Codename: Kyril
Encyclopedia
Codename: Kyril is a 208-minute British serial, first broadcast in 1988. It is a Cold War
espionage drama, starring Ian Charleson
, Edward Woodward
, Denholm Elliott
, Joss Ackland
, and Richard E. Grant
. The spy thriller was directed by Ian Sharp
, and the screenplay was written by John Hopkins
, from a 1981 novel by John Trenhaile.
Stanov (Peter Vaughan
), the head of the KGB
, realizes that there must be a traitor within the KGB Moscow Center who is leaking high-level information to MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service. He secretly sends his most trusted operative, Colonel Ivan Bucharensky (Ian Charleson
), as an agent provocateur
to the West in order to force the traitor to reveal himself out of fear of exposure.
On Stanov's instructions, Bucharensky, who is given the codename Kyril, "defects" to the West and heads for Western Europe and then London. As instructed, he leaves behind in Moscow a fabricated diary which supposedly implicates the traitor within the KGB. Stanov keeps the fake diary locked in a safe, but spreads information about its existence and supposed contents in order to see who reacts, and how.
General Michaelov (Espen Skjønberg
), an aging hardliner of the KGB, is persuaded by his deputy Povin (Denholm Elliott
) to sneak into the safe to confirm the existence of the diary, although Michaelov does not take the time to read the diary's contents. Povin also convinces Michaelov to attempt to have Kyril killed lest he divulge KGB secrets to MI6. Meanwhile, Povin is covertly sympathetic to the West, and sends messages to the head of MI6 via hidden microfilms carried by third parties.
In London, MI6 intercepts news of Kyril's defection. The head of MI6, 'C' (Joss Ackland
), assigns his lead agent Michael Royston (Edward Woodward
) to capture Kyril and pump him for information. Above all, Royston is ordered to prevent Kyril from falling into KGB hands lest he expose the KGB mole who feeds information to 'C'. Royston, however, is a double agent
, with agendas of his own regarding Kyril.
Except for Stanov, neither the KGB nor MI6 know that Kyril's defection is false, or that Kyril is unaware of the identity of the traitor inside the KGB. Both organizations are bent on either capturing or killing him because they fear he may reveal critical information to the other side. Kyril treads a fine line of brinksmanship in Amsterdam and then London, evading death several times. And when his old enemy Sikarov (James Laurenson
) is sent to assassinate him, this threatens not only Kyril, but also his long-time girlfriend, London physiotherapist Emma Stanton (Catherine Neilson
).
As the net closes tighter around him, Kyril forces Laurence Sculby (Richard E. Grant
), the MI6-hired lawyer of London gunrunner and intermediary Loshkevoi (John McEnery), to set up a meeting with the newly imprisoned Loshkevoi. Since Loshkevoi is one of Stanov's direct sources but has seemingly switched sides recently, he is the one person outside of Russia likely to know the identity of the traitor in Moscow.
The meeting between Kyril and Loshkevoi, arranged at a palace called Crowdon House, pits not only MI6 agents against Kyril, but also Royston against Sculby and Loshkevoi, and then Royston against Kyril in a climactic confrontation. The aftermath leads to surprising changes in the lives of some of those remaining, and to unexpected precarious uncertainties in the lives of others.
. He had written for several years for the popular BBC police drama series Z-Cars
(1962–78), and had also written the BBC's acclaimed adaptations of John Le Carre
's novels Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
(1979) and Smiley's People
(1982, co-scripted with Le Carre), both starring Alec Guinness
. In 1965 he had also co-written the screenplay for the James Bond
movie Thunderball
.
The serial was filmed in Oslo
, which was used for the Russian locations; Amsterdam
; London
; and Bristol
, which substituted for some London locations. It was shot on 35mm film.
Original electronic music for the serial was composed by Alan Lisk. The soundtrack also features some classical guitar music, including Asturias by Isaac Albéniz
.
Ian Charleson
said of his role as Kyril that it gave him a chance to do something he had always wanted to do — to pull out a gun and say: "One move and you're dead!" "Ever since I was a kid I've wanted to do the things this character does. I get to rush around corners with a gun in my hand." Concerning his role as the Russian mole, Denholm Elliot said, "I could have played Povin cool and elegant, but I wanted to play him seedy and scruffy. I'm always happier playing scruffy people and even when I dress up properly some basic seediness comes through." Except for Ian Charleson and James Laurenson, the two separate casts in Norway and England did not work together, which was a disappointment to Edward Woodward, who was hoping to meet Denholm Elliot.
