A sequel to 1980's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, this BBC miniseries once again focuses on British spy George Smiley (Sir
Alec Guinness), once again called out of retirement, this time by the fussy Oliver Lacon Anthony Bate, to deal with a scandal in the British spy establishment. An ex-Russian general and British spy (Curt Jurgens) is found brutally murdered in a London park after frantically contacting the British Secret Service. His cryptic message: "Tell Max it concerns the Sandman." It seems that the general and his crony Otto Leipzig (
Vladek Sheybal) were cooking up a scheme to blackmail the head of the Russian secret service, Karla (
Patrick Stewart), when they were murdered. Smiley gathers his old associates (almost all the actors reprising roles from the first miniseries) and picks up the general's harrowing trail. He finds that Karla has been secretly supporting a daughter in the West through almost comically inept intermediaries such as Grigoriov (
Michael Lonsdale). This information allows him to face off against his old adversary and avenge the humiliation he and his agency suffered with the double agent Karla had in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Made in 1982, the sequel has one major casting substitution:
Michael Byrne instead of
Michael Jayston as Peter Guillam, Smiley's faithful lieutenant. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide