(Possible spoilers, but this isn’t particularly recent) I saw the tail end of this maybe 25 years ago and only dimly remember it: A British TV adaptation of a well-known spy novel, possibly by John le Carré, ends with a Soviet spy so immersed in British life and culture that he no longer feels Russian, and a very emotional recording of “The Long and Winding Road.” What was this? I’d like to track it down and see the whole thing from the start.
The only two I can think of are Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and its sequel Smiley’s People. IIRC, Alec Guinness was in both (and maybe Patrick Stewart as well).
None of the Smiley series and none of the Le Carre novels that I am familiar with are viewed from the East’s perspective nor puts any of their Russian/East German adversaries in a whimsical state of mind.
I’m also struggling to think of any other series when the Russian agent goes native.
Which more indicates that I’m not an authority on the genre.
I don’t remember for a fact that it was John le Carré, but certainly someone on that level. It sure wasn’t Ian Fleming.
The thing that jarred this memory was a FB post about how “Back in the USSR” was about a Russian spy, and it occurred to me that Paul McCartney has actually written kind of a lot of songs about spies.
Would it be Sleepers? Sleeper agents who were forgotten about and don’t want to be reactivated.
My vague memory of it is that there was a subplot about otherwise lost footage of the 1966 FIFA World Cup, taken by M15 which showed that a goal should have been disallowed, but had to be kept secret.
It starred post-Dim, pre-Dalziel Warren Clarke.
Did it have the Beatles song at the end? That really clinched the show. This plot sounds similar to the much later (and less funny) Your Republic Is Calling You.
There’s a few snippets of The Sleepers on Youtube, which might help to jog your memory.
The timing’s right, but I’m not sure.
I have a poor VHS copy of this downloaded from some dusty corner of the internet years ago. I’ve just fired it up and that song is indeed played at the end.
That must be it then. Thank you all!
Excellent! Now what was the story about the World Cup film? I’ve been racking my brain trying to make sense of it.
The two sleeper agents created new identities for themselves in the uk.
They attended the World Cup final in 1966 and held up a banner with the players names on it.
This was actually an acrostic that spelt out their new identities.
Their handler sent an operative to film the crowd and capture the acrostic. By accident they also captured Geoff Hursts 3rd goal from a perfect angle.
This goal was controversial as the only footage didn’t clearly show whether the ball had crossed the line or not. The Russian footage answered that question.
Some people in the security community were more worried about the goal footage than they were about Russian sleeper agents having been in place for decades. Hilarity ensues.