It's a good plot, at one point I thought that it would have been better if the enemy played the game as flawlessly as Smiley. But by the end I changed my mind - everything had to happen the way it happened! For me this was better than Tinker, Tailor although the plot accelerates as it goes on so require some patience at the beginning, which is well rewarded as the exciting finale draws closer.
Also well acted. Once again though I was distracted somewhat by mispronunciation of foreign names. I was particularly surprised that Bernard Hepton, who had previously played a German in the Colditz series, couldn't pronounce his "own" name, "Esterhase" (est'rr haaze - the last e pronounced the same way as the first one) The BBC really ought to invest in that area - they are still apt to mispronounce place names on the World News for example. Also "Kantonalbank von Bern" is a bit clumsy - but just have to drop the "von" to make it authentic. I particularly liked some of the correct little details such as a "Turkischer Imbiss" in Berlin - it brings back memories of my own experiences there.
So I still give it a 10, well-deserved relative to what else is available in the genre. It's so hard to get authentic spy fiction on screen and too easy to get silly spoofs instead.
Also well acted. Once again though I was distracted somewhat by mispronunciation of foreign names. I was particularly surprised that Bernard Hepton, who had previously played a German in the Colditz series, couldn't pronounce his "own" name, "Esterhase" (est'rr haaze - the last e pronounced the same way as the first one) The BBC really ought to invest in that area - they are still apt to mispronounce place names on the World News for example. Also "Kantonalbank von Bern" is a bit clumsy - but just have to drop the "von" to make it authentic. I particularly liked some of the correct little details such as a "Turkischer Imbiss" in Berlin - it brings back memories of my own experiences there.
So I still give it a 10, well-deserved relative to what else is available in the genre. It's so hard to get authentic spy fiction on screen and too easy to get silly spoofs instead.