A new BBC series that captures some of the channel’s old values
From our UK edition
I watched Smiley’s People on BBC iPlayer recently because I fancied a nostalgia trip back to the days (1982) when viewers were literate and had attention spans, when even bit players could act because they’d all done rep or been voice-coached by Cicely Berry at the RSC, and where directors still had leeway to attempt to create art rather than product. What I loved – though not quite as much as the scene where Alec Guinness as George Smiley sits imperturbably through a throbbingly percussive live show at a seedy German sex dive – was the refreshing slowness.