Edward Woodward
had a heart attack towards the end of filming, which incapacitated him for several months. Because of a director's strike, his prior filming on the American television series The Equalizer
, where he spent months of gruelling 18-hour days, had not been completed until three days before his first day of filming in England for Codename: Kyril. The absence of a rest break after the exhausting American schedule apparently led to his heart attack. The heart attack occurred on 28 July 1987, two weeks before filming ended. To compensate, his character was written out of one scene, and in two others doubles were used and Woodward's voice added later.
in March 1988, and similarly in the U.S. on Showtime in April 1988. In Australia, it aired in June 1989 on Seven Network
.
Due to a transmission error at the time of the original UK broadcast on ITV, three minutes of the programme were missing for British viewers in 1988. That footage contains information critical to the plot: MI6 operative Peter Jackson (Hugh Fraser
) tells Laurence Sculby (Richard E. Grant
) that he must pretend to be a Russian agent in order to gain Kyril's confidence, and tells Sculby to use the words "for the love of the Motherland" as a code phrase to convince him.
Codename: Kyril was released on VHS by Warner Home Video
in 1991, in a truncated feature-length 90-minute version. The full-length two-part 208-minute version was released on DVD in 2010 by Network DVD
.
. Some, like the New York Times, questioned somewhat the medley of Le Carre-like intricate espionage and Bond-like action scenes.
Upon the release of the DVD, the site DVDCompare.com summarized its review as follows:
HorrorView.com said of the serial: "[T]his is glossy prestige TV at its height, but with the kind of attention to character detail you don't always get to see these days."
And Alex J. Geairns at Cineology wrote that:
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
espionage drama, starring Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
, Edward Woodward
Edward Woodward
Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
, Denholm Elliott
Denholm Elliott
Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...
, Joss Ackland
Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...
, and Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
. The spy thriller was directed by Ian Sharp
Ian Sharp
Ian Sharp is a British film and television director.Sharp was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn and Hatfield College, Durham University where he gained an honours degree in Psychology and Modern Philosophy...
, and the screenplay was written by John Hopkins
John Hopkins (writer)
John Richard Hopkins was an English film, stage, and television writer.Born in southwest London, he graduated from St Catharine's College, Cambridge...
, from a 1981 novel by John Trenhaile.
Plot
In Moscow, MarshalMarshal of the Soviet Union
Marshal of the Soviet Union was the de facto highest military rank of the Soviet Union. ....
Stanov (Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts...
), the head of the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
, realizes that there must be a traitor within the KGB Moscow Center who is leaking high-level information to MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service. He secretly sends his most trusted operative, Colonel Ivan Bucharensky (Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
), as an agent provocateur
Agent provocateur
Traditionally, an agent provocateur is a person employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act...
to the West in order to force the traitor to reveal himself out of fear of exposure.
On Stanov's instructions, Bucharensky, who is given the codename Kyril, "defects" to the West and heads for Western Europe and then London. As instructed, he leaves behind in Moscow a fabricated diary which supposedly implicates the traitor within the KGB. Stanov keeps the fake diary locked in a safe, but spreads information about its existence and supposed contents in order to see who reacts, and how.
General Michaelov (Espen Skjønberg
Espen Skjønberg
Espen Skjønberg is an actor of stage, screen and television.He made his first movie appearance as a child in the 1937 Norwegian classic Fant. His stage debut came reciting poetry at the Norwegian theatre Chat Noir in 1945...
), an aging hardliner of the KGB, is persuaded by his deputy Povin (Denholm Elliott
Denholm Elliott
Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...
) to sneak into the safe to confirm the existence of the diary, although Michaelov does not take the time to read the diary's contents. Povin also convinces Michaelov to attempt to have Kyril killed lest he divulge KGB secrets to MI6. Meanwhile, Povin is covertly sympathetic to the West, and sends messages to the head of MI6 via hidden microfilms carried by third parties.
In London, MI6 intercepts news of Kyril's defection. The head of MI6, 'C' (Joss Ackland
Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...
), assigns his lead agent Michael Royston (Edward Woodward
Edward Woodward
Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
) to capture Kyril and pump him for information. Above all, Royston is ordered to prevent Kyril from falling into KGB hands lest he expose the KGB mole who feeds information to 'C'. Royston, however, is a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
, with agendas of his own regarding Kyril.
