The Deighton Dossier

Films

In many ways, it has been the films as much as his books that have impressed Len Deighton upon the national and international consciousness. In particular, the three iconic films from the 'sixties with Michael Caine playing Harry Palmer, which shook up the spy film genre.

Despite these successes, Deighton's relationship with the big screen has been mixed. While the Harry Palmer films were cinematic successes, other films were relative failures at the box office, films such as Only When I Larf or Spy Story. Indeed, Deighton's own poor results when he turned his hand to film-making directly - first as scriptwriter on the failed Bond movie Warhead and then as producer of Oh! What a Lovely War! - rather put him off the film business for much of his career.

On TV, when the ITV adaptation of Game, Set & Match - with Ian Holm as Bernard Samson - failed to match Deighton's expectations, he prevented further broadcasts. However, new adaptations are planned, including an adaptation by the BBC of SS-GB. Each of the pages below now includes embedded video footage of film trailers, excerpts and 'making of' sequences.