Now published - my article on an unproduced late 1970s film biopic of Kim Philby from the pen of Arthur Hopcraft, in the same period he adapted Tinker Tailor Solder Spy for TV. With guest appearances from Michael Caine, Robert Shaw, Michael Winner... sosconference2015.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

I'm reading this now - really fascinating and absorbing.

Now published - my article on an unproduced late 1970s film biopic of Kim Philby from the pen of Arthur Hopcraft, in the same period he adapted Tinker Tailor Solder Spy for TV. With guest appearances from Michael Caine, Robert Shaw, Michael Winner... sosconference2015.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

First draft manuscript of the new book - submitted (at last!)

Perking up in a cafe because somebody's ring tone is the Z-Cars theme tune

Love researching with archival documents, hate figuring out citation formats for archival documents.

"One word will do it, Jim. I'm almost there."

University President: Good afternoon Class of 2026! Please put your hands together for this year’s graduation speaker, MOLOCH!!

In a desperate bid to get this book on John le Carré TV adaptations under control, tomorrow I will be checking into a B&B in Dawlish, with a 1987 issue of the Radio Times as my guide. Hoping this goes better for me than Magnus Pym...

Seeing The Spy who Came in from the Cold at the Liverpool Playhouse tonight. Wondering how they'll do the bit where he skis off a cliff and opens a Union Jack Parachute, I can image that's tricky to do on stage.

I'm reviewing the press coverage of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) and Smiley's People (1982) and struck by an interesting pattern. Both times, Episode 1 goes out early in the week and gets some generally good press coverage from the weekday papers...

Watching the first episode of The Mask of Janus. A bit wild to see a version of the Philby as triple agent actually working for the British theory making its way into a BBC drama as early as 1965. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLZI...

Am sufficiently into Missing Episodes fever that I'm finally watching The Avengers: Tunnel of Fear for the first time...

Think I may have over-researched this book or maybe made it too ambitious from the beginning. The editing is proving so, so long and difficult.

So, the new Daleks' Master Plan episodes were great, as expected on the available evidence, but in often unexpected ways. It's interesting how Douglas Camfield has been the great beneficiary of recovered episodes in the 21st century (well since 1999 I guess). Obviously, everybody always knew he...

Very much looking forward to these new old Doctor Who episodes, but determined to hold out on watching them until the evening - I feel like they'll have so much more atmosphere after sunset.

Watching my first Francis Durbridge serial to see what all the fuss is about...

Is there any easy-to-access resource for looking up UK television viewing figures from the 1970s and 1980s? I'm very interested in getting the episode-by-episode breakdown for the first transmissions of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley's People and A Perfect Spy.

Following the archival trail of a television production from the early 1990s, and suddenly everybody is communicating by fax. Contracts, draft scripts, etc. are being instantly faxed around the world, to London, LA, Hong Kong. It's all very exhilarating.

If I ever undertake another book project after this one, I need to develop a more efficient method of organising my research findings. Currently drowning in a filing system that I improvised as I went along, vaguely organised around some now-defunct chapter structures.

Is it possible that #TheNightManager has the record for longest gap between Seasons 1 and 2, at 9.5 years? Obviously loads of dramas have come back after long hiatuses, but all the ones I can think of generally built up a much larger body of work before the gap.

The TLDR of this is that I'm currently working on a book about all the John le Carré adaptations for television, from Dare I Weep, Dare I Mourn (1966) to The Little Drummer Girl (2018) and beyond (?)...

Really enjoyed doing this interview for the brilliant Guinness is Smiley website - covering past research, new research, some rare oddities in the presentation of John le Carré's work on television, and exciting information about my new book project: guinnessissmiley.blogspot.com/2025/10/flip...

Really enjoyed doing this interview for the brilliant Guinness is Smiley website - covering past research, new research, some rare oddities in the presentation of John le Carré's work on television, and exciting information about my new book project: guinnessissmiley.blogspot.com/2025/10/flip...

New essay: REJECT TRANS DOOM-POSTING. It's about grief, loss, institutional failures, and the horror of the current moment. It's also a love letter to trans community, and the things we do with and for one another.

I'm investigating Rediffusion Films, the film arm of Rediffusion London, whose first production was Dare I Weep, Dare I Mourn (1966). I'm curious about whether they ever made anything else - anybody know? I'm looking at some press cuttings which indicate they wanted to continue if DIWDIM did well...

I have signed the open letter in support of continued independent access to the BBC Written Archive Centre. The BBC WAC is such a brilliant resource with such a helpful staff, and it has been so useful to my research in the past - indeed its materials are integral to my current book project.

