a a fan of author john le carre i have slowly be work my way through both his book and the adaptation of them . i find this 1987 adaptation of le carre masterwork at my local library and sit down to watch it think i would know what to expect . i be surprise to discover that my expectation be exceed in this miniseries and a fine cross between a spy thriller and a human drama . peter egan give a great performance a magnus pym and the perfect spy of the title . carry on in the long tradition of le carre strong main character and pym be also quite possibly the best . egan play pym ( who in fact contains many shade of author le carre ) a a man force to spend his entire life lying and betraying sometimes out of circumstance and other time just to survive with the consequence of him become a perfect spy . egan play pym to perfection a a man always on the run and if not from others then from himself . egan alone make the six or so hour of this miniseries worth see from his performance alone . surronding egan be a fantastic supporting cast . ray mcanally give one of his fine performance a pym con man father rick who ( a le carre have say ) be base strongly on the author own father . mcanally play a man who come in and out of pym life and be one of the those responsible for pym become a perfect spy . in fact if it wasn not for mcanally performance a year after this in a very british coup this would the fine performance of his sadly too short career . the rest of the supporting be excellent as well . from caroline john a pym mother to alan howard a his spy mentor to rüdiger weigang a the young pym friend turn controller to jane booker a pym wife the support cast be fantastic . special mention should be make of the three young actor who play the young pym ( jonathan haley and nicholas haley and benedict taylor ) who establish the young man who would become the man play so well by peter egan . the production value of the miniseries be strong as well . a the miniseries adaptation of tinker and tailor and soldier and spy and smiley people prove these story can only be tell in miniseries format . the location be excellent from the english location to the those scattered across eastern europe and the usa a be the set by chris edward . the cinematography of elmer cossey add an extra layer of realism to the world of the miniseries . yet the highlight of the miniseries be really the script . screenwrtier arthur hopcraft tackle the job of adapt the six hundred or so page novel excellently . the novel be largely ( at least in it early part ) autobiographical in that pym early life echo much of john le carre life . the script for this miniseries be no exception a it trace the development of magnus pym from young boy to a perfect spy . never once do the miniseries deviate from it purpose of tell a fine human drama in the context of the world of espionage . if one ever want proof that a spy thriller can be tense and fascinate without ever have one gun fight and fist fight and or james bond style car chase this would be the proof . while the miniseries be six plus hour long it never waste a moment and it all the good for it . though it might be overlong for some for those who do not have very short attention span here be a must see . from the performance of peter egan and ray mcanally to fine production value and a fine literary script a perfect spy be one of the fine miniseries who can expect to see . it be a fascinating trip down the history of the cold war yet it be more then that . it be also a trip down what john le carre have call the secret path represent the path of the spy the man who must lie and betray to survive . a much a human drama a a spy thriller a perfect spy isn not to be miss .