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I can't spend all week in the pubs of Leigh On Sea With 'er indoors away in Alicante for the week. No jobs to do about the House so one has decided to put ones Adidas Munchen up on the Louis XI pouf and purchase the TV Series 1979, Box set of 'Tinker Tailor soldier Spy' on Amazon.
Blitzkreig acting from Alec Guiness, Bernard Hepton and Ian Richardson. I'm 5 episodes in. 3 to go.
I Can't booze it up like i used to.
I once had the capacity of Kit Lambert, but these days after 7 or 8 pints and a couple of chasers, i'm more out of it than Syd Barrett at the whiskey a go go and will probably end up in a pentangle of salt satanic cult in Hati by the end of the week, so i need some box set/ film recommendations to keep me out of the boozer and on the straight and narrow till Friday Night when Jo gets Home.
Ive lined up the' Shadow Line' for tomorrow but after that i'm fked.
[Post edited 10 Oct 2022 22:45]
The Duke Of New York. A-Number One.
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 22:51 - Oct 10 with 6118 views
Blew me away when I watched it as a teenager, I couldn't get over how it played like a WW2 thriller (especially the bits behind the Iron Curtain) but also looked exactly like the London I lived in. Still stands up as amongst the best drama series made by British TV IMO.
Guinness is brilliant but everyone in it is superb, including the cameo by Patrick Stewart as Karla where he dominates the scene without speaking a word. I've a special fondness for Ian Bannon as Jim Prideaux.
Production values stand up much better than most series of that period, partly because when they needed dingy government offices for MI6 HQ the just used bits of the BBC. You can almost smell the boiled cabbage.
The book is if anything even better, so many layers of betrayal going on, with a critique of British post-war decline that's all the more powerful for being implicit in everything and hardly ever voiced aloud.
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 23:41 - Oct 10 with 6046 views
For other box sets, I suppose the obvious one is Smiley's People. Though for more 70s Britain I reckon Fawlty Towers and Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads are in different ways both as sharp as Tinker Tailor.
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 23:50 - Oct 10 with 6023 views
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 23:37 - Oct 10 by CiderwithRsie
Blew me away when I watched it as a teenager, I couldn't get over how it played like a WW2 thriller (especially the bits behind the Iron Curtain) but also looked exactly like the London I lived in. Still stands up as amongst the best drama series made by British TV IMO.
Guinness is brilliant but everyone in it is superb, including the cameo by Patrick Stewart as Karla where he dominates the scene without speaking a word. I've a special fondness for Ian Bannon as Jim Prideaux.
Production values stand up much better than most series of that period, partly because when they needed dingy government offices for MI6 HQ the just used bits of the BBC. You can almost smell the boiled cabbage.
The book is if anything even better, so many layers of betrayal going on, with a critique of British post-war decline that's all the more powerful for being implicit in everything and hardly ever voiced aloud.
Great post mate. wish i could upvote it twice!.
The Tv series really captures that late 70's grey raincoat decay of the time.
Ian Bannen as Jim Prideaux was superb also.
[Post edited 10 Oct 2022 23:51]
The Duke Of New York. A-Number One.
1
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 23:54 - Oct 10 with 6014 views
Record Box Set. Get your 1210s set up, get your record box and dig out all your favourite tunes.. and do some mixes mate. Get them on mixcloud or soundcloud and stick them up on the frankie Fred. Might keep you out the boozer for a bit.
[Post edited 11 Oct 2022 0:02]
Occasional providers of half decent House music.
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 02:12 - Oct 11 with 5900 views
Back in the day I had a purveyor of moody DVDs in the Russian Market in Phnom Penh. I visit one weekend and upon her advice, I exited with 'The Sopranos' box set.
It was a few weeks before I got round to watching it and once I did, I was unavailable to all and sundry until I got through it. Fantastic stuff.
'Always In Motion' by John Honney available on amazon.co.uk
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 23:50 - Oct 10 by Discodroids
Great post mate. wish i could upvote it twice!.
The Tv series really captures that late 70's grey raincoat decay of the time.
Ian Bannen as Jim Prideaux was superb also.
