Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

In the Cold War days of the 1970s, a Hungarian agent known as Magyar (Zoltán Mucsi) walks through Budapest.

Sent under cover by Control, Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) makes his way to rendezvous with Magyar.

The two men converge during the last few metres of their walk.

The British agent follows Magyar from a city centre Metro station. The exit from Ferenciek tere Metro station at the corner of Kossuth Lajos utca and Petofi Sándor utca.

Outside a cafe in a quiet shopping arcade, Jim waits with his Eastern Bloc counterpart to meet the Hungarian General who has the name of the Mole within the British Intelligence Service. Párizsi Udvar running between Petofi Sándor utca and Kígyó utca in Budapest.

Whilst I was afforded every freedom by Hotel Reception, for which I thank them, this is now an hotel and achieving the correct location and angle is now difficult. (RL)

From a balcony, a Elderly Woman looks down at the pair which causes Jim to become increasingly suspicious. The Párizsi Udvar arcade is located inside Brudern-ház.

Once again I thank Hotel Reception but I think laying on floor in the main thoroughfare would have been pushing their good nature. Unless there is another location that I was not able to access I believe that this is a reverse camera shot, as is mine, in order to match. (RL)

Jim is shot at as he gets up to leave which prompts a Soviet Agent (Imre Csuja) to come out of hiding at the rear of the ornate arcade. Looking towards Petofi Sándor utca from inside Párizsi Udvar.

Peter Hardy provides this comparison of the interior of the Párizsi Udvar hotel . . . . a lot plusher than during filming.

Following Jim's capture by the Soviets, an ailing Control signs his resignation from SIS after being forced into retirement. Blythe House on Blythe Road, London W14.

Unchanged unsurprisingly. SJ

When asked by Toby Esterhase, Control advises that his deputy George Smiley is also leaving the service. Blythe House at 23 Blythe Road in Kensington which also appears in 'Afraid of the Dark'.

Tilting up. SJ

On the roof of 'The Circus', new Control, Percy Alleline (Toby Jones) asks Roy Bland (Ciarán Hinds) to become his deputy. The roof of Blythe House with the roof of Olympia in the distance.

Control (John Hurt) and George Smiley (Gary Oldman) leave the building. Looking through the railings around Blythe House from Blythe Road.

With his long arms, Neil Kenny captured entrance A of Blythe House through the bars of the closed outer gate.

While Alleline settles into his new role at 'The Circus', the retired Smiley is seen taking a swim. Number 2 Pond on Hampstead Heath NW3. This and the adjacent Mixed Bathing Pond are also seen in ‘The Monster of Highgate Ponds’ and 'Bellman & True'.

Denis Hoare wasn't equiped for a waterline shot or quick enough to capture the two substitute ducks but nevertheless provides this first class comparative shot of the location as it is now. (RL)

George makes his way from the outdoor pools as Control passes away in his hospital bed. Tris advises that this is looking across Hampstead No. 1 Pond to the rear of houses along South Hill Park in NW3 where he lived, just out of shot to the left, for thirteen years from October 1968 and, just out of shot to the right, is the rear of Janet Suzman's house seen in 'The Black Windmill'. The pathway is also seen in 'The Monster of Highgate Ponds' as well as 'Licensed to Kill'.

The best match I can make is Hampstead No 2 Pond between No 1 and No 3, the latter also better known as the mixed bathing pool. SJ

Trying to fill the empty days, George walks towards his fictional N1 address. Cumberland Gardens in WC1 with Great Percy Street in the distance.

With his unfaithful wife no longer at home, Smiley enters the quiet house on the film's Asherton Street. Lloyd Square in Clerkenwell WC1 with Lloyd Street in the right background.

Armed with camera, Peter dispatched himself to the location.

From a London telephone box, Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) calls Under Secretary Oliver Lacon requesting an urgent meeting. On Kensington Gore opposite the Royal Albert Hall with the corner of Jay Mews and Bremner Road in the distance. The area appears in ‘The IPCRESS File’, ‘The Fourth Protocol’, 'Legend', ‘The X Files’, ‘Quest for Love’ and ‘Interlude’.