An interesting curio - a letter from Brian (Avengers/Professionals) Clemens to the Radio Times with his opinions on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Finally getting to see some of Codename: Portcullis, apparently the BBC's answer to Callan, and wincing at some of the most hamfisted exposition I've ever heard. Could Anthony Valentine sell this in the lost series version? I have my doubts... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az53...

Somehow, I've only just noticed that Ailsa Brimley from A Murder of Quality has the tiniest one-paragraph cameo in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. She even makes it into the TV version, and so Glenda Jackson is not the only person to play her, although oddly they misspell/change her name to Alisa.

Just under three weeks until the belated launch event for Penda's Fen: Scene By Scene at the Barbican. We'll have copies for sale, and Spencer Banks on the panel. And Cinema 1 is the best possible way of seeing the glorious 2016 remaster. Tickets here: www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/202...

My head is spinning trying to figure out the chronology of the unproduced adaptation of le Carré's A Small Town in Germany in the late 1960s. Le Carré's memoir The Pigeon Tunnel claims that he worked on the screenplay with Sydney Pollack over Christmas 1967 and (elsewhere in the book) 1968...

Writing about production of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - the bit where screenwriter Guy Trosper suggests changes that John le Carré doesn't like, but then falls ill and withdraws. For some reason, I'm struggling to find a phrasing that doesn't read like I'm implying le Carré was responsible.

I've been reading a few things lately where people have converted JICTAR ratings (measuring ratings by numbers of households) into numbers of individual viewers. Is there an agreed calculation by which such numbers are estimated?

You will not see a more tangible encapsulation of the genocide. A war of utter annihilation waged as a joint enterprise between the Israeli state on the ground and its allies in consistent support. The debt of reparations that the West owes to the Palestinian people at this point is incalculable.

Spent forever trying to find the rehearsal and recording dates for a 1970 TV play, only to realise they were written on the copy of the rehearsal script I had the whole time.

Does anyone know the survival rate of Story Parade (BBC 2, 1964-65)? (I.e. the series that's apparently best-known for the adaptation of Asimov's The Caves of Steel, even though we only have a clip.) I think I read there might be a surviving copy of The Little White God episode, but is that all?

Good to see this, at least 18 months after it became undeniable, but nothing can happen as a result because the recognition contains within it extremely serious allegations against this country’s most prominent politicians and media figures, and those guys are not about to quietly admit culpability.

On the 25th anniversary of the show @paranoidstylist.bsky.social uploaded his in-depth article on BUGS and its position as "an unacknowledged influence on a later generation of stylish, issue-led thriller series of the 2000s"

Matthew Macfadyen is old enough to play George Smiley?! Now this makes me feel old... variety.com/2025/tv/news...

Delighted to find this early student film by Youssef Chahine, made when he was a teenager at Victoria College. @josearroyo.bsky.social, have you seen this? Also @charloween.bsky.social and @twistedsoup.bsky.social - it's the *real* Alexandria Why... www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI3G...

You can also sign a joint letter from two trans rights organizations (TransActual and FGEN) that's going out to select MPs tomorrow. Act fast, though. Deadline is 7pm. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

regardless of today’s outcome, it is morally indefensible to have a court ruling on something that affects a population, using evidence and findings that did not consult a single member of that population.

Was interviewed for this BBC Culture article on the current prevalence of TV spy dramas. www.bbc.com/culture/arti...

Does anyone have any good recommendations for a basic Film Theory introductory textbook?

Really enjoying Tom Baker's performance as the hard-drinking, saxophone-playing, romantic protagonist of le Carré's The Russia House in this 1994 radio adaptation. Perfect for his larger-than-life qualities but also shows sides of him I've never really seen elsewhere. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9HK...

I don't suppose anyone here knows when Between the Lines was first commissioned? I'm investigating another, ultimately unmade project by World Productions in the early 1990s and trying to figure out the chronology.

Recirculating this starter pack now it's got a few more people on it. And if you'd like to be added, just say the word. It started with the BAFTSS SIG but anyone is welcome. 'Room for one more inside, sir!', as Miles Malleson might say if he were on Bluesky... go.bsky.app/KD7kfpH

Having a wonderful time at Cairo International Film Festival, particularly with the Restored Egyptian Classics series which is letting me see a lot of titles I've been seeking for ages in close succession - yesterday Al-Fetewa, today Palace Walk, tomorrow Palace of Desire...