In the summer of 1981, barely 18 months after the novel was first published, the BBC announced the follow-up series to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Smiley’s People would see the return of Alec Guinness in the titular role, and form the flagpole for Auntie’s £25 million spending plans.
The middle part of the Karla trilogy was skipped, as The Honourable Schoolboy was deemed too expensive to film.
Not that the concluding part was exactly cheap. It was co-financed by Paramount Pictures, as part of a £3 million deal that would see the serial syndicated across the United States the day after it finished airing in the UK.
Finally, here’s a nice on-location report from the shoot in Switzerland.
