Intelligence agents like Bernie Samson are not towering hulks or finely chiselled slabs of beef. They look like ordinary humdrum office staff or factory workers; who can pass in a crowd, stand on an hour unnoticed on a station platform, be stopped for their papers and not give off a vibe of trained violence. Tradecraft, not muscle, is what gets you by on the street, although Bernie can handle himself when it's called for. Eric Stinnes needed the Stasi behind him as part of his impressive 'chi'; without it he would have looked more like a pained, neurotic artist.
As regards Mr Deighton's view of the filmed realisation of his novel, he must be in an exclusive minority of writers who can afford stand by and not have a prize asset come to market; and, even rarer, be content to see it go out 'samizdat' to the hungry viewers, rather than admit that - on the one - the public begs to differ. Not sure that this withholding of permission will always be the case.
For the record, I don't think that there is a dud performance in the whole series, and the music and lighting - which nobody has yet mentioned, is particularly good. In summary, the series is a insightful depiction of Britain (and it's neuroses) at a certain time - a fitting pendant to Le Carre's Smiley Trilogy (but not so cannily marketed, eh guys?).
As regards Mr Deighton's view of the filmed realisation of his novel, he must be in an exclusive minority of writers who can afford stand by and not have a prize asset come to market; and, even rarer, be content to see it go out 'samizdat' to the hungry viewers, rather than admit that - on the one - the public begs to differ. Not sure that this withholding of permission will always be the case.
For the record, I don't think that there is a dud performance in the whole series, and the music and lighting - which nobody has yet mentioned, is particularly good. In summary, the series is a insightful depiction of Britain (and it's neuroses) at a certain time - a fitting pendant to Le Carre's Smiley Trilogy (but not so cannily marketed, eh guys?).