Our resident buffoon...old galloping major called Tufty Thessinger...
wanted a helping hand.
My boss says you've got your eyes on a likely piece of merchandise for us.
- What's his style, then, this Boris? - He's a real Flash Harry.
Not your common-or-garden Russian granite-face.
During the day, he fulfills his norm like the rest.
There's a mixed bag of technical advisers. Boris is with civil engineers.
At night, he makes his own arrangements.
Bashes the bars and clubs as if there's no tomorrow.
The man hasn't slept for a week. My boys are folding at the knees.
A Muscovite with official connections and an appetite for the fleshpots
seems ripe for the picking.
- 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 hardly have needed London to come and fix it.
Temper, temper, Tufty!
You think we Russians disapprove of comfort. No, that's the Chinese.
All miserable boiler suits and the smallest comfort for the biggest number. Not for me.
Boris looks after number one like any real person the world over.
It's nice talking to you.
Some people, when I say I'm from Moscow, I see this look in their faces.
I know what they are thinking... "He's going to indoctrinate us,"
"put our names in his little black book and then awful men in black"
"will tap at our door at night and they'll say,Boris says you are good friend of Russia"
"and you'll tell us all about the secret sex life of your MP and the mayor."
Let me get you all another drink. Yes, indeed, be my guest. Waiter!
And I am telling YOU
we're definitely in the wrong ball game with this, chummy.
That's a professional, a Moscow Center-trained hood.
The way he sets himself. That alone!
Well...if you're right.
OK, you know.
He'd be quite a catch.
We scalphunters are forbidden to trawl for double agents.
New orders from above.
At the first smell of the opposition, drop hot potato into ample lap of London Station.
No, I'm cabling Guillam "no sale" and booking 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's 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?
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall receive comfort.
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?
I wish you no harm. Sorry if I frightened you.
You caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting a lady, just Boris.
- I'm his wife. - I don't wanna upset you...
- Does my husband know you? - No point in pussyfooting, lady.
Your Boris walked off with my girl. That's a liberty.
To add insult to injury, he was drinking on my wallet.
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 Russian kind!
Don't call me Mrs Boris. My name's Irina.
- I'm Tony Lawrence. - Are you?
Yeah. You just mention that name in Adelaide.
I'm in car sales, property, frozen foods.
If I was Boris, I wouldn't be out chasing other blokes' women.
- I wouldn't feel the need. - Boris is Boris.
And Lawrence...
is someone else.
I don't know anything about Australia.
Perhaps somewhere tomorrow? The evening?
Are you sure you don't want something stronger? You look as if it might help.
Don't misunderstand me, Irina. You look great. Really lovely.
I just meant it might...relax you.
You seem more scared now than you were last night.
It can't be me.
I'm not supposed to do this... meet people, talk without official approval.
- I can't 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. I hate it.
I want to escape from it.
- Textiles? - It's like a prison.
I need someone to help me. I can be quite brave, Lawrence.
- Tony! - I shall call you Lawrence.
Colonel Lawrence.
Like Lawrence of Arabia.
He was English.
I know.
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 pickpockets.
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.
I like being in the presence of Christianity.
I understand why some women become nuns.
Give themselves.
Their whole lives given...willingly.
There's freedom in that.
I've met Christians I've envied very deeply.
Envy is a sin, I know that,
but I confess it here in this holy place.
There, 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. The special codes.
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 would 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. Alleline. Nobody else.
It's too dangerous. I can only speak to Alleline.
- Tell me. - Only the Head of the Circus.
I've got to go back now.
They'll be looking for me.
There's too much to tell now.
Maybe tomorrow...if I can.
The 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.
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 Ivlov... and he told me a story.
He was frightened to...
but sometimes, if you know something 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 alright, darling. It's alright.
Have you heard of Karla? He's an old fox, the most cunning of them all at the Center.
He works so secretly that some people don't even know he exists.
This story Ivlov 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 dear to Moscow
because it may taken 15 or 20 years before they are used.
