Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979): Season 1, Episode 2 - Tarr Tells His Story - full transcript
At the home of Sir Oliver Lacon, George Smiley listens to Ricky Tarr's story. He was dispatched to Lisbon a year ago when the local resident, Thufty Thessinger, requested assistance. A Russian trade delegation is in town and one member, Boris, is stepping out on his own at night to bars and restaurants. Ricky soon realizes Boris is a trained agent and as per standing orders, doesn't approach him. He decides to check his hotel room and there meets Boris' wife Irina. They are soon having an affair and she eventually tells him a great secret: there is a Russian agent, a mole, buried deep in the British secret service. George had similar concerns before his forced retirement and now Lacon asks him to investigate.
- You're officially absent
without leave...
on the wanted list.
- I think I'm safe now.
I've got a story
to tell you.
It's all about spies.
And if it's true,
which I think it is,
you boys are gonna need
a whole new organization.
Right?
Shall I start with the day
you sent me to Lisbon?
Changed my life.
You might find it's gonna change
all your lives.
Hmm.
[intense instrumental music]
II
- Our resident buffoon,
old galloping major
called Tufty Thesinger,
wanted a helping hand.
My boss says you've got
your eyes
on a likely piece
of merchandise for us.
Well, what's his style then,
this Boris?
- He's a real Flash Harry.
Exactly.
Not your common in-the-garden
Russian granite face at all.
During the day,
he fulfills his norm
like the rest of his mob.
There's a whole mixed bag
of technical advisors here.
Boris is with silver engineers.
Come nightfall, he makes
his own arrangements.
[horn honks]
Crashes the bars, the clubs,
as if there's never
gonna be another tomorrow.
The man hasn't slept
for a week,
and my boys are folding
at the knees.
A young Muscovite
with official connections
and that kind of appetite
for the fleshpots?
Seems ripe for the picking.
[foghorn sounds]
Always use another defector,
can't we?
- Absolutely.
Got to keep in stock.
Nothing else on him
apart from the booze?
- If I'd got something
to blackmail him on,
I would have hardly needed
London to come and fix it,
would I?
- Temper, temper, Tufty.
[indistinct conversation]
[light Portuguese music playing]
- How are you?
You're looking very lovely.
You think we Russians
disapprove of comfort?
You're wrong.
That's the Chinese.
Old miserable boil of soups
and the smallest comfort
for the biggest number.
Not for me.
Boris looks after number one
like any real person
the wide world over.
You know it's nice talking
to you like this.
Some people when I see
from Moscow,
I see this look
in their faces.
It's so funny.
I know what they are thinking.
"Russia, oh, my God-
He's going to indoctrinate us,
"to put our names
in his little black book,
"and then the awful men
with the black hats
"and the black overcoats
" will come tap-tap-tapping
at the door.
"And he'll say, "Boris
is your good friend Russia.
You're going to tell us all
about his secret sex life..."
[conversation grows indistinct]
Let me get you all
another drink.
Oh, yes, yes, yes,
please, be my guest.
Waiter.
[all shushing]
[woman singing in Portuguese]
II
[horn honks]
- And I am telling you
we're definitely in the wrong
ballgame with this, chummy.
That's a professional,
a Moscow Center trained hood.
The way he sets himself-
that alone.
- Well...
if you're right...
Okay.
You know.
Still, he'd be quite
a catch, wouldn't he?
- We scalp hunters
are expressly forbidden
to trawl for double agents.
New orders from above.
At the first smell
of the opposition,
abandon and drop hot potato
into ample lap
of London Station.
No, I'm cabling
Guillam "no sale"
and booking myself
a flight home.
- Okey-dokey, Ricki.
And since the job is finished,
let us seal it,
so to speak.
- Nags me a bit, though,
this Boris.
Makes his rounds every night,
does he?
- Never missed yet.
I told you,
my boys.
- Well, before I go,
I might just take a peep
inside Boris' kennel,
see what's under the mattress.
Can't be any harm
in that, can there?
- Orders is orders.
- I like keeping my hand in.
It's been quiet lately.
You can get rusty.
- Well, enjoy yourself,
my son.
But don't break any eggs,
Ricki, please.
I have to live here.
Remember?
[tense instrumental music]
II
- Blessed are
the poor in spirit,
for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit
the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain...
Boris?
- Good question, lady.
Where is Boris?
This is his room, right?
And believe me, lady,
I wish you no harm.
I'm sorry if I frightened you.
You caught me by surprise,
I can tell you.
I wasn't expecting a lady,
just Boris.
- I'm his wife.
What are you doing here?
- Now, look, I don't want
to upset you.
- Does my husband know you?
- No point is pussyfooting,
lady.
Well, it's this way.
Your Boris walked off
with my girl tonight,
and that's one
diabolical liberty.
And to add insult to injury,
he'd been drinking all my white.
So I thought I'd come up here
and have a word with Boris.
Sorry, but that's the way it is.
Thanks for not screaming
the place down.
- You should be careful
what you say about my husband.
He's an important man.
He has influential friends.
- You frightening me off,
Mrs. Boris?
I've got quite a name
for looking after myself.
I'm your original Australian
self-made success story.
Rags to riches
and punching all the way.
Bureaucrats don't scare me, not
even the bloody Russian kind.
- Don't call me Mrs. Boris.
My name's Irina.
- I'm Tony Lawrence.
" Are you?
- Yeah, Tony Lawrence.
You just mention that name
in Adelaide.
I'm in car sales, property,
frozen foods.
You know, if I was Boris,
I wouldn't be out at night
chasing other blokes' women.
