Q&A

Q: With the ongoing interest in James Bond and trend for remakes, has anyone looked at remaking "The Ipcress File"? It seems like an obvious choice.

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

You aren't the only person to think of a remake of the super-stylish 1965 spy film "The Ipcress File," but the other people have pictured it as a series instead. (And so, you could have also mentioned the recent trend of miniseries productions of old John le Carre novels, namely "The Night Manager" in 2016 and "The Little Drummer Girl" in 2018.)

In fact, the new "Ipcress File" is already being filmed, with a plan to broadcast it on Britain's ITV network later this year or early next. There's no word yet on a North American broadcaster.

It will star Joe Cole, best known as John Shelby on another hit British series, "Peaky Blinders." He has big, if cheaply made, shoes to fill playing average-guy spy Harry Palmer, made famous in "Ipcress" by the great Michael Caine ("The Italian Job," 1969).

Palmer is everything James Bond isn't. He's very much a working-man spy and spends a good deal of time complaining about his expense account and back pay.

It's partly for that reason that it has become a spy classic, but also because the film is an amazing time capsule of '60s style. ITV has already released a few set photos from the remake, and fans like yourself will be pleased to know it retains that element, right down to Palmer's distinctive thick-framed glasses.

 

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