Well, my friend Ivlov 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". He didn't know it meant rabbit in French.
It fitted because he was 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 mole.
His name, Irina.
known as Polyakov.
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.
Morning, Tufty.
Can I come and play with your toys?
I thought you'd finished your hols, Ricki. What must they be thinking back home?
They'll be alright. I've got a postcard to send them.
They're going to love me for it.
Thank you.
How much are you going to tell me?
The message is graded "flash" to London Station...
and "By hand of duty officer only".
Uh..hm. Drastic stuff, eh?
That's maximum security limit.
What did you get on Boris?
It's your show, my son.
Nothing for you, Ricki...
again.
"Supply date of intake into Moscow Center."
"Name her present Head of Section. Name previous sections employing her."
"Also..." Someone's stalling.
But if that's what they want.
"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 secret will be all I have to make you happy."
"Use it well."
"I started to tell you about Ivlov,"
"who's known in London, or used to be, as 'Lapin',"
"and about Viktorov, who's really Polyakov."
"The mole in London is known by the codename of Gerald."
"There are many remarkable measures to preserve his security...most secret."
"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."
"There is also undeveloped film."
"Anyone opening the reels wrongly destroys it immediately."
"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."
"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."
"Were you indiscreet? 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."
"Will they let us live in Scotland, Lawrence?"
"I've read everything about Scotland."
"It's the Garden of Eden, isn't it?"
Read it!
"In my heart, I am free. Inside me burns a new and blessed light."
"I used to think that the secret world was a separate place and I was banished..."
"but God has shown me we have only to open the door and step outside to be free."
"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."
"Why could you remember so few prayers? Your father must have been a great man."
And that's it.
- See? She was crazy. - That's not the original notebook?
- No, sir. - Where is it?
- I put it back in the dead letter box. - And then?
I tried the airport, just on the off chance.
Put it this way, sir, I had to know!
I got hold of a little Italian air hostess. She liked me.
She said an unscheduled Soviet plane took off a few hours before.
Center of attraction was an invalid ...lady in a coma.
They carted her on a stretcher. Her face was bandaged.
The rest of the party included two male nurses and a doctor.
I didn't let it go at that. I checked the hotel.
No Irina, no Boris.
My musical daughters.
Perhaps she really was ill.
Not much more than 24 hours between your first telegram and Irina's departure.
- You can hardly lay it at London's door. - You can...just.
If someone in London had good footwork and in Moscow, too.
That's what I told myself... what you said. My very words, Mr Smiley.
The Russians could've tumbled to her having it off with me
or she'd started blabbing to Boris to pay him off for boozing and whoring,
but then I thought, "Come on, Ricki, that was gold she was giving you!"
"She had to sweat it out of herself!"
I figured they'd give her another going over on the plane, then the big boys would take over.
Not more than a day or two before they went to the cemetery.
- So you made yourself scarce. - He panicked and went native. Istanbul.
- Playing the loving father with his daughter. - That's right. Danny's my little kid.
The mother seems to be leader of the pack of his numerous wives.
You've been away three months. Why choose this particular moment to come to us?
Go on.
- Did something frighten you? - Someone looking for me.
- Who? - I didn't find out. That's why I came.
Now, Ricki...passports.
- Who are you at the moment? - Poole. British.
I reckoned Lawrence wasn't the flavor of the month in Moscow, so I had that run up.
- It's not bad. - In Lisbon, he had two Swiss escapes.
- One for him, one for Boris. - What did you do with them?
- How did you get rid of them? - Burned them.
- How did you get back to England? - Via Dublin. I told Mr Guillam.
I'm checking.
Be damn careful! I don't want the wrong people on my back!
He took my gun away, too. He shouldn't have done that, Mr Smiley.
Why did you go to Mr Guillam?
Didn't it cross your mind he might turn you over to Alleline?
Mr Guillam's my boss.
I don't figure he likes the new arrangements at the Circus any more than YOU do.
We don't need that, Tarr. He kept well out of sight.
When he gave me his story, I rang Sir Oliver from a call box. I rang him here, not London.