I wouldn't feel the need.
- Boris is Boris.
And Lawrence...
someone else.
I don't know anything
about Australia.
Perhaps somewhere tomorrow?
The evening?
[bus roaring]
[dog barking]
[baby crying]
- Are you sure you don't
want something stronger?
You look as if it might help.
Oh, don't misunderstand me,
Irina.
You look great.
Really lovely.
I just meant it might relax you.
[chuckles]
You know, you seem more scared
now than you were last night.
That can't be me.
- I'm not supposed
to do this,
meet people.
Talk without official approval.
I'm not free to do that.
- Where's the harm?
Just two strangers
in a foreign land
getting to like each other.
It's normal behavior.
- I do special work.
I travel as a trade delegate
in my own right.
Textiles.
I'm highly trained,
experienced.
Tired of it.
Hate it.
I want to escape from it.
- Textiles?
- It's like a prison.
I need someone to help me.
Can be quite brave, Lawrence.
- Tor“!-
- I shall call you Lawrence.
Colonel Lawrence.
Like Lawrence of Arabia.
- He was English.
- I know.
[horn honking repeatedly]
There's an English expression:
it takes one to spot one.
You wouldn't have fooled me
for long,
even without putting
those wedges in the door.
It's the way we look
for things, isn't it?
We don't stare.
We don't seem to be looking.
We are not like tourists...
Or prostitutes.
Or pick-pocket.
We just know how to see.
Boris isn't as good
as he ought to be.
He enjoys showing off too much,
so he misses things.
He missed you, didn't he?
But you didn't miss him,
did you, colonel?
Are you very good?
- The best.
God gave me all the talents.
Try me.
[emotive string music]
II
- I like being in the presence
of Christianity.
I understand why
some women become nuns.
[birds chirping]
Give themselves.
Their whole lives given
willingly.
There's freedom in that.
I've met Christians
I've envied very deeply.
Envy's a sin I know well,
but I confess it here
in this holy place.
Their Christians
were being interrogated.
The worst time to see people.
And the best sometimes.
I'm studying the bible.
Secretly, of course.
That isn't freedom.
"Come unto me,
all you who are heavy laden."
Is that it?
Do you know how it goes on?
- There's a village below here,
right by the sea,
very quiet.
We could take a room.
Would you like that?
How long have you worked
with Boris?
- They made us a team
a long time ago.
He's a specialist in picking up
foreign businessmen
for Moscow Center.
I look after communications
for him,
special calls.
Couldn't we be a team?
You could take me
to England.
That's what I want,
Lawrence.
You could.
I know something.
Something so important,
it's one of the
biggest secrets ever.
It will make you so famous.
But it's so secret.
- Tell me.
Tell me, Irina.
- I'm frightened.
- I can look after you.
You'll be safe.
- I can only speak
to your chief.
I mean Alleline,
nobody else.
It's too dangerous.
I can only speak to Alleline.
- Tell me.
- Only the head of the Circus.
I have to go back now.
They'll be looking for me.
It's too much to tell now.
Maybe tomorrow,
I can.
Cemetery.
Come on, Lawrence.
- We can talk in the car.
- Tomorrow.
There's too much.
I have to be calm,
or tonight, they'll notice.
I drink too much sometimes.
They are used to that.
Some of the priests
are drunkards.
They told me that at school.
[tense instrumental music]
II
When I was still in Moscow,
before I started traveling
with Boris,
I had a relationship with a
filing clerk at the Center
in Dzerzhinsky Square.
We went against regulations.
We used to meet outside.
He was very sweet.
Your looks remind me of him.
His name was lvlov,
and he told me a story.
He was frightened to,
but sometimes
if you know something
that's so big,
so secret,
you have to tell it to someone.
It has to be someone you love.
Like I'm telling you now.
- It's all right, darling.
It's all right.
- Have you heard of Karla?
He's an old fox,
the most cunning of them all
at the Center,
and he works so secretly
that some people don't even
know he exists.
The story lvlov told me
concerns one
of Karla's
greatest conspiracies,
and it is happening in England.
Do you know what is meant
by the word "mole"?
Yes.
Moles burrow very deep into the
fabric of Western imperialism.
They are very deaf
to Moscow Center
because it may take 15
or even 20 years
before they are used.
Well, my friend lvlov told me
he had worked in London.
His cover was as a driver
at the embassy.
- Do you have a name
to give me?
- Ivlov's work name in London
was Lapin.
[chuckling]
He didn't know
it meant "rabbit" in French.
It fit him,
because at the embassy
he was supposed to be just
a nobody,
serving drinks with women
at receptions.
But all the time,
he was the secret right-hand man
to colonel Gregor Viktorov,
and Viktorov is the agent
who briefs and debriefs the mob.
- His name, Irina.
- In London,
Viktorov's cover
is cultural attaché,
known as Polyakov.
[sighs]
I'm so frightened.
So tired.
You must take me home
with you.
We could be happy.
- Finish the story.
Who's the mole?
Where is he?
- I can only speak
to Alleline.
We are in danger.
You must get me to him,
face-to-face with the head
of the Circus.
Nothing else is safe.
- You trust me,
don't you?
- I want you.
- Alleline will take
some persuading.
- Tell him I have
information crucial
to the well-being
of the Circus.
Use those words.
[thunder rumbling]
[horn honks]
- Morning, Tufty.
Can I come and play
with your toys?
- I thought you'd finish
your hauls, Ricki.
What must they be thinking
back home?
- It'll be all right.
Got a postcard to send them.
They're gonna love me
for it.
[phone ringing]
- How much
are you gonna tell me?
