Smiley's People (1982) (Episode 4)

Part 4 of 6 of the 1982 thriller. Smiley seeks out Otto Leipzig to find out why he set up Soviet spy Oleg Kirov, but is in for a nasty surprise when he finds him. And it seems that whoever is orchestrating all this is prepared to go to any lengths to try and cover their tracks, as Madame Ostrakova discovers that they are prepared to finish the job they started in trying to kill her. Can Smiley get to her in time? Starring Alec Guinness, Eileen Atkins,Mario Adorf, Michael Byrne, Barry Foster, Bill Paterson, Vladek Shybell, Tusse Silberg, Thessy Kuhls, Lucy Fleming, Andy Bradford, Carl Duering, Jonathan Burn, Guy Standeven, Dudley Sutton, Caroline Silhol, Michael Feldman, Frank Compton, Jean Champion, Marie-Helene Daste, Georges Hubert and Maureen Lipman. Part 4 sees another murder to enliven proceedings as the threat to Madame Ostrakova's life becomes ever more apparent. Eileen Atkins is superb in this, but astonishingly she wasn't even nominated for a TV BAFTA. Barry (Van Der Valk) Foster makes an appearance here, as does Bill Paterson, and there is the return of old character Peter Guillam. However there's a shock in store for fans of Michael Jayston. For it seems he was unavailable to resume his role, so instead we have Michael Byrne in place of him. Although Byrne is as reliable as always, the presence of Jayston is greatly missed. Oh, and in case you are wondering (or even if you weren't), the actress who plays Molly Meakin here, Lucy Fleming, is the niece of James Bond creator Ian Fleming in a nice nod to the spy genre. Please note that this contains some swearing, violence and nudity.