Links
UPDATED 9th January 2025
This page will be updated on a regular basis. If you have any suggestions you'd like us to include please email guinnessissmiley@icloud.com
Alec Guinness - The Authorised Biography - Piers Paul Read
You can pick up hardback copies of Piers Paul Read's book fairly cheaply now.
John le Carre - The Biography - Adam Sisman
Adam Sisman's book is also available on Kindle and as an audiobook.
This an excellent article by a Washington Post journalist about a walking tour of Smiley related locations she made on a visit to London in 1992. The main focus is on locations in the novels but there is obviously some overlap and it's a good read.
Cold War Space: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in television and cinema - Dr Douglas McNaughton
This is one of the most detailed and forensic articles I've read about the production of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It compares the BBC series with the 2011 film and includes recollections from producer Jonathan Powell, director John Irvin, cameramen Tony Pierce-Roberts and production designer Austen Spriggs. Essential reading!
The Spies Have It - Tom Shales
This review of Tinker Tailor appeared in the Washington Post on the 29th September 1980. There is a wonderful quote in it that the BBC used on the DVD cover - one of the most madly atmospheric and enjoyably literate films ever done for television.
Alec Guinness Does A Second Tour Of Duty As Le Carre's Spy - Michael Billington
This New York Times article includes interviews with Alec Guinness (in his room at the Savoy Hotel) and Jonathan Powell on the final night of filming Smiley's People. Published on the 20th December 1981, it's a revealing piece that looks to set viewers expectations for a series that will feel very different to Tinker Tailor.
The Riveting Return Of Smiley
Published on the 24th October 1982 this New York Times article reviews Smiley's People.
The Spy Who Went Into The Cold
This review of Smiley's People by James Wolcott was published on the 25th October 1982.
Cucumber Sandwiches on the BBC set of Smiley's People - Regina Nadelson
If you want to know what the cast ate while they were filming Smiley's People, then this article from the Christian Science Monitor is for you! The article contains some really good anecdotes about the making of the series.
We Are All Smiley's People - David Denby
A great article in the New Yorker from 2012 about binge watching Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People.
John le Carre at the NFT
Part One Part Two
Excellent interview with John le Carre at the NFT from 2002. There is plenty of focus on Tinker, Tailor and Smiley's People and he pays tribute to Alec Guinness.
Books
If you are interested in the making of Tinker Tailor and how Alec Guinness was cast as George Smiley and prepared for the role then two books make indispensable reading:Alec Guinness - The Authorised Biography - Piers Paul Read
You can pick up hardback copies of Piers Paul Read's book fairly cheaply now.
John le Carre - The Biography - Adam Sisman
Adam Sisman's book is also available on Kindle and as an audiobook.
Websites
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier...Tourist - Paula SpanThis an excellent article by a Washington Post journalist about a walking tour of Smiley related locations she made on a visit to London in 1992. The main focus is on locations in the novels but there is obviously some overlap and it's a good read.
Cold War Space: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in television and cinema - Dr Douglas McNaughton
This is one of the most detailed and forensic articles I've read about the production of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It compares the BBC series with the 2011 film and includes recollections from producer Jonathan Powell, director John Irvin, cameramen Tony Pierce-Roberts and production designer Austen Spriggs. Essential reading!
The Spies Have It - Tom Shales
This review of Tinker Tailor appeared in the Washington Post on the 29th September 1980. There is a wonderful quote in it that the BBC used on the DVD cover - one of the most madly atmospheric and enjoyably literate films ever done for television.
Alec Guinness Does A Second Tour Of Duty As Le Carre's Spy - Michael Billington
This New York Times article includes interviews with Alec Guinness (in his room at the Savoy Hotel) and Jonathan Powell on the final night of filming Smiley's People. Published on the 20th December 1981, it's a revealing piece that looks to set viewers expectations for a series that will feel very different to Tinker Tailor.
The Riveting Return Of Smiley
Published on the 24th October 1982 this New York Times article reviews Smiley's People.
The Spy Who Went Into The Cold
This review of Smiley's People by James Wolcott was published on the 25th October 1982.
Cucumber Sandwiches on the BBC set of Smiley's People - Regina Nadelson
If you want to know what the cast ate while they were filming Smiley's People, then this article from the Christian Science Monitor is for you! The article contains some really good anecdotes about the making of the series.
We Are All Smiley's People - David Denby
A great article in the New Yorker from 2012 about binge watching Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People.
John le Carre at the NFT
Part One Part Two
Excellent interview with John le Carre at the NFT from 2002. There is plenty of focus on Tinker, Tailor and Smiley's People and he pays tribute to Alec Guinness.