- The message is graded "flash"
to London Station,
and by hand
of duty officer only.
- Drastic stuff, eh?
That's maximum security limit.
What did you get on Boris?
It's your show, my son.
[horn honks]
[foghorn sounding]
[telegraph machine clacking]
- Nothing for you, Ricki.
[paper rips]
Again.
[smacks wall]
[machine whirring]
[telegraph machine clacking]
- "Supply date of intake
into Moscow Center.
"Name her present
head of section.
"Also name previous sections
employing her.
Also...
Someone's stalling.
But if that's what they want...
[indistinct conversation]
[birds chirping]
- "Lawrence, listen.
"I'm talking to you.
"This is my gift for you
in case they take me away
"before I can speak
to Alleline.
"I would prefer to give you
my life, Lawrence,
"but I think it more likely
that this wretched secret
"will be all I have
to make you happy.
"Use it well.
"I started to tell you
about lvlov,
"who's known in London,
or used to be, as Lapin,
"and about Viktorov,
who's really Polyakov."
[flower stem snaps]
"The mole in London is known
by the code name of 'Gerald.'
"There are many
remarkable measures
"to preserve his security-
the most secret imaginable.
'Written reports from Gerald
to Karla in Moscow Center
"are cut in two
and sent by separate couriers,
"even after coding.
"And Gerald's output has
sometimes been almost too much
"for Polyakov to handle.
"Some of it is spoken
onto tape at secret meetings
"and can only be played back
on special machines.
"And there is
also undeveloped film,
"and anyone opening
the reels the wrong way
destroys it immediately."
[flower stem snaps]
"Lawrence, this is the secret
I'm giving you
"with all my love.
"The mole Gerald
is a high functionary
"in British intelligence,
"very close to the head
of the Circus.
"Lawrence, I fear
for the safety
of anyone employed
by the Circus."
[flowers rustling]
"Take care with this knowledge.
"I'm telling you this
because I'm afraid
"it's all finished for me.
"The guards have started
watching me like animals.
"Have you been indiscreet,
Lawrence?
"Did you tell them in London
more than you let me think?
"Now you understand why
only Alleline would do.
But do not blame yourself."
[woman singing
in foreign language]
II
'Will they let us live
in Scotland, Lawrence?
"I've read everything
about Scotland.
It's the Garden of Eden,
isn't it?"
[seagulls crying]
- Well, there's a bit
at the end-
- Read it.
- "In my heart,
I am free.
"Deep inside me burns
a new and blessed light.
"I used to think
that the secret world
"was a separate place
"and I was banished forever
to an island of half people.
"But God has shown me
we have only
"to open the door
and step outside to be free.
"Lawrence, you must always long
"for the light
which I have found.
"It is called love.
"Now I shall take this
to our secret place
while there is still time."
And that's it.
- I take it that's not
the original notebook.
- No, sir.
- Where is it?
- Well, I put it straight back
in the dead letter box
once I'd copied it.
- And then?
- I had this idea
I'd try the airport,
you know,
just on the off chance.
Well, put it this way, sir:
I had to know.
I got hold of a little
Italian air hostess,
and she liked
the look of me, see.
She told me an unscheduled
Soviet plane
had taken off two
or three hours before.
The center of attraction
was a woman invalid,
lady in a coma.
They had to cart her
to the plane on a stretcher,
and her face was wrapped
in bandages.
The rest of the party
was made up
of two male nurses and a doctor.
Now, I didn't let it go
at that, Mr. Smiley.
No, I checked the hotel.
No Irina.
No Boris.
[serene cello music playing]
II
- My musical daughters.
[birds cawing]
- Perhaps she really was ill.
Not much more
than 24 hours
between your first telegram
and lrina's departure.
You can hardly lay it at
London's door on that timing.
- Well, you can,
just,
if someone in London
had very good footwork,
and in Moscow, too,
of course.
- That's what I told myself,
sir.
I mean, what you said-
my very words, Mr. Smiley.
Well, I figured the Russians
could have tumbled to it
about her having it off
with me,
or she'd started blabbing
to Boris
just to pay him off for boozing
and whoring all the time.
But then I thought,
"No, come on, Ricki.
"That was gold
she was giving you.
Remember how she had
to sweat it out of herself."
I figured they'd give her
another going over on the plane,
and the big boys would pile in
first thing after touchdown.
I figured not more
than a day or two
before Moscow Center had a
footpad around to the cemetery.
- So you made yourself scarce.
- He panicked
and went native-
Istanbul, so he says-
playing the loving father
with a daughter called Danny.
- That's right.
Danny's my little kid.
- The mother seems
to be leader of the pack
as far as his numerous wives
are concerned just now.
- You've been away
for three months.
Why choose this particular
moment to come to us?
- Goon
- Did something frighten you?
- Someone looking for me.
- Who?
- I didn't stop to find out.
That's why I came.
- Now, Ricki,
passports.
Who are you at the moment?
- Poole, British.
Well, I reckon Lawrence
wasn't exactly the flavor
of the month in Moscow,
so I had that run up.
It's not bad for the money.
- When he went to Lisbon,
he had two Swiss escapes,
one for him
and one for Boris.
- What did you do with them?
How did you get rid of them?
- Burned them.
- And how did you get back
to England?
- Soft route via Dublin.
I've given Mr. Guillam
the details.
- I'm doing what I can
to check.
- Well, you be damn careful,
baby,
because I don't want
the wrong people on my back.
Took my gun away too.
Now, he shouldn't have done
that, should he, Mr. Smiley?
- Why did you go
to Mr. Guillam?
