Smiley's People

Simone Signoret was initially offered the role of Madame Ostrakova, but her fee was too high. Judi Dench was the next choice but was unavailable due to foot surgery. Rita Tushingham and Brenda Bruce were also considered before Eileen Atkins was cast.

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

This was Curd Jürgens's (The General) final on-screen performance.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Simon Langton was brought in to direct this miniseries after Sir Alec Guinness requested a change of director because the originally assigned director was known for bullying actors and actresses.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

John le Carré based the famous character George Smiley in part on a friend, the Reverend Vivian Green, a fellow of Lincoln College and a lecturer at Oxford University. Smiley was also based on le Carré's MI5 boss, Lord Clanmorris (1908-1988), who wrote detective novels under the name John Bingham.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Both John Irvin and Arthur Hopcraft refused to return as director and screenwriter respectively.

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Although the standard for British miniseries from the 1970s to the 1980s was to shoot interior scenes on video and exteriors on film, this miniseries was shot entirely on film.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

The summary of the source novel on John le Carré's personal website reads: "'This is an emergency, George. You remember Vladimir? George, are you awake? You remember the old General?' The telephone call that dragged Acting Circus Chief George Smiley out of bed was a summons back to active service. But it was only to bury the case, not to solve it."

DEEPER MEANING · SOURCED

Curd Jürgens (the General) died a few months before the broadcast.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Three actors in this spy show appeared as villains in the James Bond film series: Curd Jürgens (the General) played Karl Stromberg in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977); Michael Lonsdale (Anton Grigoriev) played Hugo Drax in Moonraker (1979); and Vladek Sheybal (Otti Leipzig) played Kronsteen in From Russia with Love (1963).

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Bernard Hepton (Toby Esterhase) continued to play George Smiley on BBC Radio. The first production was "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (1988), followed by "Smiley's People" (1990).

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

This is one of two television miniseries adaptations of John le Carré's novels made in the 1980s. The other is A Perfect Spy (1987).

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Tusse Silberg played Patrick Stewart's daughter even though she was eleven years older than him.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

After watching the first rushes of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979), John Hopkins and John le Carré redesigned the script for this miniseries to subtly alter the character of George Smiley so as to use Sir Alec Guinness's performance to greater effect.

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John le Carré was called in to help resolve the script's technical difficulties.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

A character's name in the books is "Lauder Strickland." In the television play of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy the character becomes "Lauda Strickland." In the television play of Smiley's People it reverts to "Lauder Strickland."

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

Bernard Hepton, Mario Adorf, Michael Lonsdale, Andy Bradford and André Penvern also appeared together in The Holcroft Covenant (1985).

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Alec Guinness was offered the role played by Trevor Howard in Ryan's Daughter (1970), and had he accepted it, he would have worked with Barry Foster, who appears as Saul Enderby in this series.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED