| Synopsis: |
This is the complete collection of acclaimed BBC Radio dramas based on John le Carre's bestselling novels, starring Simon Russell Beale as George Smiley. George Smiley is one of the most brilliantly realised characters in British fiction. Bespectacled, tubby, eternally middle-aged and deceptively ordinary, he has a mind like a steel trap and is said to possess 'the cunning of Satan and the conscience of a virgin'. With a star cast including Kenneth Cranham, Eleanor Bron, Brian Cox, Ian MacDiarmid, Anna Chancellor, Hugh Bonneville and Lindsay Duncan, these enthralling dramatisations perfectly capture the atmosphere of le Carre's taut, thrilling spy novels. "Call for the Dead" is the first Smiley novel, which sees him looking into an apparent suicide only to uncover a murderous conspiracy. "A Murder of Quality" finds Smiley investigating a murder in a private school. Who could have hated Stella Rode enough to kill her? "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" introduces Alec Leamas, a British intelligence officer whose East Berlin network is in tatters.Recalled to London, he is offered revenge on the man who destroyed his agents: but to have it he must stay out in the cold a little longer..."The Looking Glass War" features former spy Fred Leiser, lured back from retirement to investigate a claim that Soviet missiles are being installed close to the West German border. But the harsh realities of the Cold War now prevail, and there is no place for heroes..."Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" is the first book in the Karla trilogy, and sees Smiley searching for a mole who has infiltrated the Circus. "The Honourable Schoolboy" sees Smiley determined to destroy his nemesis, Karla, and his spy networks. He recruits Jerry Westerby - the Honourable Schoolboy of the title - and despatches him to the Far East, where a new battle is about to begin..."Smiley's People" finds George Smiley called out of retirement to exorcise some Cold War ghosts from his clandestine past. What follows takes to a thrilling conclusion his career-long, serpentine battle with the enigmatic and ruthless Russian spymaster Karla..."The Secret Pilgrim" sees Smiley invited to dine with the eager new recruits at the Circus.He offers them his thoughts on espionage and, in doing so, prompts a former colleague to re-examine his own eventful secret life. 'A radio triumph...Simon Russell Beale's pitch-perfect master spy' - "Financial Times". |