A very nice 'guided tour' with photographs of some of the key Smiley locations in London.
Chris discovered this Spanish website with some interesting photos from Smiley’s People and scans of the covers of the Spanish DVD release and a TV listing magazine.
A transcript of a 2011 interview with John Irvin
A wonderful actor - I adore his performances as Toby Esterhase and also as Albert Foiret in 'Secret Army'.
An interesting discussion from fourteen years ago. Could the drawing pins Stephan Dunbar refers to have been the originals?!
An article comparing the film and television adaptions of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: Mystery Solved at the Harry Ransom Center - Did you know there was a difference between the first edition of the novel in the US and UK? This article shares the story of how and why it happened.
Patrick Stewart's Visit to CIA HQ - Yes, Karla himself visited Langley in 1997!
Jim Prideaux's Alvis - One of only twelve built in 1937, the car sold for over £500,000 in 2017.
The End of the Line - Did you know that nine years before Tinker Tailor was adapted by the BBC, John le Carre wrote a little known television play for the Armchair Theatre series? Joseph Oldham shines a light on this almost forgotten gem.
When it Comes to War - Recent interview (2021) with John Irvin where he discusses the challenge of filming Tinker Tailor during industrial action at the BBC.
Donald McMaster - article from 2012 about Britain's oldest TV extra who appeared in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Tony Pierce-Roberts - a brief interview (including some photographs of filming in Scotland) from around the time of the US Blu-ray release of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Glasgow filming - a Facebook post from 'Lost Glasgow' about filming at Watt Brothers. Further press coverage can be found here.
Website of Harry (Aitch) Fielder Supporting Artist Films And Television The website mentions 'a couple of nights filming in Black Park near Pinewood Studios'…'running and chasing around the woods until the sun came up'. These extra scenes were shot very near the end of production and intercut with the footage from Aberfoyle of Jim Prideaux being ambushed.
Video
A Conversation with John le Carre - March 8th 2002
This is the interview that is included on the US Blu-ray releases of Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People.
John le Carre and director John Irvin discuss the making of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part One Part Two
This is well worth watching - as close to a 'making of' documentary as we are likely to get.
Ian Richardson on how he was cast in Tinker Tailor
Lovely radio interview and a great story about his casting as Bill Haydon.
Sir Alec Guinness - Interview with Melvyn Bragg 1985
It may not be in perfect quality, but this interview is essential viewing for all fans of Alec Guinness.
John le Carre Interview with Charlie Rose 1993
Perhaps my favourite le Carre interview - a very in-depth discussion which runs for almost an hour.
This is the interview that is included on the US Blu-ray releases of Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People.
John le Carre and director John Irvin discuss the making of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part One Part Two
This is well worth watching - as close to a 'making of' documentary as we are likely to get.
Ian Richardson on how he was cast in Tinker Tailor
Lovely radio interview and a great story about his casting as Bill Haydon.
Sir Alec Guinness - Interview with Melvyn Bragg 1985
It may not be in perfect quality, but this interview is essential viewing for all fans of Alec Guinness.
John le Carre Interview with Charlie Rose 1993
Perhaps my favourite le Carre interview - a very in-depth discussion which runs for almost an hour.
Background on the design of the title sequence for the series.
Joseph Oldham shares some legends about Alec Guinness and discusses the making of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. (There is a longer version which has recently been published in the book Histories, Adaptations, and Legacies of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.)
Joseph has also written a fascinating book titled Paranoid visions: Spies, conspiracies and the secret state in British television drama which explores the history of the spy and conspiracy genres on British television, from 1960s Cold War series through 1980s conspiracy dramas to contemporary ‘war on terror’ thrillers. The BBC adaption of Tinker Tailor features heavily and I'd also recommend this for fans of the excellent, but often overlooked, Bird of Prey.
A lengthy interview with the legendary cinematographer.
BBC Training Films - A Day at Previews - John Rundle shared this video with us as it explains the process of technical review of the processed film and sound syncing. This was done every day to review the previous days shoot. In the opening scene outside the BBC Television Film Studios at Ealing, the group of three men in the background include Liam Murphy (camera assistant) and John Phillips (grip).
BBC Training Films - Base Operations - This film includes some shots taken down Woodstock Grove and from just inside the gate of the BBC Television Training Department.
ADAPT Television History - Various short films about the process of 16mm film making from the initial setting up of the camera, lighting and sound equipment to the loading of the camera magazines, processing the exposed film and editing. John Rundle worked with John Adderley, who is the camera assistant who demonstrates the loading of the camera magazine in this film. Adderley is a collector of old film cameras and supplied the Eclair NPR for the programme. This is the same type of camera used to film both Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley's People.
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