it recently and the picture quality jarred somewhat but 5 mins into the first episode I forgot all about that and was thoroughly engaged by it again. Even though I knew what was to come.

Wasn't too impressed with Smiley's People though. The BBC couldn't afford to make the middle novel of the Karla Trilogy so made the last one instead and filed in the major plot points. Which was a shame really.

The film is good. Just not as good as the TV version. But I'm hoping we end up getting a proper film trilogy of all the novels. That way we have the outstanding BBC version of the first book and 3 films that do justice to Karla's story.

Eddie Badger · 14/11/13 - 20:09

Thanks for that.

Nosedive · 14/11/13 - 20:58

If you do watch it be prepared to concentrate. It's a little slow and hard to follow but worth bearing with.

snoweyowl · 14/11/13 - 21:02

Nosedive wrote: »

If you do watch it be prepared to concentrate. It's a little slow and hard to follow but worth bearing with.

Me too. I found it tedious and gave up. Life's too short.

pburke90 · 14/11/13 - 21:11

I found the Gary Oldman film rather slow and boring and also a bit confusing with it's jumping around with different people/plots. If the TV show is like that too, only drawn out into episodes, I think I might give it a miss...

Granny McSmith · 14/11/13 - 21:21

Good news - I saw the Oldman film version recently and was highly impressed; I'm looking forward to seeing the Guiness version again.

Hey there!

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy BBC4 Tues 19/11 10pm

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