Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 1979 seven-part drama spy mini-series made by BBC TV. John Irvin directed and Jonathan Powell produced this adaptation of John le Carré's novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974). The mini-series, which stars Alec Guinness, Ian Richardson, Michael Jayston, Anthony Bate, Ian Bannen, George Sewell, and Michael Aldridge, was shown in the United Kingdom from 10 September to 22 October 1979 and in the United States beginning on 29 September 1980.