Hot Picks: Legacy Of Spies

In the hyper-competitive landscape of high-end drama, certain criteria tick the boxes for commissioners: evergreen genre, established and enduring IP, A-list on- and off-screen talent, a screen legacy. The Ink Factory’s latest addition to the screen pantheon of John Le Carré espionage works has all of that, and then some.

Legacy Of Spies brings together one of Le Carré’s earliest and most recognisable works (The Spy Who Came In From The Cold) and a more recent novel (A Legacy Of Spies) – which the prolific author penned in 2017, three years before his death. The latter is both a prequel and a sequel to his 1963 classic and its successor, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, in which George Smiley is the central character.

Legacy Of Spies brings Smiley back to serialised television for the first time since Alec Guinness’s 1980s rendering and hands the baton over to Matthew Macfadyen (Succession; The Miniature Wife). It is also the first time The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and A Legacy Of Spies have been adapted for television.

“Long-form television gives you the opportunity to explore character, nuance and ambiguity within the context of a story in a way that a 100-minute film doesn’t necessarily,” The Ink Factory co-founder and co-chief executive, and Le Carré’s son, Simon Cornwell says.

“And George Smiley is the great icon of my dad’s work. We have a sense of trepidation taking it on, but the opportunity – within the language of contemporary television – to build an extraordinary world and fill it with amazing characters [is too good to turn down].”

Macfadyen is joined by Charlie Hunnam (The Gentlemen) as embattled, world-weary agent runner and field operative Alec Leamas. As the series unfolds, personal lives become collateral in a ruthless intelligence war, and as the lines between duty and love begin to blur, every emotion becomes a weapon.

Though drawing on contemporary and Cold War-era fiction, Legacy Of Spies is a work “rigorously in period”, but with modern sensibilities and themes, according to Cornwell.

In the biographic documentary The Pigeon Tunnel, Le Carré himself said: “Betrayal fascinates me.” And Cornwell echoes his father in articulating the enduring nature of the spy genre on TV – The Ink Factory released the second series of Le Carré’s The Night Manager in January.

“You can speculate endlessly about the reason we are all fascinated by spy stories, but spies face, writ large, a lot of the things we face in our everyday lives,” Cornwell adds.

“These stories are about love and betrayal, which are very much two sides of the same coin. Love is a necessary precondition for betrayal – if you don’t love something, you’re not betraying it if you let it down.

“Those are the essence of my dad’s stories, and all spy stories. That fundamental tension is something I assume we all experience day-to-day and relate to.”

For Jennifer Ebell, executive vicepresident of television distribution at Fifth Season, the themes of family, betrayal, the cost of power and intrigue will bring buyers in. She also notes the “incredible” cast, adding that the known IP element is cutting through.

“All of that is hugely valuable in a crowded market,” she says. “It’s an immediately appealing proposition and the audience will pay attention for that reason. It really is a show that markets itself.”