*Warning: mild spoilers ahead for The Ipcress File episode 1*<\/strong><\/p>\n Harry Palmer may be thought of as the \u2018anti-Bond\u2019, but in ITV\u2019s adaptation of The Ipcress File<\/a>, the bespectacled smuggler-turned-spy could certainly give 007 a run for his money.<\/p>\n Based on the book of the same name, but distinct in feel from the iconic film version starring Michael Caine, the TV series stars Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders<\/a>) as the insolent Harry Palmer, a working-class former British Army sergeant in 1960s Berlin, using his mathematics skills to nefarious means by smuggling surplus army supplies back and forth across East and West Berlin.<\/p>\n His life in Berlin is painted as hard work but darkly glamorous, and certainly sexy \u2013 in the introduction of Michael Caine\u2019s Palmer, he finds a woman\u2019s silver charm bracelet tucked suggestively under his rumpled bedsheets, but the TV series takes things a step further, showing a naked woman in Palmer\u2019s bathtub within seconds of our first glimpse of him.<\/p>\n Although still a far cry from the martini-shaking James Bond, in Joe Cole\u2019s hands Harry Palmer is less of an everyman, and more aspirational: preternaturally bright, well-educated, bilingual, and with excellent instincts regarding both danger and women. He still grinds his own coffee, but he\u2019s flashier than past versions.<\/p>\n He\u2019s certainly more politically correct, as Joe Cole has noted<\/a>; the outdated, Sixties-era attitudes were deliberately toned down in the scripts for a modern-day audience. \u201cIt was this constant battle of trying to make him not sound like a d**k,\u201d Cole said at a press event attended by RadioTimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n As in the film, Harry Palmer\u2019s more sordid past employment history is key to how he becomes embroiled in an international cat-and-mouse game. With a skill-set like his, it\u2019s little wonder that when Palmer\u2019s bad-boy behaviour catches up with him, a member of the secret services (played by Tom Hollander) is waiting with a contract and fountain pen.<\/p>\n The TV series also puts far more focus on the character of Jean Courtney (Lucy Boynton), an upper-class young woman with a fabulous wardrobe, and whose family and tiresome fianc\u00e9 are labouring under the impression that she works as a secretary for the BBC. Instead, she\u2019s a spy working for the British intelligence services. She wears her diamond necklace \u2013 a gift from the aforementioned fianc\u00e9 \u2013\u00a0like an Albatross around her neck: a visual reminder (albeit one from Chanel) of all she\u2019ll have to give up once she ties the knot.<\/p> Overlooked by the majority of her male colleagues, the one person who doesn\u2019t underestimate Jean is Paul Maddox (Ashley Thomas), an African-American CIA agent whose first, impatient words to her are: \u201cYes, that\u2019s right, I\u2019m black\u201d. The pair quickly bond, establishing a flirtatious back-and-forth that will hopefully progress as the series goes on, even if it seems that Paul isn\u2019t being entirely honest with her (he initially tells Jean he\u2019s hungover, only for the viewer to later learn that he doesn\u2019t ever drink).<\/p>\n Whether or not you\u2019re a fan of the Michael Caine film, this TV version has both the pedigree and big-budget feel to recommend it. And even if you\u2019re familiar with the famous plot, there may just be some surprises in store.<\/p>\n The Ipcress File premiered on ITV on Sunday 6th March at 9pm. Check out more of our Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, l<\/strong>isten to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Flora Carr Published: Sunday, 06 March 2022 at 12:00 am 4.0 out of 5 star rating *Warning: mild spoilers ahead for The Ipcress File episode 1* Harry Palmer may be thought of as the \u2018anti-Bond\u2019, but in ITV\u2019s adaptation of The Ipcress File, the bespectacled smuggler-turned-spy could certainly give 007 a run for his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":11796,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/the-ipcress-file-review-itv-adaptation-is-sexier-take-on-classic-spy-thriller-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/the-ipcress-file-review-itv-adaptation-is-sexier-take-on-classic-spy-thriller-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/the-ipcress-file-review-itv-adaptation-is-sexier-take-on-classic-spy-thriller-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/the-ipcress-file-review-itv-adaptation-is-sexier-take-on-classic-spy-thriller-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/the-ipcress-file-review-itv-adaptation-is-sexier-take-on-classic-spy-thriller-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/the-ipcress-file-review-itv-adaptation-is-sexier-take-on-classic-spy-thriller-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/the-ipcress-file-review-itv-adaptation-is-sexier-take-on-classic-spy-thriller-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Flora Carr Published: Sunday, 06 March 2022 at 12:00 am 4.0 out of 5 star rating *Warning: mild spoilers ahead for The Ipcress File episode 1* Harry Palmer may be thought of as the \u2018anti-Bond\u2019, but in ITV\u2019s adaptation of The Ipcress File, the bespectacled smuggler-turned-spy could certainly give 007 a run for his…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/11795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""ALTITUDE\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/02\/the_ipcress_file_09_0-2a0013e.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"the_ipcress_file_09_0\"\\"\/")
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