Overbury Court - 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' Location Visit

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(Mr. and Mrs. George Smiley at Overbury Court, 5th March 1979 - photo courtesy of Barbara Franc)

In the novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Ann Smiley is central to the plot, but she does not appear in person during Smiley's investigation. She is spoken of by others and remembered by Smiley, but it is only near the very end of the book that she arrives at a railway station to meet him. Even then, we do not know what happens next.

From the very earliest draft of his screenplay, Arthur Hopcraft envisioned Smiley's meeting with Ann and the conversation that followed. He had always intended that this exchange would close the series, and the dialogue we hear on screen is almost unchanged from the early draft. Matching the continuity of the novel, Hopcraft initially set their first exchange outside a country railway station. The conversation then continued in the grounds of Ann's country house. In the end, it was decided Smiley would drive to Ann's house, and the entire conversation would take place there. 

John Irvin and his team completed filming at Bredon School on Saturday, 3rd March 1979. After a day off, they headed to nearby Overbury Court to film the final scenes that would appear on-screen.

Following in the production team's footsteps, John Rundle and I had spent the previous day visiting Bredon School and, after a good night’s rest, we made the short journey to Overbury Court. 

Overbury Court is a stunning Georgian-style country house, and you can easily imagine that it might be the family home of Lady Ann Sercomb.

Sir Bruce Bossom and Penelope Bossom had kindly given their permission for us to visit and photograph the areas of the estate that appeared on screen. We were met by Penelope, who introduced us to Harry Green, the Head Gardener at Overbury Court Gardens. Harry was our guide to the locations on the estate that we wanted to visit. We set off to cover everything in the order it was filmed, and all of the locations we visited are shown on the satellite map at the end of this article.

 Monday 5th March 1979 

Filming Schedule:

Overbury Court (Day)
Episode 7 Scene 42 - Smiley arrives (Smiley, Ann)

Episode 7 Scene 43 - In grounds (Smiley, Ann)

This was the last day of filming for the production team in the Worcestershire area. They were scheduled to film between 9am and 6pm, although they hoped to finish by 4.30pm. The scenes were filmed in order, starting with Smiley's arrival by car. The camera was mounted on a Titan Crane to capture Smiley's Ford Granada MkII as it made its way up Church Row and past St Faith's Church...

The camera then tracks in over the gate to follow the car as it travels up the driveway...

John and I obviously could not replicate this shot without a crane or a drone, but you can see in the photos below that the location remains completely unchanged...

John Rundle provides some background about the Titan Crane that was utilised for this shot:

The crane was developed by Chapman in North Hollywood in the late 1950s and comprised a petrol-driven road chassis with a cab that could be partially removed (the roof and the back) to enable the arm to swing lower over the front of the vehicle and provide space for the weight bucket and Grips. You can see the crane in action in the video below:

In addition to normal steering, all the wheels could be crabbed to enable the chassis to move diagonally - very useful for getting into a tight corner. Electric drive was provided for 'silent' moves, both outside on location or in a film studio or stage. The crane centre column could be extended upwards by about 3 ft and also had hydraulic rams to set it vertically if the chassis was not on level ground. The crane arm was balanced by means of mercury pumped from a holding tank into a tank on the back of the crane. This meant the task of balancing the camera, camera head, camera operator, and focus puller required just a flick of a switch - no lifting 1.5t of balance weights into the weight bucket! The arm was also fitted with hydraulic brakes to lock it off, either for a static shot or at the end of a move to hold a steady frame.

It was an expensive item of kit to hire and would only be requested if the shot and location justified the cost. In addition to the driver/operator who came with the crane, two Camera Grips would be needed to enable full movement of the arm to be achieved in shot. The Key or Chief Grip would be in charge of the crane’s movements and would also be responsible for its safe operation, with special attention being paid when the arm is swung over artists, crew, sets, or in close proximity of fixed objects, like the gates at Overbury Court!

I used this type of crane several times in the 1990s - 'Stay Lucky' for ITV and 'You Me and Marley' for BBC Screen 2.

Next, we see Smiley step into frame looking for Ann...

This location is also unmistakable...

Smiley looks out south-west across the grounds and over the pool...

...which was covered when we visited.

When Smiley eventually finds Ann, she leaves the house by a door in the south-east corner and walks down a small flight of steps into the garden...

When he sees her, Smiley is on the grass with St Faith's Church behind him...

There is now a large hedge behind where Guinness stood, which obscures some of the architecture of the church that we can see in the above shot. The tree has also been cut down. As we can't match the shot exactly, we have included a zoomed-out image below for comparison...

Ann and Smiley step towards each other on the grass...

What follows is a rather uncomfortable exchange, where Smiley enquires after the whereabouts of Julian, the man Ann had been seeing, to discover he is actually called Jake and he is no longer on the scene. Ann states she is 'quite free at the moment' and when Smiley gives her the necklace, she carelessly stuffs it in her pocket without even looking at it. 

They walk out of shot together...

When we next pick them up, they are in the northern part of the estate and have already covered some distance...

There is a famous behind-the-scenes photo taken of the rehearsal of these scenes, which you can see below. I first came across this image in a careers handbook in the early 80s, about opportunities for those looking to work in film and television.

Production Unit Manager, Marcia Wheeler, recalls the filming of this scene:

The photo of Alec and Siân with the camera and the microphone on a pole stirred a memory. I think it proved too difficult to do the long tracking walk with a pole and, with some misgivings from the recordist, Malcolm Webberley, they were fitted with radio mics. Recordists don't like these, as sound can be distorted and/or compromised by the rustling of clothes. The voice also comes from a different angle.

You will notice that the camera is on a track as it follows the actors. The location for this scene was chosen specifically as there is a path running alongside the grass bank (see below) which made it easier for them to lay a flat track...

They go on a little further..

...before Ann walks ahead of Smiley and turns back for the final exchange of the series.

John did take a photo of me standing in for Dame Siân Phillips on this spot but, out of respect for the actress, I decided to just include the matching empty frame below!

Barbara Franc, who was the Camera Assistant on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, has been kind enough to share a couple of candid photos taken during the production...

In my recent interview with Zeb Soanes, he shared a story that Dame Siân Phillips had told him about the filming of these scenes:

Siân Phillips...hadn't done a scene with him (Guinness) before, and they hadn't rehearsed. She travelled to the location and they were kept waiting in a room. She said to him, “Sir Alec, shall we go through it?” He said, “Oh, no, no, I don't think we need to do that.” She said he just went round the room picking up things and placing them down carefully. So, she was quite tense, and then, of course, they went on to shoot the scene. 

Dame Siân Phillips is quite wonderful as Ann Smiley. Our sympathies tend to be with Smiley throughout the series as we hear others refer to Ann's infidelities - for example, the pompous Roddy Martindale shouting, "Everybody's love to Ann". Watching these final scenes though, I'd suggest we are left wondering if either of these characters is truly capable of loving someone else.

The last line, "Poor George. Life's such a puzzle to you, isn't it", feels like a fairly brutal put-down. It is interesting to compare these final scenes in the series with the almost triumphant ending to the 2011 feature film adaptation - it is hard to imagine two more different endings to the same story. 

Let's take a look at the locations of all of these scenes on the satellite photo below. (If you click on the image you can view a higher quality version.)

My thanks once again to Sir Bruce Bossom and Penelope Bossom for inviting us to their beautiful home and allowing us to photograph these locations. This article would not have been possible without their help. We are also very grateful to the Head Gardener, Harry Green, for taking the time to show us around.

 If you have any information about the making of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or Smiley's People that you think would be of interest to visitors to this website, feel free to get in touch at guinnessissmiley@icloud.com 

Our exclusive interview with Dame Siân Phillips about the character of Ann Smiley will be published on 1st September 2026.

Screenshots from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (c) BBC 1979

Contemporary photos taken by John Rundle

My thanks to Chris for his invaluable contributions to this piece

Black and white photos courtesy of Barbara Franc, where indicated

Satellite images and maps by Apple