George Clooney has put his thumb into the directorial pie and pulled out a plum. Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind is based on the fantasy novel of Chuck Barris, TV producer cum CIA assassin, played in the film by the grubbily handsome Sam Rockwell. Clooney deals with the ramblings of a delusional solipsist and adopts a surreal, almost Lynch-like style for the proceedings. This adds to the general feeling of disorientation as the story flits from television studios to Russian detention centres wit find out more...

A highly acclaimed and influential account of Algeria's turbulent past made in psuedo-documentary style. The tense plot surrounds the rise of nationalist organisations in '54 and the French government's attempts to quell them. This film was the prototype for most political thrillers of the 1970s. find out more...

'The Company' fictionalises some of the key episodes in the CIA's battle with the KGB from the 50s through to the failed 1991 coup against Gorbachev, has a fine cast and is a well made TV drama.. find out more...

A bit disappointing, after the classy spycraft first episode, this has two stories; a rather silly one with Jack as the CIA man on the ground during the abortive 1956 Hungarian uprising and a somewhat better half-episode with Jack involved on the ground during the Bay of Pigs fiasco. If you've got the momentum from the first episode then keep watching. find out more...

1939; Edward Wilson starts a career in intelligence and covert operations as a consequence of his silver spoon background and American military involvement in WW2. 1961; now Wilson ruthlessly organises programmes that involve the deaths of many, seems incapable of having a relationship with a woman that doesn't involve destroying her, his marriage is a career enhancing loveless and hollow affair, he betrays most who know him, including his family, and this sale of his soul - all in the name of p find out more...

George Smiley, a recently retired MI6 agent, struggles to adjust to life outside the secret service. However, when a disgraced agent reappears with information concerning a mole, Smiley is drawn back into the murky field of espionage. Tasked with investi find out more...