Didn't it cross your mind
he might turn you straight over
to Alleline?
- Mr. Guillam's my boss.
Besides, I don't figure
he's got any more liking
for the new arrangements
at the Circus than you have,
Mr. Smiley.
- We don't need that, Tarr.
He kept well out of sight.
As soon as he gave me a story,
I rang Sir Oliver
from a call box.
I rang him here,
not London.
Well, damn it,
there was no reason to suppose
the phone was tapped.
- There was every reason.
It's very unusual
for Moscow Center
to use a husband-and-wife team.
Hard to believe.
Unless of course they had
children in Moscow.
Hostages.
- They have.
- It's true.
Common-law marriage.
Unofficial,
but permanent.
- There's a lot
the other way around these days,
believe it or not,
Mr. Smiley.
- Fit, George?
Natter, garden?
- Super.
[knocking on door]
- Dawn.
- When you came to me
six months ago
talking about a mole
in the Circus,
I'm afraid I threw you out.
I was remiss.
- You instructed me
to abandon my inquiries
because they were
unconstitutional.
- Oh, was that
the word I used?
How very pompous of me.
You never had any,
did you?
- What?
- Children.
You and Ann.
- No.
- I have to admit,
I didn't absolutely trust
your motives.
I rather thought Control
had put you up to it, you see,
as a way of hanging on
to the power,
keeping Percy Alleline out.
- There are three of them
and Alleline.
Control's words.
The composition of the now
all-powerful London Station.
Bill Haydon, Roy Bland,
Toby Esterhase-
three of them
and Alleline.
- Yes, quite.
But at the time, George.
After all, we both held
perfectly honorable positions.
You felt Jim Prideaux
had been betrayed
in that shoot-up
in Czechoslovakia,
and you wanted a witch hunt.
My minister and I felt
there'd been gross incompetence
on the part of Control.
He wanted a new broom.
A view which the foreign office
shared, to put it mildly.
- Oh, I quite understand
your dilemma.
- Thank you.
It isn't every day the head
of one's secret service
embarks on a private war
against the Czechs.
And don't forget, George.
You were Control's man.
He preferred you to Haydon.
When he lost his grip
and launched that
extraordinary misadventure,
it was you who fronted for him.
You were in the hot seat.
You had to go.
Wasn't as if you offered
a suspect.
Remember the circumstances,
George.
All in all, I'd say
Percy Alleline
has done extremely well.
- With Bill Haydon to field
for him, who wouldn't?
- He's produced intelligence
instead of scandal,
and won the trust
of his customers.
- That special source
of Percy's-
it produced
the Witchcraft material.
Is that still running?
- Since you ask, yes.
Source Merlin is our mainstay.
And, yes, the name
of his product is Witchcraft.
The Circus hasn't produced such
good material in living memory.
In mine, anyway.
- Does it still get
the same special handling?
- Certainly.
And now precautions
will have to be more rigorous
than ever, won't they?
- No, Gerald the mole
would soon latch onto that.
- Of course he would.
We can't move, can we?
We can't investigate because
we can't employ the Circus.
We can't eavesdrop or watch
or open mail
because to do any of that,
we need the services
of Esterhase's lamplighters...
And Esterhase is suspect
like the others.
It's the oldest question
of all, George.
Who can spy on the spies?
- Get the security mob in.
They'll do a job for you.
- You know the minister
won't have that.
Rightly too.
A lot of ex-colonial bobbies
plowing
through the Circus files?
It's a serious point, George.
We do have agents in the field,
and I wouldn't give much
for their chances
once the security gentlemen
come barging in.
- How many do we have?
- 600,
give or take a few.
Plus 120 behind
the iron curtain.
So I can tell the minister
you'll do it, can I?
You'll take the job,
clean the stables.
Go backwards,
go forwards.
Do whatevefs necessary.
It's your generation,
after all.
Your legacy.
- I never heard of anyone yet
who had left the circus
without some
unfinished business.
- There's no emotional
or other reason
which you feel might debar you
from the assignment?
You must speak up, George.
- The state of my marriage
must be very common knowledge
if it's got as far
down the line as Ricki Tarr.
For the record, the thing
with Ann and Bill Haydon
is long over.
My wife's present infatuation
is with a young actor,
currently unemployed.
- There's always that part
of us
that belongs to the
public domain, isn't there?
You always knew that,
I'm sure.
So did Jim Prideaux.
- What does that mean?
- Well, good lord, George,
a bullet in the back is held
to be quite a sacrifice,
isn't it?
Even in your world.
- Two bullets, actually.
- They were at Oxford together,
weren't they,
Bill and Jim?
And stable mates at the Circus,
the famous Haydon-Prideaux
partnership.
"The iron fist
and the iron glove"
somebody once called it.
Prideaux was far too old for
that Czechoslovakian nonsense.
- It made no difference.
- Oh, quite.
- I shall need some help.
Remember Control's man,
Mendel?
- Yes, of course.
If he's the chap you want.
[tense string music]
II
- Oh, Norman.
The table's Georgian,
so you will love it for me,
won't you, Mr. Barraclough?
I shouldn't lend it to you,
really.
It was the majofs.
- I'm very grateful,
I'm sure.
- Everything all right,
Mr. Barraclough?
- Yes, fine,
thank you.
- We'll leave you in peace,
then.
- She'll want every scrap.
And you've known me long enough.
Times of entry and exit,
who comes, who goes,
and most of all,
more important than you
can possibly imagine, this:
any suspicious characters
taking an interest
or putting questions
to your staff
under any pretext,
even if they say they're
the Guards Armoured
and Sherlock Holmes
rolled into one.
