Mister 8

Jean (Fenella Woolgar) and The Agent (Ian Hart)

Through July, or at least until I run out of things about which to talk, we’ll be looking at the Harry Palmer series of novels (in which the character doesn’t actually have a name), their author — Len Deighton, the films based on them, the star of those films — Michael Caine, and the television movies that followed. I will be re-reading the whole series of novels, re-watching the films, and giving my thoughts on all I encounter. I’ll inevitably be drawing heavily on the collection of Kees Stam, author of The Harry Palmer Movie Site, and Rob Mallows, creator of the Deighton Dossier, and other odds and ends that I’ve turned up over the years.

Since I didn’t warn you all with enough advance time that we’d be reading The IPCRESS File this week, I think I’ve found a sort of alternative. Following this, we’ll at least be reading Horse Under Water (1963), Funeral in Berlin (1964), and the Billion Dollar Brain (1965). I’m not sure yet, but we may also read An Expensive Place to Die (1967), Spy Story (1974) and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Spy (1976), which are sometimes referred to as “Harry Palmer” novels, though the jury is still out on whether that distinction is true.

So…find these books now! Reserve them at your library! Seek them out at used book stores! Failing that, follow the links above and purchase them from Amazon (full disclosure: I’ll get a little kickback from such purchases. I think somewhere around 4%, which means that if you buy the one-cent used paperback, I’ll make roughly $0.0004).

In the meantime: The audio file that is playable below is the first of three that make up a 2004 BBC radio production of The IPCRESS File. I’ve only listened to the first few minutes, but so far the radio play seems to be a fairly faithful, if condensed, version of the novel, and Ian Hart does a good job as a coolly disinterested secret agent. If it veers completely from the book later, it will at least provide another counterpoint for our discussion.

Here’s what the BBC said about the production when they released it (original airdate — January 17):

The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton has become one of the great popular icons of the post-war era, through both the book itself and the film starring Sir Michael Caine. This brilliant thriller is as exciting today as the day it was published. And this new radio dramatisation remains faithful to the book, most noticeably in the character of the narrator. In the film, Michael Caine played Londoner Harry Palmer but, in the book, the narrator has no name and is from Burnley. Not a lot of people know that!

The narrator is a grammar school boy who transfers from Army Intelligence to a new agency which operates out of London’s Charlotte Street. He finds himself looking for a man named Jay, who runs an organisation that gets scientists, willing or not, into the communist block. His speciality is brain-washing.

The narrator begins to discover that all is not as clear-cut as it seemed when he and his boss are present at US Atomic bomb tests in the Pacific. In a world of espionage, who do you trust – and what happens if  suspicion falls on you? The narrator finds out as old friends turn into new enemies and he is arrested by the CIA, who return him to his “communist” employers in Hungary.

Can the narrator trust anyone at all – even himself – or will he be destroyed by the very system that he is there to defend?

The IPCRESS File is dramatised by Mike Walker, one of radio’s leading writers with over 40 original plays to his credit, including the Sony Award-winners Different States and Alpha. Ian Hart plays The Agent and Fenella Woolgar plays Jean.

Producer/Toby Swift

Here’s the full cast:

• The Agent….Ian Hart
• Ross….James Laurenson
• Dalby….Jonathan Coy
• Jean….Fenella Woolgar
• Jay….Peter Marinker
• Chico….Jamie Bamber
• Skip….Kerry Shale
• Keightley….Adam Tedder
• Alice….Rachel Atkins
• Battersby….John Sharian
• Adem….Raad Rawi
• Embassy Official….Declan Wilson.

The music is, of course, adapted from John Barry’s film score. I’m going to take these audio files down after a week and a half, so you’d better listen while the listening is good!

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