WHY DO I LOVE this series more than I did in 1979?
It's on every night and we've watched every episode so far.
The adaptation of John Le Carre's novel by Arthur Hopcraft is sheer genius.
One of the greatest adaptations, up there with Brideshead Revisited.
I'm loving it because it's very, very sophisticated compared to most drama serials.
Although, it has to be admitted, I have not watched any drama serials since Chancer.When TV became stupid I didn't complain. I just stopped watching.
Then, last winter, after a lot of nagging by my kids, I watched some episodes of 24, which was watchable garbage.
It's slick, it's very clever, it's often compelling – but it's garbage
Whereas Tinker, Tailor, Soldier,Spy is fantastic.
I remembered the scene where the young George Smiley meets the imprisoned bad guy Karla in a cell in Delhi.
Smiley asks him questions, reasonable questions, and explains why Karla is in big trouble. The bald, bearded Karla, sitting at the table in leg-irons, does not reply. Each question seems more tempting than the last but the stony Karla says nothing. He is a very hard man and his silence is magnificent.
Then, when the guards take Karla away, he reaches down to the table and takes the packet of cigarettes Smiley has offered him. He also takes Smiley's cigarette lighter.
Now, decades later, Karla runs Moscow Centre and only he knows who is the traitor at the heart of British intelligence. Only Karla knows which senior man at the Circus is "Gerald the mole."
However, Smiley is confident because he says that Karla is a fanatic.
"One day that lack of moderation will be Karla's downfall," says Smiley.
Tinker, Tailor is on again tonight, Sunday, at 10.30 pm.
I can't remember how many episodes the series had.
And of course I can't remember which spy is the mole.
Is it Bill Haydon? Percy Alleline? Roy Bland?