<P> The novel had previously been adapted into the award - winning BBC TV miniseries Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) with Sir Alec Guinness playing the lead role of Smiley . </P> <P> In October 1973, "Control", head of British intelligence (referred to as "The Circus"), sends agent Jim Prideaux to Budapest to meet a Hungarian general wishing to defect . Prideaux is shot and presumed killed . Amidst the international incident that follows, Control and his right - hand man George Smiley are forced into retirement; Control dies of illness shortly after . </P> <P> Percy Alleline becomes the new Chief, Bill Haydon his deputy and Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase as lieutenants . Despite Control and Smiley's misgivings, their successors have already begun a secret operation--"Witchcraft"--to obtain highly sensitive information from the Soviet Union, which is in turn being traded with the CIA for American intelligence . Smiley is brought out of retirement by Cabinet Office civil servant Oliver Lacon to investigate a claim by Ricki Tarr, a British spy, that for years there has been a mole in a senior role in the Circus, as Control had suspected . Smiley chooses a trustworthy agent, Peter Guillam, and retired Special Branch officer Mendel to help him . He interviews former Circus analyst Connie Sachs, who was sacked by Alleline after deducing that Alexei Polyakov, a Soviet cultural attaché in London, was a spy . </P> <P> Tarr tells Smiley that on a mission to Istanbul, he had an affair with Irina, a Soviet agent . She wanted to reveal the name of a mole in the top ranks of the Circus but when Tarr reported this to London, they ignored him and ordered him straight home, while the Soviets promptly kidnapped Irina . Concluding that the mole had intercepted his message, Tarr went into hiding, suspected of defecting and murdering the British station chief . Smiley sends Guillam to steal the Circus logbook for the night Tarr had called and he finds the pages for that night have been cut out, supporting Tarr's story . Smiley interviews Prideaux, who reveals that after brutal interrogation, he was exchanged by the Soviets but sacked from the service . Prideaux says the purpose of the mission to Hungary was to get the name of the mole . Control had codenamed the suspects "Tinker" (Alleline), "Tailor" (Haydon), "Soldier" (Bland), "Poorman" (Esterhase) and "Beggarman" (Smiley). </P>

Tinker tailor soldier spy who is the spy