Third Man

I couldn’t find a thread on the forum about this excellent series that I watched for the first time yesterday. I 've seen most of the other John Le Carre adaptations but had not got round to watching this one.

I thought this one in particular was exceptional and will have to watch it again to fully appreciate everything that was going on in the series as I did when viewing 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' and 'Smiley's People'.

I think the main difference here in the story telling is the personal exploration of the exploitation of the main character Magnus Pym played brilliantly by Peter Egan. The personal anguish mentally and physically that Pym endured was etched on Egan's face through out the series, a really sad story of betrayal and mistrust and however much we as a public romanticise the cold war era and it's secret agents, I think it has to be remembered that the cold truth is that this was not a particularly nice job to do or be part of and I think this Le Carre adaptation has excelled in getting that message across with this series.

Simon