Susanna White directs Ewan McGregor, Damian Lewis and Stellan Skarsgård in this Le Carre tale of modern day defecting.

Actionless thriller with a surprising amount of titty, cock and profanity for something bloodlessly made to appeal to a more mature Sunday evening audience. A superb cast smash the locks of the source material as much as they can so as to burst into moments where they at least enjoy themselves and it is crafted gorgeously (all that sticks in the memory a week later is how perfectly beautiful every frame is.) The problem with Le Carre is his tales revel in the mundane bureaucracy of modern espionage and either you embrace that detailed, fetid, frustrating boredom like in the recent Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or you ramp up the doomed romance sub plot as the excellent The Constant Gardener or classic The Spy Who Came in From the Cold did. Leaving both as an afterthought, as this solid adaptation sadly does, means you are left trying to glean entertainment from ciphers and stereotypes having fruity but businesslike conversations in the back of vans and in front of glass offices. Hardly anyone’s idea of a great night out. Load the guns and let’s at least end on a shootout, hey, chaps.

5