[Post edited 10 Oct 2022 23:51]
Bannen was indeed superb, as were all the cast, but the one that sticks in my mind even more is Bernard Hepton’s performance as Toby Esterhase, playing the Hungarian spiv to perfection. Must watch it again myself. And another recommendation for “Smiley’s People” as a follow up. I think that Le Carre was at the peak of his ability then and the way he fashions the trap leaves you bemused at first and then dazzled as you finally realise what’s going on.
0
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 09:31 - Oct 11 with 5569 views
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 09:19 - Oct 11 by johnhoop
Bannen was indeed superb, as were all the cast, but the one that sticks in my mind even more is Bernard Hepton’s performance as Toby Esterhase, playing the Hungarian spiv to perfection. Must watch it again myself. And another recommendation for “Smiley’s People” as a follow up. I think that Le Carre was at the peak of his ability then and the way he fashions the trap leaves you bemused at first and then dazzled as you finally realise what’s going on.
The movie with Gary Oldman playing Smiley was also very good.It was a condensed version of the book/tv series but well worth a look if you've not seen it.
0
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 09:43 - Oct 11 with 5546 views
A programme I would love to see on iPlayer is 'Colditz' from the early 70s. I might be wrong but it's probably decades since it was last on television. I'm surprised that BBC Four haven't repeated it before now.
Rewatched Tinker, tailor at the start of the year.
All the suits look terribly dated but the acting is superb and it conveys a world of intrigue, decline, disappointment and backbiting to a tee.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 09:54 - Oct 11 with 5511 views
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 09:43 - Oct 11 by CamberleyR
A programme I would love to see on iPlayer is 'Colditz' from the early 70s. I might be wrong but it's probably decades since it was last on television. I'm surprised that BBC Four haven't repeated it before now.
In a similar vein I think Secret Army,about the Belgian resistance would be well worth seeing again. I know that “Allo, Allo” took the p-ss out of it relentlessly but I think it was an excellent series in its own right.
2
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 10:16 - Oct 11 with 5450 views
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 23:37 - Oct 10 by CiderwithRsie
Blew me away when I watched it as a teenager, I couldn't get over how it played like a WW2 thriller (especially the bits behind the Iron Curtain) but also looked exactly like the London I lived in. Still stands up as amongst the best drama series made by British TV IMO.
Guinness is brilliant but everyone in it is superb, including the cameo by Patrick Stewart as Karla where he dominates the scene without speaking a word. I've a special fondness for Ian Bannon as Jim Prideaux.
Production values stand up much better than most series of that period, partly because when they needed dingy government offices for MI6 HQ the just used bits of the BBC. You can almost smell the boiled cabbage.
The book is if anything even better, so many layers of betrayal going on, with a critique of British post-war decline that's all the more powerful for being implicit in everything and hardly ever voiced aloud.
Speaking of the London I lived in, I've finally got round to watching Minder from the beginning, you can get them all on YouTube.
Needless to say, plenty of West London locations to spot (I think back then Euston Films filmed all their programmes in the same square mile, nearly!)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 10:16 - Oct 11 by TheChef
Speaking of the London I lived in, I've finally got round to watching Minder from the beginning, you can get them all on YouTube.
Needless to say, plenty of West London locations to spot (I think back then Euston Films filmed all their programmes in the same square mile, nearly!)
I've been watching them from the beginning recently as well although mainly as a series link from the repeats on ITV4. Annoyingly though ITV4 are missing certain episodes out, not sure why, so filling in the gaps with the eps on YT.
It struck me with the first couple of series that it was a bit more gritty than I remembered with the emphasis more on the drama than the comedy. I think Series 3 was peak Minder IMHO personally.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Staying out of the Boozer. Box Sets. on 09:54 - Oct 11 by johnhoop
In a similar vein I think Secret Army,about the Belgian resistance would be well worth seeing again. I know that “Allo, Allo” took the p-ss out of it relentlessly but I think it was an excellent series in its own right.
I watched a fair chunk of this on Talking Pictures earlier this year. I only came across it part way through, which was a shame, but I was hooked!
Sunday at 9.00pm was the slot & The Onedin Line currently fills that gap. It may be that Secret Army is still being shown, but at another time/day.
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