Except for Stanov, neither the KGB nor MI6 know that Kyril's defection is false, or that Kyril is unaware of the identity of the traitor inside the KGB. Both organizations are bent on either capturing or killing him because they fear he may reveal critical information to the other side. Kyril treads a fine line of brinksmanship in Amsterdam and then London, evading death several times. And when his old enemy Sikarov (James Laurenson
James Laurenson
James Laurenson is a New Zealand actor, who has performed many classical roles on stage and television.Laurenson was born in Marton, New Zealand...
) is sent to assassinate him, this threatens not only Kyril, but also his long-time girlfriend, London physiotherapist Emma Stanton (Catherine Neilson
Catherine Neilson
Catherine Neilson is a British stage, television, and film actress, who was active from the late 1970s through the mid 1990s.-Career:...
).
As the net closes tighter around him, Kyril forces Laurence Sculby (Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
), the MI6-hired lawyer of London gunrunner and intermediary Loshkevoi (John McEnery), to set up a meeting with the newly imprisoned Loshkevoi. Since Loshkevoi is one of Stanov's direct sources but has seemingly switched sides recently, he is the one person outside of Russia likely to know the identity of the traitor in Moscow.
The meeting between Kyril and Loshkevoi, arranged at a palace called Crowdon House, pits not only MI6 agents against Kyril, but also Royston against Sculby and Loshkevoi, and then Royston against Kyril in a climactic confrontation. The aftermath leads to surprising changes in the lives of some of those remaining, and to unexpected precarious uncertainties in the lives of others.
Cast
- Edward WoodwardEdward WoodwardEdward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
... Michael Royston, a high-level MI6 (British Secret Intelligence Service) agent who secretly favours the Russians
- Ian CharlesonIan CharlesonIan Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
... Kyril (aka Ivan Bucharensky), a high-ranking officer and KGBKGBThe KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
agent who is sent to London as an agent provacateur
- Joss AcklandJoss AcklandSidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...
... 'C', head of MI6
- Richard E. GrantRichard E. GrantRichard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
... Sculby, a London lawyer who works part-time for MI6
- John McEnery ... Loshkevoi, a London dealer who trades in arms, money, and secrets for the KGB
- Peter VaughanPeter VaughanPeter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts...
... Marshal Stanov, head of the KGB at Moscow Center
- James LaurensonJames LaurensonJames Laurenson is a New Zealand actor, who has performed many classical roles on stage and television.Laurenson was born in Marton, New Zealand...
... Sikarov, an assassin who is sent by Michaelov to London to kill Kyril
- Denholm ElliottDenholm ElliottDenholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...
... Povin, deputy to Michaelov at the KGB; he secretly sends information to 'C' at MI6
- Espen SkjønbergEspen SkjønbergEspen Skjønberg is an actor of stage, screen and television.He made his first movie appearance as a child in the 1937 Norwegian classic Fant. His stage debut came reciting poetry at the Norwegian theatre Chat Noir in 1945...
... General Michaelov, an aging high-level KGB staff member
- Catherine NeilsonCatherine NeilsonCatherine Neilson is a British stage, television, and film actress, who was active from the late 1970s through the mid 1990s.-Career:...
... Emma, Kyril's true-love, an Englishwoman who lives in London
- Sven-Bertil TaubeSven-Bertil TaubeSven-Bertil G. E. Taube is a Swedish singer and actor. Born in Stockholm, he is the son of songwriter Evert Taube and sculptor Astri Bergman Taube.-Biography:...
... Stolynovitch, a concert guitarist and friend of Povin's who carries his messages internationally
- Hugh FraserHugh Fraser (actor)Hugh Fraser is an English actor and theatre director.-Early life:Born in London but raised in the East Midlands, Fraser studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art...
... Peter Jackson, a go-between and contact between MI6 and subordinate agents
- Tor StokkeTor StokkeTor Stokke was a Norwegian film actor. He appeared in 27 films between 1956 and 1992. He is the father of actress Linn Stokke.-Selected filmography:* The Chasers * Struggle for Eagle Peak...
... Yevchenko, Stanov's deputy
Production
Codename: Kyril was scripted by veteran television crime and espionage writer John HopkinsJohn Hopkins (writer)
John Richard Hopkins was an English film, stage, and television writer.Born in southwest London, he graduated from St Catharine's College, Cambridge...
. He had written for several years for the popular BBC police drama series Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
(1962–78), and had also written the BBC's acclaimed adaptations of John Le Carre
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
's novels Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a 1974 British spy novel by John le Carré, featuring George Smiley. Smiley is a middle-aged, taciturn, perspicacious intelligence expert in forced retirement. He is recalled to hunt down a Soviet mole in the "Circus", the highest echelon of the Secret Intelligence...
