I tried to watch this drama series a year or so ago and didn’t get far. It isn’t bad but it has a slow pace, which I am usually fine with, but I am not into spy stories. I gave it a second try recently and had no trouble finishing it this time.

There is some action and a small amount of drama, but mostly it is conversation and a slow-burning tension running through it. I confess I occasionally wasn’t sure who was doing what off screen, but i never completely lost the thread.

Alec Guinness is very good. He gives what seems like a restrained performance, playing a man who fights emotions that rise up inside him so that he can dispassionately do the work required of him with a clear heard and clear eye. A couple of the subplots, such as the former spy teaching at a private school, seem unnecessary on the face of it, though in the example I used there is a big payoff because of it.

I can’t imagine watching the series again., but I still recommend it if you like spy stories without many explosions and violence, especially if you are a fan of John LeCarre.