The murder of a Soviet defector forces his old handler, British spymaster George Smiley, out of retirement. His investigation leads to an old nemesis, the Soviet spymaster known only as "Karla". This will be their final dance.
After watching the early rushes of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)," John Hopkins and John le Carré re-drafted the script of this mini-series to subtly change George Smiley's character to use Sir Alec Guinness' performance to greater effect.
Toby Esterhase:
Don't do that again, you hear me?
Anton Grigoriev:
I don't speak to scum like you! What are you, a Polish? Magyar? I don't speak to anti-Party elements! I am Russian!
Toby Esterhase:
Don't do it again.
When Smiley is talking to Connie Sachs, she mentions that Karla once had a mistress, upon which Smiley's eyes widen, and with an utterly surprised look, he asks "Who?" She then goes on to tell about how Karla also had a daughter from that relationship.
It's highly improbable that George Smiley, who spent most of his life gathering every bit of detail about Karla, and even wrote "The Karla papers" (according to Saul Enderby) wouldn't know about such an important piece of information about his nemesis.
The wooden planks in the opening credits are those of park benches.
English