Quite an inconvenient place for a real telephone box. SJ

Ricki's boss, Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch), makes his way to 'The Circus'. Outside Blythe House W14.

The best angle that Neil Kenny could take as part of the pavement and road were fenced off.

The trusted agent enters the building where he receives a call from Lacon. The railings surround Blythe House on Blythe Road.

Neil Kenny played "Frogger" with the traffic to obtain this view.

Guillam drives Smiley to an evening meeting with the Under Secretary where confirmation of a double agent at the top of 'The Circus' is revealed. Barrie Doggett recognised the property designed by Royston Summers at 10 Lakeside Drive in Esher, Surrey.

John Harwood visited during the day for a clearer shot. (SJ)

Tasked with searching out the mole, Smiley and Guillam arrive at Mendel's house to recruit the former Special Branch Officer.

Mendel (Roger Lloyd-Pack) is found tending his hives.

At a little hotel near Liverpool Street, Mendel, Smiley and Guillam set up their base. Wilkin Street in NW5 with a CGI St. Paul’s added behind the bridge carrying the railway between Kentish Town West and Gospel Oak. Location found by Keith Woods.

Keith Supports his identification of Wilkin Street with a capture from Google Earth. (RL)

With their investigation continuing, Guillam arrives in his Citroen with Smiley as Mendel enters the hotel. The access at the side of the Farmiloe Building off St. John Street in EC1.

The camera follows Mendel into the building. The atrium of the Farmiloe Building. The former glass merchants premises have featured in several productions including ‘Batman Begins ‘, ‘The Dark Knight’, 'Legend', ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘Inception’.

At 'The Circus' Guillam secretly removes records of retired operatives and other information required by Smiley. A CGI enhanced Blythe House.

Guillam bumps into Bland in the lift as he leaves the building.

At Paddington station George Smiley buys a ticket to Oxford to meet Connie Sachs. Not a station, this is inside the Grand hall at Olympia on Hammersmith Road in W14.

Very station-like. SJ

A bottle of wine is purchased from a corner shop after leaving Oxford station. Crescent Fruiterers at 62 Belsize Lane on the corner of Belsize Crescent in Belsize Park NW3 identified by Steve Mortimore who was the location manager for the production.

Steve explains that the premises were dressed as a corner shop for filming and provides this image of the Belsize Lane frontage taken from beneath the canopy.

Smiley arrives at the home of the former analyst from 'The Circus' who was forced into retirement by Percy Alleline.

Connie Sachs (Kathy Burke) is pleased to see her old colleague and the two go inside where they discuss old times . . . and suspicions about enemy agents.

In flashback, Jim Prideaux arrives at the school where he is to take up a teaching post as Mr. Ellis. Facing the former Officers Mess at Inglis Barracks in Mill Hill. The barracks also feature in ‘These Dangerous Years’.

Rikki Tar tells Smiley that Peter Guillam had sent him to Istanbul the previous October to check out a Russian Trade Delegate who was thinking of defecting. The city of Istanbul in the Marmara region of Turkey.

Benny Bukhave provides us with this shot taken from the Asian side of the Bosphorus towards Faith, blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. (RL)

The Russian was found to be spending a large amount of money and time in nightclubs. Istiklal Caddesi at the junction with Müeyyet Sokak. The background building has been redeveloped but the vintage tram continues to run between Taksim and Tünel, as it has since the creation of the short heritage route in 1990.

Benny also provides this shot of Istiklal Caddesi, the non redeveloped side, but more importantly with the old tram. (RL)

Rikki discovers that the Trade Delegate was no more than a Soviet trained hood and of no use to British Intelligence. Facing south-west on Kemankes Caddesi in the Karakoy area of Istanbul.

Building refurbishment is apparent in this road level view. (PW)

Whilst in Istanbul, Rikki met Irina, the Delegate's wife and a Soviet Agent, with whom he started an affair. Haydarpasa Port.