- There's only me
and Norman, Inspector,
and they won't get far
with Norman, will they, dear?
You're too sensitive.
- Now, Ricki Tarfs cables
to the Circus
were detailed and specific.
He was required
by London Station
to submit copious background
on Irina-
names of former contacts,
acquaintances inside
Moscow Center.
without leave...
on the wanted list.
- I think I'm safe now.
I've got a story
to tell you.
It's all about spies.
And if it's true,
which I think it is,
you boys are gonna need
a whole new organization.
Right?
Shall I start with the day
you sent me to Lisbon?
Changed my life.
You might find it's gonna change
all your lives.
Hmm.
[intense instrumental music]
II
- Our resident buffoon,
old galloping major
called Tufty Thesinger,
wanted a helping hand.
My boss says you've got
your eyes
on a likely piece
of merchandise for us.
Well, what's his style then,
this Boris?
- He's a real Flash Harry.
Exactly.
Not your common in-the-garden
Russian granite face at all.
During the day,
he fulfills his norm
like the rest of his mob.
There's a whole mixed bag
of technical advisors here.
Boris is with silver engineers.
Come nightfall, he makes
his own arrangements.
[horn honks]
Crashes the bars, the clubs,
as if there's never
gonna be another tomorrow.
The man hasn't slept
for a week,
and my boys are folding
at the knees.
A young Muscovite
with official connections
and that kind of appetite
for the fleshpots?
Seems ripe for the picking.
[foghorn sounds]
Always use another defector,
can't we?
- Absolutely.
Got to keep in stock.
Nothing else on him
apart from the booze?
- If I'd got something
to blackmail him on,
I would have hardly needed
London to come and fix it,
would I?
- Temper, temper, Tufty.
[indistinct conversation]
[light Portuguese music playing]
- How are you?
You're looking very lovely.
You think we Russians
disapprove of comfort?
You're wrong.
That's the Chinese.
Old miserable boil of soups
and the smallest comfort
for the biggest number.
Not for me.
Boris looks after number one
like any real person
the wide world over.
You know it's nice talking
to you like this.
Some people when I see
from Moscow,
I see this look
in their faces.
It's so funny.
I know what they are thinking.
"Russia, oh, my God-
He's going to indoctrinate us,
"to put our names
in his little black book,
"and then the awful men
with the black hats
"and the black overcoats
" will come tap-tap-tapping
at the door.
"And he'll say, "Boris
is your good friend Russia.
You're going to tell us all
about his secret sex life..."
[conversation grows indistinct]
Let me get you all
another drink.
Oh, yes, yes, yes,
please, be my guest.
Waiter.
[all shushing]
[woman singing in Portuguese]
II
[horn honks]
- And I am telling you
we're definitely in the wrong
ballgame with this, chummy.
That's a professional,
a Moscow Center trained hood.
The way he sets himself-
that alone.
- Well...
if you're right...
Okay.
You know.
Still, he'd be quite
a catch, wouldn't he?
- We scalp hunters
are expressly forbidden
to trawl for double agents.
New orders from above.
At the first smell
of the opposition,
abandon and drop hot potato
into ample lap
of London Station.
No, I'm cabling
Guillam "no sale"
and booking myself
a flight home.
- Okey-dokey, Ricki.
And since the job is finished,
let us seal it,
so to speak.
- Nags me a bit, though,
this Boris.
Makes his rounds every night,
does he?
- Never missed yet.
I told you,
my boys.
- Well, before I go,
I might just take a peep
inside Boris' kennel,
see what's under the mattress.
Can't be any harm
in that, can there?
- Orders is orders.
- I like keeping my hand in.
It's been quiet lately.
You can get rusty.
- Well, enjoy yourself,
my son.
But don't break any eggs,
Ricki, please.
I have to live here.
Remember?
[tense instrumental music]
II
- Blessed are
the poor in spirit,
for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit
the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain...
Boris?
- Good question, lady.
Where is Boris?
This is his room, right?
And believe me, lady,
I wish you no harm.
I'm sorry if I frightened you.
You caught me by surprise,
I can tell you.
I wasn't expecting a lady,
just Boris.
- I'm his wife.
What are you doing here?
- Now, look, I don't want
to upset you.
- Does my husband know you?
- No point is pussyfooting,
lady.
Well, it's this way.
Your Boris walked off
with my girl tonight,
and that's one
diabolical liberty.
And to add insult to injury,
he'd been drinking all my white.
So I thought I'd come up here
and have a word with Boris.
Sorry, but that's the way it is.
Thanks for not screaming
the place down.
- You should be careful
what you say about my husband.
He's an important man.
He has influential friends.
- You frightening me off,
Mrs. Boris?
I've got quite a name
for looking after myself.
I'm your original Australian
self-made success story.
Rags to riches
and punching all the way.
Bureaucrats don't scare me, not
even the bloody Russian kind.
- Don't call me Mrs. Boris.
My name's Irina.
- I'm Tony Lawrence.
" Are you?
- Yeah, Tony Lawrence.
You just mention that name
in Adelaide.
I'm in car sales, property,
frozen foods.
You know, if I was Boris,
I wouldn't be out at night
chasing other blokes' women.
I wouldn't feel the need.
- Boris is Boris.
And Lawrence...
someone else.
I don't know anything
about Australia.
Perhaps somewhere tomorrow?
The evening?
[bus roaring]
[dog barking]
[baby crying]
- Are you sure you don't
want something stronger?
You look as if it might help.
Oh, don't misunderstand me,
Irina.
You look great.
