Remaking but not replacing Alec Guinness as George Smiley

THERE are few actors who can so inhabit a role that it becomes their own.

After all, Ive seen enough Hamlets, Shylocks, Othellos and Lears to know.

And look at it this way. If you didnt like the last one, there will soon be another striding round the corner.

And those performances that you did like will stay with you for ever.

So when I heard the news that another actor has been cast to bring George Smiley back in from the cold, I felt a distinct chill.

Yes I know that Smiley is a fictional character, beautifully crafted by John Le Carr› in his cold war thriller, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

But it was Sir Alec Guinness who for me brought Smiley to life in a BBC series which had Seventies audiences hooked for weeks.

The casting of this TV mini series read like a roll call of British actors.

Guinness, one of the most formidable acting talents this country has ever produced, was flanked by Michael Jayston, Ian Bannen, Ian Richardson, Bernard Hepton, Hywel Bennett, Terence Rigby, Michael Aldridge, the wonderful Beryl Reid and many more.

In the TV series, George Smiley was the man on the outside, the man the establishment now needs to sniff out a Russian mole in the heart of MI6.

It was gripping, thrilling TV with Guinnesss performance so masterly that it won him a British Academy award for Best Actor plus an army of fans.

Others have played the role since, most notably Simon Russell Beale, another giant of the acting world.

And now theres a new, big screen version which is to be aired at a film festival in Venice.

Gary Oldman is the man tasked with breathing new life into old George Smiley. Le Carr› has given him plenty of material to work with.

Oldman says to expect someone darker and more cruel than Guinnesss portrayal.

For me, the irony of that name, Smiley, says it all.

Guinness imbued Smiley with menace, with terrifyingly cool logic and a personal vulnerability that made his view of the wider world endlessly knowing.

However good Mr Oldman proves as Smiley, I doubt he will wipe away my memories of a series made more than 30 years ago but one which still has the power to thrill and chill.