This series v movie

The series has it all over the film, and I say that in spite of the fact of liking many of the film's cast members in other work a great deal. They simply didn't become the characters of the novel for me in the way the actors of the series did...and the extreme condensation of the story into a two-hour slot didn't help matters at all; as I've heard others say, the film is a Cliff Notes version of the book, okay if you like Cliff Notes, but seriously lacking otherwise.

And the biggest letdown in my opinion of the film, as opposed to the series, is the climactic handling of Jim's killing of Haydon. In the series, it's brilliantly done, with Prideaux getting up close and personal to do the deed (the little kiss he gives Haydon just before the murder beautifully sums the whole thing up--I don't know if that was written into the script or if Bannen and Richardson ad-libbed this, but it's a masterful touch); in the film, Prideaux shoots Haydon at long distance with a rifle, thus completely removing the element of the betrayed's catharsis at confronting his betrayer face-to-face, and robbing the moment of nearly all its emotional punch. Along with the slightly out-of-whack vaguely 'happy' ending given to the film version (and other small, pointless additions, such as making Guillam gay), this scene crystallized for me the mis-step between series and film as much as anything else could have done.

Yes totally agree. Even the radio drama with Simon Russel Beale is different class to the movie.

The BBC radio dramatizations of Le Carres work are all absolutely first class. I have all the Smiley stuff and other brilliant adaptions such as The Russia House and A Small Town in Germany. If you want to discuss further could give you facebook or email.