Really lovely.
I just meant it might relax you.
[chuckles]
You know, you seem more scared
now than you were last night.
That can't be me.
- I'm not supposed
to do this,
meet people.
Talk without official approval.
I'm not free to do that.
- Where's the harm?
Just two strangers
in a foreign land
getting to like each other.
It's normal behavior.
- I do special work.
I travel as a trade delegate
in my own right.
Textiles.
I'm highly trained,
experienced.
Tired of it.
Hate it.
I want to escape from it.
- Textiles?
- It's like a prison.
I need someone to help me.
Can be quite brave, Lawrence.
- Tor“!-
- I shall call you Lawrence.
Colonel Lawrence.
Like Lawrence of Arabia.
- He was English.
- I know.
[horn honking repeatedly]
There's an English expression:
it takes one to spot one.
You wouldn't have fooled me
for long,
even without putting
those wedges in the door.
It's the way we look
for things, isn't it?
We don't stare.
We don't seem to be looking.
We are not like tourists...
Or prostitutes.
Or pick-pocket.
We just know how to see.
Boris isn't as good
as he ought to be.
He enjoys showing off too much,
so he misses things.
He missed you, didn't he?
But you didn't miss him,
did you, colonel?
Are you very good?
- The best.
God gave me all the talents.
Try me.
[emotive string music]
II
- I like being in the presence
of Christianity.
I understand why
some women become nuns.
[birds chirping]
Give themselves.
Their whole lives given
willingly.
There's freedom in that.
I've met Christians
I've envied very deeply.
Envy's a sin I know well,
but I confess it here
in this holy place.
Their Christians
were being interrogated.
The worst time to see people.
And the best sometimes.
I'm studying the bible.
Secretly, of course.
That isn't freedom.
"Come unto me,
all you who are heavy laden."
Is that it?
Do you know how it goes on?
- There's a village below here,
right by the sea,
very quiet.
We could take a room.
Would you like that?
How long have you worked
with Boris?
- They made us a team
a long time ago.
He's a specialist in picking up
foreign businessmen
for Moscow Center.
I look after communications
for him,
special calls.
Couldn't we be a team?
You could take me
to England.
That's what I want,
Lawrence.
You could.
I know something.
Something so important,
it's one of the
biggest secrets ever.
It will make you so famous.
But it's so secret.
- Tell me.
Tell me, Irina.
- I'm frightened.
- I can look after you.
You'll be safe.
- I can only speak
to your chief.
I mean Alleline,
nobody else.
It's too dangerous.
I can only speak to Alleline.
- Tell me.
- Only the head of the Circus.
I have to go back now.
They'll be looking for me.
It's too much to tell now.
Maybe tomorrow,
I can.
Cemetery.
Come on, Lawrence.
- We can talk in the car.
- Tomorrow.
There's too much.
I have to be calm,
or tonight, they'll notice.
I drink too much sometimes.
They are used to that.
Some of the priests
are drunkards.
They told me that at school.
[tense instrumental music]
II
When I was still in Moscow,
before I started traveling
with Boris,
I had a relationship with a
filing clerk at the Center
in Dzerzhinsky Square.
We went against regulations.
We used to meet outside.
He was very sweet.
Your looks remind me of him.
His name was lvlov,
and he told me a story.
He was frightened to,
but sometimes
if you know something
that's so big,
so secret,
you have to tell it to someone.
It has to be someone you love.
Like I'm telling you now.
- It's all right, darling.
It's all right.
- Have you heard of Karla?
He's an old fox,
the most cunning of them all
at the Center,
and he works so secretly
that some people don't even
know he exists.
The story lvlov told me
concerns one
of Karla's
greatest conspiracies,
and it is happening in England.
Do you know what is meant
by the word "mole"?
Yes.
Moles burrow very deep into the
fabric of Western imperialism.
They are very deaf
to Moscow Center
because it may take 15
or even 20 years
before they are used.
Well, my friend lvlov told me
he had worked in London.
His cover was as a driver
at the embassy.
- Do you have a name
to give me?
- Ivlov's work name in London
was Lapin.
[chuckling]
He didn't know
it meant "rabbit" in French.
It fit him,
because at the embassy
he was supposed to be just
a nobody,
serving drinks with women
at receptions.
But all the time,
he was the secret right-hand man
to colonel Gregor Viktorov,
and Viktorov is the agent
who briefs and debriefs the mob.
- His name, Irina.
- In London,
Viktorov's cover
is cultural attaché,
known as Polyakov.
[sighs]
I'm so frightened.
So tired.
You must take me home
with you.
We could be happy.
- Finish the story.
Who's the mole?
Where is he?
- I can only speak
to Alleline.
We are in danger.
You must get me to him,
face-to-face with the head
of the Circus.
Nothing else is safe.
- You trust me,
don't you?
- I want you.
- Alleline will take
some persuading.
- Tell him I have
information crucial
to the well-being
of the Circus.
Use those words.
[thunder rumbling]
[horn honks]
- Morning, Tufty.
Can I come and play
with your toys?
- I thought you'd finish
your hauls, Ricki.
What must they be thinking
back home?
- It'll be all right.
Got a postcard to send them.
They're gonna love me
for it.
[phone ringing]
- How much
are you gonna tell me?
- The message is graded "flash"
to London Station,
and by hand
of duty officer only.
- Drastic stuff, eh?
That's maximum security limit.
What did you get on Boris?
It's your show, my son.
[horn honks]
[foghorn sounding]
[telegraph machine clacking]
- Nothing for you, Ricki.
[paper rips]
Again.
