The film is also noteworthy for an early appearance by Bill Nighy, whom American audiences are conditioned to think of as a paragon of the wrinkled but dignified English codger.

I was wondering why I kept thinking of Victory and Nostromo, and why I was overcome with this desire to read The Secret Agent. But rising tension between Soviet Russia and the West draw him back to the Circus as a Cold War warrior.Both a prequel and a sequel to The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (how deliciously le Carré), the story is timeless and at the same time a perfect reflection of the recent period in which it was written.

Smiley and his group suspect that the monthly payments to the airlines are sanctioned by Moscow Centre in exchange for intelligence, and Smiley dispatches Jerry Westerby, whose nickname is the “honourable schoolboy”, to Hong Kong to gather more information about China Airsea's bank accounts and the primary account holder. When Smiley, in his latest incarnation, suddenly turns out, at the opportune moment, to be an expert on Chinese naval engineering, his subordinates might be wide-eyed in worship, but the reader is unable to resist blowing a discreet raspberry.His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, secured him a worldwide reputation, which was consolidated by the acclaim for his trilogy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. I fell in love with Charlie, who is taught to understand that the Israelis are just and good, then must believe just as passionately – as actors must – that the Israelis are monsters.

George Smiley, wrestling with retirement and disillusionment, is summoned to a secret meeting with a member of the Cabinet Office. Brosnan plays to his strengths, wringing every bit of slimy hucksterism out of his character’s rather blunt lexicon.Westerby warns Drake of Smiley's plans in an effort to make a deal which would protect Lizzie from reprisal. Craw is meant to be a fountain of humorous invective, but the cumulative effect is tiresome in the extreme.