BBC reveals 'ambitious' 8-part spy series based on iconic bestseller

The series is adapted from The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, the 1963 bestseller which remains one of le Carré's most successful novels. The drama also draws on 2017's A Legacy of Spies, which was a global number one bestseller. 

The Cold War-set series will chart George Smiley's overarching quest for his nemesis, Russian master-spy Karla.

The story begins in the shadow of the newly-elected Berlin Wall, as Alec Leamas watches his last agent shot dead by East German sentries. 

The synopsis continues: "For Leamas, a senior British intelligence officer in Berlin, the Cold War is over. As he faces the prospect of retirement or worse- a desk job - Control offers him a unique opportunity for revenge. Assuming the guise of an embittered and dissolute ex-agent, Leamas is set up to trap Mundt, the deputy director of the East German Intelligence Service, with himself as the bait. In the background is George Smiley, ready to make the game play out just as Control wants."

Matthew Macfadyen, known for his BAFTA and Emmy winning turn as Tom Wambsgans in Succession, as well as roles in Pride & Prejudice and Deadpool, stars as George Smiley. The iconic character was previously played by acting titans Alec Guinness (1979) and Gary Oldman (2011) in adaptations of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Matthew is joined by Monster and The Gentlemen actor Charlie Hunnam, who plays the British intelligence officer Alec Leamas, Daniel Brühl (All Quiet on the Western Front, Rush) as East German spy Jens Fielder and Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu (The Empress) as Doris Quinz aka Agent Tulip.

The series comes from The Ink Factory in co-production with Amusement Park Film (All Quiet on the Western Front) and in association with 127 Wall Productions and Paramount Television Studios. 

Simon Cornwell and Stephen Cornwell, Founders and co-CEOs at The Ink Factory and the sons of author le Carré, teased the series as "the most ambitious and all-encompassing adaptation of le Carré's work to date".

The pair said that the project takes their father's "best-known and most-loved character – the complex and brilliant spymaster George Smiley – and uses this medium as a canvas to chart his story as he moves through a world which culturally and politically shapes the one we live in today."

Meanwhile, Graham Yost (Silo, Slow Horses) and Malte Grunert (All Quiet on the Western Front) will executive produce the series, which will be set across the UK, and what was, in the time period of the story, East and West Germany and Czechoslovakia.

The series will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK and MGM+ in the US. A release date has yet to be revealed, but considering production is slated to begin in early 2026, we can speculate that viewers could be waiting until late 2026 or early 2027 for a release.