Simon Russell Beale stars in this BBC Radio full-cast dramatisation of the first book in John le Carre"s Karla trilogyGeorge Smiley is one of the most brilliantly realised characters in British fiction. Bespectacled, tubby, eternally middle-aged and deceptively ordinary, he has a mind like a steel trap and is said to possess "the cunning of Satan and the conscience of a virgin".Smiley, wrestling with retirement and disillusionment, is summoned to a secret meeting with a member of the Cabinet Office. Evidence has emerged that the Circus has been infiltrated at the highest level by a Russian agent. "Find the mole, George. Clean the stables. Do whatever is necessary." Reluctantly Smiley agrees, and so embarks on a dark journey into his past - a past filled with love, duplicity and betrayal.Starring the award-winning Simon Russell Beale as Smiley, and with a star cast including Anna Chancellor, Alex Jennings, Kenneth Cranham and Bill Paterson.this epic dramatisation brilliantly depicts the complicated moral dilemmas of those who practise post-war espionage and illuminates the murky corners of le Carre"s classic spy thriller.