SHOULD CLASSIC TV BE 'TINKERED' WITH ?

Alec Guinness will always be
George Smiley to me

‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ in the noughties has the potential to be a more sophisticated depiction of Le Carré’s novel (the 1979 series has a shoestring budget warmth about it) since there is an emphasis to sustain momentum crammed into a two-and-a-half hour plot rather than seven hours’ worth of detail.

Remake, reimagining or rehash, the ‘r’ word and its synonyms prompt as many eyes rolling as does the news that a Michael Bay film has received the green light. And in the case of ‘Tinker’, for the elder statesmen it induces memories of the BBCs 1979 seven-part masterpiece featuring Alec Guinness in the central role of George Smiley, now depicted by Gary Oldman.

Let the Right One In director Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of John le Carré bestseller opens in the UK on 16 September.



In my opinion, 'Tinker' is up there with 'I Claudius' and 'The Prisoner' in a list of TV series that should never be remade .... the 1979 series was as good as it gets.