Learning that she knows who the mole is at 'The Circus', Rikki agrees to help his lover defect. Facing Istanbul's Fatih district from the Bosphorus with Sepetçiler Kasri coming into view to the right.

Taken from a boat on the Bosphorus. (PW)

After 'The Circus' replies to Rikki's message in the early hours, Soviet agents begin to move. Seen from the Bosphorus, the Haydarpasa Campus of Marmara University stands above Haydarpasa Port in Üsküdar.

Finding the mutilated body of a British Intelligence Operative, Rikki sets out to warn Irina to clear out. Numerous parts of Istanbul also appear in many western productions including 'From Russia with Love', 'Topkapi', 'A Talking Picture', 'Midnight Express' and 1974's 'Murder on the Orient Express'.

Badly beaten, Irina is taken onto a Soviet freighter. This is the Karakoy quay outside the Karakoy Passenger Lounge which fronts Kemankec caddesi. The name on the ship is Sapphire.

Mendel arrives at a garage to set up a distraction to assist the theft of documents from 'The Circus' by Guillam.

Realising that Control and his Deputy have been keeping tabs on him, Guillam heads to meet Smiley at Control's flat. Looking from the base of the chimney towards Queen Alexandra’s House on Kensington Gore.

Also seen in "Scoop," "The X-Files" and "Still Life." SJ

Guillam and Smiley discuss Tarr before entering the hotel where the older man tells the story of his meeting with Karla, Head of Intelligence at Moscow Centre. The atrium of the Farmiloe Building on St John Street in Clerkenwell.

In flashback, Bill Haydon heads for Jim Prideaux's flat to remove evidence after word of the Agent being shot reaches 'The Circus'.

A further flashback sees Jim Prideaux recounting his arrival in Budapest to George Smiley. Filled with heritage rolling stock for the production, this is Budapest-Nyugati pályaudvar (Budapest Western railway station) in Budapest, Hungary.

The camera follows as Jim walks towards the station's exit.

In front of the station a military band plays as the British Agent steps into the street at the start of his mission for Control. Outside Budapest-Nyugati pályaudvar at the junction of Grand Boulevard and Váci Avenue.

Back in the film's present, Toby Esterhase is driven to an airfield to be questioned by Smiley about leaked intelligence and loyalties. Gary R identifies this as MDP Wethersfield, to the north-west of Braintree in Essex.

Gary provides this comparison view of the runway at the former RAF base that is now the headquarters and training centre for the Ministry of Defence Police.

Guillam drives Smile and Mendel to the safe house where Alleline, Haydon, Bland and Esterhase have been meeting Soviet Cultural Attache Aleksey Polyakov. Corbridge Crescent in E2 with the Empress Coaches garage to the left, a gasholder of the former Shoreditch Gas Works ahead and the Grand Union Canal behind the fence on the right. SJ adds that the area is also seen in 'Gangster No 1' and 'Doctor Sleep'.

With updated graffiti, as it's close to Grove Passage: a pilgrimage site for fans of The Libertines.

The three men enter the building where Mrs McCraig shows them around and explains protocols. The headquarters of Empress Coaches on Corbridge Crescent in Cambridge Heath.

A shared location visit, albeit separated by a few hours, had two of us vying for similar shots. Thanks to Simon for letting me have this one! (PW)

On the implication that he knows who the double agent is, Rikki Tarr is sent to the Paris office. A hazy, second unit shot of the French capital.

Tarr waits for the Paris Operative to appear. The sokaks of Istanbul double for the narrow streets of Paris in this sequence.

Mackelvore (Christian McKay) comes out of a dry cleaners.

As Mackelvore gets into his car, Tarr crosses the road and gets in behind him before the two drive to the office where a message is sent to 'The Circus'.

On his way to visit the captured mole, Smiley passes Alleline without a word being spoken between the two.

Smiley walks towards the Double Agent.

Having been appointed to the position of Control, George Smiley makes his way home to find his Wife waiting in the kitchen of their Islington house. Lloyd Square, London WC1.

Peter provides this comparison.