Cast Gary Oldman Colin Firth Tom Hardy Kathy Burke Benedict Cumberbatch David Dencik Stephen Graham Ciarán Hinds John Hurt Toby Jones Simon McBurney Mark Strong
Directors Thomas Alfredson
Screenwriters Bridget O'Connor Peter Straughan
Running Time 127 minutes
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Oldman has a Smiley face!
Plot London, the 1970s: After a fiasco of a covert operation, British Intelligence spymaster Control (Hurt) and his right-hand man George Smiley (Oldman) are sacked. Then shocking but persuasive information that a Soviet mole has penetrated to the heart of the secret service prompts the Whitehall wallahs to task Smiley with spying on the spies.
Verdict Utterly absorbing, extremely smart and - considering this is a sad, shabby, drably grey-green world of obsessives, misfits, misdirection, disillusionment, self-delusion and treachery - quite beautifully executed.