The Ipcress File review: ITV adaptation is sexier take on classic spy thriller

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) 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.

His life in Berlin is painted as hard work but darkly glamorous, and certainly sexy – in the introduction of Michael Caine's Palmer, he finds a woman's silver charm bracelet tucked suggestively under his rumpled bedsheets, but the TV series takes things a step further, showing a naked woman in Palmer's bathtub within seconds of our first glimpse of him.

Although still a far cry from the martini-shaking James Bond, in Joe Cole's 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's flashier than past versions.

He's certainly more politically correct, as Joe Cole has noted; the outdated, Sixties-era attitudes were deliberately toned down in the scripts for a modern-day audience. "It was this constant battle of trying to make him not sound like a d**k," Cole said at a press event attended by RadioTimes.com.

As in the film, Harry Palmer's 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's little wonder that when Palmer's bad-boy behaviour catches up with him, a member of the secret services (played by Tom Hollander in The Ipcress File cast) is waiting with a contract and fountain pen.

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 fiancé are labouring under the impression that she works as a secretary for the BBC. Instead, she's a spy working for the British intelligence services. She wears her diamond necklace – a gift from the aforementioned fiancé – like an Albatross around her neck: a visual reminder (albeit one from Chanel) of all she'll have to give up once she ties the knot.

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Overlooked by the majority of her male colleagues, the one person who doesn't underestimate Jean is Paul Maddox (Ashley Thomas), an African-American CIA agent whose first, impatient words to her are: "Yes, that's right, I'm black". 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't being entirely honest with her (he initially tells Jean he's hungover, only for the viewer to later learn that he doesn't ever drink).

Whether or not you're 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're familiar with the famous plot, there may just be some surprises in store.

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The Ipcress File premiered on ITV on Sunday 6th March at 9pm. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.

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