(1979) and Smiley's People
Smiley's People
Smiley's People is a spy novel by John le Carré, published in 1979. Featuring British master-spy George Smiley, it is the third and final novel of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy...
(1982, co-scripted with Le Carre), both starring Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
. In 1965 he had also co-written the screenplay for the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
movie Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
.
The serial was filmed in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, which was used for the Russian locations; Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
; London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
; and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, which substituted for some London locations. It was shot on 35mm film.
Original electronic music for the serial was composed by Alan Lisk. The soundtrack also features some classical guitar music, including Asturias by Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
.
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
said of his role as Kyril that it gave him a chance to do something he had always wanted to do — to pull out a gun and say: "One move and you're dead!" "Ever since I was a kid I've wanted to do the things this character does. I get to rush around corners with a gun in my hand." Concerning his role as the Russian mole, Denholm Elliot said, "I could have played Povin cool and elegant, but I wanted to play him seedy and scruffy. I'm always happier playing scruffy people and even when I dress up properly some basic seediness comes through." Except for Ian Charleson and James Laurenson, the two separate casts in Norway and England did not work together, which was a disappointment to Edward Woodward, who was hoping to meet Denholm Elliot.
Edward Woodward
Edward Woodward
Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
had a heart attack towards the end of filming, which incapacitated him for several months. Because of a director's strike, his prior filming on the American television series The Equalizer
The Equalizer
The Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...
, where he spent months of gruelling 18-hour days, had not been completed until three days before his first day of filming in England for Codename: Kyril. The absence of a rest break after the exhausting American schedule apparently led to his heart attack. The heart attack occurred on 28 July 1987, two weeks before filming ended. To compensate, his character was written out of one scene, and in two others doubles were used and Woodward's voice added later.
Broadcast, video, and DVD
Codename: Kyril aired over two consecutive nights in the UK on ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
in March 1988, and similarly in the U.S. on Showtime in April 1988. In Australia, it aired in June 1989 on Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
.
Due to a transmission error at the time of the original UK broadcast on ITV, three minutes of the programme were missing for British viewers in 1988. That footage contains information critical to the plot: MI6 operative Peter Jackson (Hugh Fraser
Hugh Fraser (actor)
Hugh Fraser is an English actor and theatre director.-Early life:Born in London but raised in the East Midlands, Fraser studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art...
) tells Laurence Sculby (Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
) that he must pretend to be a Russian agent in order to gain Kyril's confidence, and tells Sculby to use the words "for the love of the Motherland" as a code phrase to convince him.
Codename: Kyril was released on VHS by Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
in 1991, in a truncated feature-length 90-minute version. The full-length two-part 208-minute version was released on DVD in 2010 by Network DVD
Network DVD
Network DVD is a DVD publishing company that specialises in classic British television. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known ITV programmes...
.
Critical reception
Upon broadcast, most news outlets uniformly praised the serial's all-star cast, heavily credentialed creative team, excellent production values, and colourful locations. Some questioned its rather serpentine plot: "The plot is strictly for fans of the cerebral espionage genre" opined The Miami NewsThe Miami News
The Miami News was the dominant evening newspaper in Miami, Florida for most of the 20th century, its chief concurrent competitor being the morning-edition of The Miami Herald. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called The Miami Metropolis. The Metropolis had become a daily paper...
. Some, like the New York Times, questioned somewhat the medley of Le Carre-like intricate espionage and Bond-like action scenes.
Upon the release of the DVD, the site DVDCompare.com summarized its review as follows:
A thoughtful blend of drama and action (including a great car chase through London, which comes at the climax of part one), Codename: Kyril is beautifully written (by one of Britain's leading television writers) and gorgeously shot. The (very respectable) cast is uniformly strong, and on the whole this is one of the best of the latter-day Cold War dramas."
HorrorView.com said of the serial: "[T]his is glossy prestige TV at its height, but with the kind of attention to character detail you don't always get to see these days."
And Alex J. Geairns at Cineology wrote that:
Codename: Kyril comes from an era where espionage menace comes from the deadly silence of its protagonists. This mini-series offers complex characterisations and an intelligent treatment of the theme of trust and betrayal. It’s not from the James Bond crash-bang school of spying, having been adapted by the award-winning John Hopkins — whose previous credits include Smiley’s People and Z Cars.
External links
- Codename: Kyril at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Codename: Kyril at AllMovie
- Codename: Kyril – Trailer
- Character descriptions and thumbnail gallery