[smacks wall]
[machine whirring]
[telegraph machine clacking]
- "Supply date of intake
into Moscow Center.
"Name her present
head of section.
"Also name previous sections
employing her.
Also...
Someone's stalling.
But if that's what they want...
[indistinct conversation]
[birds chirping]
- "Lawrence, listen.
"I'm talking to you.
"This is my gift for you
in case they take me away
"before I can speak
to Alleline.
"I would prefer to give you
my life, Lawrence,
"but I think it more likely
that this wretched secret
"will be all I have
to make you happy.
"Use it well.
"I started to tell you
about lvlov,
"who's known in London,
or used to be, as Lapin,
"and about Viktorov,
who's really Polyakov."
[flower stem snaps]
"The mole in London is known
by the code name of 'Gerald.'
"There are many
remarkable measures
"to preserve his security-
the most secret imaginable.
'Written reports from Gerald
to Karla in Moscow Center
"are cut in two
and sent by separate couriers,
"even after coding.
"And Gerald's output has
sometimes been almost too much
"for Polyakov to handle.
"Some of it is spoken
onto tape at secret meetings
"and can only be played back
on special machines.
"And there is
also undeveloped film,
"and anyone opening
the reels the wrong way
destroys it immediately."
[flower stem snaps]
"Lawrence, this is the secret
I'm giving you
"with all my love.
"The mole Gerald
is a high functionary
"in British intelligence,
"very close to the head
of the Circus.
"Lawrence, I fear
for the safety
of anyone employed
by the Circus."
[flowers rustling]
"Take care with this knowledge.
"I'm telling you this
because I'm afraid
"it's all finished for me.
"The guards have started
watching me like animals.
"Have you been indiscreet,
Lawrence?
"Did you tell them in London
more than you let me think?
"Now you understand why
only Alleline would do.
But do not blame yourself."
[woman singing
in foreign language]
II
'Will they let us live
in Scotland, Lawrence?
"I've read everything
about Scotland.
It's the Garden of Eden,
isn't it?"
[seagulls crying]
- Well, there's a bit
at the end-
- Read it.
- "In my heart,
I am free.
"Deep inside me burns
a new and blessed light.
"I used to think
that the secret world
"was a separate place
"and I was banished forever
to an island of half people.
"But God has shown me
we have only
"to open the door
and step outside to be free.
"Lawrence, you must always long
"for the light
which I have found.
"It is called love.
"Now I shall take this
to our secret place
while there is still time."
And that's it.
- I take it that's not
the original notebook.
- No, sir.
- Where is it?
- Well, I put it straight back
in the dead letter box
once I'd copied it.
- And then?
- I had this idea
I'd try the airport,
you know,
just on the off chance.
Well, put it this way, sir:
I had to know.
I got hold of a little
Italian air hostess,
and she liked
the look of me, see.
She told me an unscheduled
Soviet plane
had taken off two
or three hours before.
The center of attraction
was a woman invalid,
lady in a coma.
They had to cart her
to the plane on a stretcher,
and her face was wrapped
in bandages.
The rest of the party
was made up
of two male nurses and a doctor.
Now, I didn't let it go
at that, Mr. Smiley.
No, I checked the hotel.
No Irina.
No Boris.
[serene cello music playing]
II
- My musical daughters.
[birds cawing]
- Perhaps she really was ill.
Not much more
than 24 hours
between your first telegram
and lrina's departure.
You can hardly lay it at
London's door on that timing.
- Well, you can,
just,
if someone in London
had very good footwork,
and in Moscow, too,
of course.
- That's what I told myself,
sir.
I mean, what you said-
my very words, Mr. Smiley.
Well, I figured the Russians
could have tumbled to it
about her having it off
with me,
or she'd started blabbing
to Boris
just to pay him off for boozing
and whoring all the time.
But then I thought,
"No, come on, Ricki.
"That was gold
she was giving you.
Remember how she had
to sweat it out of herself."
I figured they'd give her
another going over on the plane,
and the big boys would pile in
first thing after touchdown.
I figured not more
than a day or two
before Moscow Center had a
footpad around to the cemetery.
- So you made yourself scarce.
- He panicked
and went native-
Istanbul, so he says-
playing the loving father
with a daughter called Danny.
- That's right.
Danny's my little kid.
- The mother seems
to be leader of the pack
as far as his numerous wives
are concerned just now.
- You've been away
for three months.
Why choose this particular
moment to come to us?
- Goon
- Did something frighten you?
- Someone looking for me.
- Who?
- I didn't stop to find out.
That's why I came.
- Now, Ricki,
passports.
Who are you at the moment?
- Poole, British.
Well, I reckon Lawrence
wasn't exactly the flavor
of the month in Moscow,
so I had that run up.
It's not bad for the money.
- When he went to Lisbon,
he had two Swiss escapes,
one for him
and one for Boris.
- What did you do with them?
How did you get rid of them?
- Burned them.
- And how did you get back
to England?
- Soft route via Dublin.
I've given Mr. Guillam
the details.
- I'm doing what I can
to check.
- Well, you be damn careful,
baby,
because I don't want
the wrong people on my back.
Took my gun away too.
Now, he shouldn't have done
that, should he, Mr. Smiley?
- Why did you go
to Mr. Guillam?
Didn't it cross your mind
he might turn you straight over
to Alleline?
- Mr. Guillam's my boss.
Besides, I don't figure
he's got any more liking
for the new arrangements
at the Circus than you have,
Mr. Smiley.
- We don't need that, Tarr.
He kept well out of sight.
As soon as he gave me a story,
I rang Sir Oliver
from a call box.
