A NEW adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was always going to raise the hackles of John le Carré purists, who adored John Irvin’s 1979 mini- series starring Sir Alec Guinness.

Tomas Alfredson’s film could never compete on an equal footing with its Bafta award-winning predecessor.

You can’t achieve the same depth of character and plot development in two hours as you can in seven episodes of television.

While scriptwriters Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan have truncated le Carré’s novel, they retain the air of suspense that has us holding our breaths until the stunning final frame.

Control (John Hurt), the chief of a 1970s British Secret Intelligence Service unit known as the Circus, learns that Russian counterpart Karla has placed a mole within the ranks.

To unmask the traitor, Control despatches Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) to Hungary but his cover is blown.

So, Control turns to trusted protegé Smiley (Gary Oldman), and shares intelligence about a possible double agent somewhere within the Service.

Soon after, Control takes his own life, leaving Smiley to uncover the intrigues of the other Circus members: Percy Alleline (Toby Jones), Roy Bland (Hinds), Toby Esterhase (Dencik) and Bill Haydon (Firth).