5 best John le Carre adaptations, from 'Smiley's People' to 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'

John le Carre's novels may not be the breeziest examples of beach reading, but his most engrossing TV and film adaptations also require shifting your brain out of idle:

"The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" (1965): Richard Burton mines all his hard years of drinking and carousing to inhabit Alec Leamas, a walking corpse who has a tough time hanging up his cloak and dagger.

"Smiley's People" (1982): Alec Guinness provides a master class in subtle acting as an agent pulled out of a retirement home for a rousing round of international shuffleboard.

"The Tailor of Panama" (2001): Bond veteran Pierce Brosnan inhabits a totally different kind of spy, one with more ambition than loyalty, destroying a heartbreakingly vulnerable Geoffrey Rush in the process.

"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (2011): Not nearly as long — or engrossing — as the 1979 miniseries, but it provides a showcase for a wide range of British actors including Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch.

"A Most Wanted Man" (2014): An extra layer of melancholy lies over this already downbeat tale of an illegal immigrant caught in a war on terrorism as it marks one of Philip Seymour Hoffman's final performances.

Neal Justin