I rang him here,
not London.
Well, damn it,
there was no reason to suppose
the phone was tapped.
- There was every reason.
It's very unusual
for Moscow Center
to use a husband-and-wife team.
Hard to believe.
Unless of course they had
children in Moscow.
Hostages.
- They have.
- It's true.
Common-law marriage.
Unofficial,
but permanent.
- There's a lot
the other way around these days,
believe it or not,
Mr. Smiley.
- Fit, George?
Natter, garden?
- Super.
[knocking on door]
- Dawn.
- When you came to me
six months ago
talking about a mole
in the Circus,
I'm afraid I threw you out.
I was remiss.
- You instructed me
to abandon my inquiries
because they were
unconstitutional.
- Oh, was that
the word I used?
How very pompous of me.
You never had any,
did you?
- What?
- Children.
You and Ann.
- No.
- I have to admit,
I didn't absolutely trust
your motives.
I rather thought Control
had put you up to it, you see,
as a way of hanging on
to the power,
keeping Percy Alleline out.
- There are three of them
and Alleline.
Control's words.
The composition of the now
all-powerful London Station.
Bill Haydon, Roy Bland,
Toby Esterhase-
three of them
and Alleline.
- Yes, quite.
But at the time, George.
After all, we both held
perfectly honorable positions.
You felt Jim Prideaux
had been betrayed
in that shoot-up
in Czechoslovakia,
and you wanted a witch hunt.
My minister and I felt
there'd been gross incompetence
on the part of Control.
He wanted a new broom.
A view which the foreign office
shared, to put it mildly.
- Oh, I quite understand
your dilemma.
- Thank you.
It isn't every day the head
of one's secret service
embarks on a private war
against the Czechs.
And don't forget, George.
You were Control's man.
He preferred you to Haydon.
When he lost his grip
and launched that
extraordinary misadventure,
it was you who fronted for him.
You were in the hot seat.
You had to go.
Wasn't as if you offered
a suspect.
Remember the circumstances,
George.
All in all, I'd say
Percy Alleline
has done extremely well.
- With Bill Haydon to field
for him, who wouldn't?
- He's produced intelligence
instead of scandal,
and won the trust
of his customers.
- That special source
of Percy's-
it produced
the Witchcraft material.
Is that still running?
- Since you ask, yes.
Source Merlin is our mainstay.
And, yes, the name
of his product is Witchcraft.
The Circus hasn't produced such
good material in living memory.
In mine, anyway.
- Does it still get
the same special handling?
- Certainly.
And now precautions
will have to be more rigorous
than ever, won't they?
- No, Gerald the mole
would soon latch onto that.
- Of course he would.
We can't move, can we?
We can't investigate because
we can't employ the Circus.
We can't eavesdrop or watch
or open mail
because to do any of that,
we need the services
of Esterhase's lamplighters...
And Esterhase is suspect
like the others.
It's the oldest question
of all, George.
Who can spy on the spies?
- Get the security mob in.
They'll do a job for you.
- You know the minister
won't have that.
Rightly too.
A lot of ex-colonial bobbies
plowing
through the Circus files?
It's a serious point, George.
We do have agents in the field,
and I wouldn't give much
for their chances
once the security gentlemen
come barging in.
- How many do we have?
- 600,
give or take a few.
Plus 120 behind
the iron curtain.
So I can tell the minister
you'll do it, can I?
You'll take the job,
clean the stables.
Go backwards,
go forwards.
Do whatevefs necessary.
It's your generation,
after all.
Your legacy.
- I never heard of anyone yet
who had left the circus
without some
unfinished business.
- There's no emotional
or other reason
which you feel might debar you
from the assignment?
You must speak up, George.
- The state of my marriage
must be very common knowledge
if it's got as far
down the line as Ricki Tarr.
For the record, the thing
with Ann and Bill Haydon
is long over.
My wife's present infatuation
is with a young actor,
currently unemployed.
- There's always that part
of us
that belongs to the
public domain, isn't there?
You always knew that,
I'm sure.
So did Jim Prideaux.
- What does that mean?
- Well, good lord, George,
a bullet in the back is held
to be quite a sacrifice,
isn't it?
Even in your world.
- Two bullets, actually.
- They were at Oxford together,
weren't they,
Bill and Jim?
And stable mates at the Circus,
the famous Haydon-Prideaux
partnership.
"The iron fist
and the iron glove"
somebody once called it.
Prideaux was far too old for
that Czechoslovakian nonsense.
- It made no difference.
- Oh, quite.
- I shall need some help.
Remember Control's man,
Mendel?
- Yes, of course.
If he's the chap you want.
[tense string music]
II
- Oh, Norman.
The table's Georgian,
so you will love it for me,
won't you, Mr. Barraclough?
I shouldn't lend it to you,
really.
It was the majofs.
- I'm very grateful,
I'm sure.
- Everything all right,
Mr. Barraclough?
- Yes, fine,
thank you.
- We'll leave you in peace,
then.
- She'll want every scrap.
And you've known me long enough.
Times of entry and exit,
who comes, who goes,
and most of all,
more important than you
can possibly imagine, this:
any suspicious characters
taking an interest
or putting questions
to your staff
under any pretext,
even if they say they're
the Guards Armoured
and Sherlock Holmes
rolled into one.
- There's only me
and Norman, Inspector,
and they won't get far
with Norman, will they, dear?
You're too sensitive.
- Now, Ricki Tarfs cables
to the Circus
were detailed and specific.
He was required
by London Station
to submit copious background
on Irina-
names of former contacts,
acquaintances inside
Moscow Center.