There was no reason to suppose the phone was tapped.
There was every reason.
Unusual for Moscow Center to use a husband-wife team.
Hard to believe...
unless 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, Mr Smiley!
Fit, George?
Natter. Garden.
- Super. - Fawn!
When you came to me six months ago talking about a mole in the Circus,
I threw you out. I was remiss.
You instructed me to abandon my inquiries because they were "unconstitutional".
Was that the word I used? How very pompous of me.
- You never had any, did you? - What?
Children. You and Ann.
No.
I didn't absolutely trust your motives. I thought Control had put you up to it.
As a way of hanging on to the power and keeping 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, Tony 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 and you wanted a witch hunt.
My Minister and I felt there had been incompetence on the part of Control.
- A view which the Foreign Office shared. - I quite understand your dilemma.
Thank you. It isn't every day that the head of one's secret service embarks on a private war.
And, don't forget, you were Control's man.
He preferred you to Haydon.
When he launched that misadventure, you fronted for him.
You were in the hot seat. You had to go. You didn't offer a suspect.
Remember the circumstances, George.
- Percy Alleline has done extremely well. - With Haydon to field for him, who wouldn't?
He's produced intelligence, not 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 had such good material in living memory. In mine, anyway.
- Does it still get the same special handling? - Certainly.
Now precautions will have to be more rigorous.
No. Gerald the mole would soon latch on to that.
Of course he would.
We can't move. We can't investigate because we can't employ the Circus.
We can't eavesdrop or watch or open the mail because we'd need 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.
Ex-colonial bobbies ploughing through the Circus files.
It's a serious point, George.
I wouldn't give much for field agents' 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? You'll take the job, clean the stables.
Go backwards, go forwards, do whatever's necessary.
It's your generation, after all. Your legacy.
I never heard of anyone who 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 common knowledge if it has got as far 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.
You always knew that, I'm sure.
- So did Jim Prideaux. - What does that mean?
Well, good Lord, a bullet in the back is held to be quite a sacrifice...even in your world.
Two bullets, actually.
They were at Oxford together, weren't they...Bill and Jim?
Stablemates at the Circus, the famous Haydon-Prideaux partnership.
"The iron fist in the iron glove" somebody called it.
Prideaux was far too old for that Czech nonsense.
- It made no difference. - No, quite.
I shall need some help. Remember Control's man Mendel?
Yes, of course.
If he's the chap you want.
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 Major's.
I'm very grateful, I'm sure.
- Everything alright? - Yes, fine.
We'll leave you in peace, then.
I shall want every scrap...and you've known me long enough.
Times of who comes and goes.
Most of all, more important than you can imagine, this.
Any suspicious characters putting questions to your staff under ANY pretext,
even if they're the Guards Armored or Sherlock Holmes.
There's only me and Norman, and they won't get far with Norman, will they, dear?
You're too sensitive.
The same with any incoming letters for him. I'll want to see postmarks and times posted.
One thing more. There'll be objects he will ask to be lodged in the safe.
Mainly they'll be papers. There's only one person who'll look at them apart from him.
That's me.
Don't try fiddling with them, 'cause he's sharp, and you've known me long enough.
Tarr's cables to the Circus were detailed and specific.
London Station required him to submit copious background on Irina.
Names of former contacts, acquaintances inside Moscow Center.
There should be a file of some size and we need to see it.
That's Circus material. I can deliver only from the Minister.
I know that look, George. I'm breaking into the Circus, am I?
- Playing Burglar Bill. - If you wouldn't mind.
While you're enjoying yourself, I shall visit Oxford to look up an old, invaluable friend.
Please, don't take any unnecessary risks.
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
Depart in peace
According to
Thy word
For mine eyes have seen
Thy salvation
Which thou hast prepared before the face
Of all people
To be a light
To lighten
The gentiles
And to be the glory
Of thy people
Israel
Glory be to the Father
And to the Son
And to the Holy Ghost
As it was in the beginning
Is now and ever shall be
World without end
Amen