BBC Radio 4 are running a series of adaptations from the early novels of John le Carré. The first dramatisation (of Call for The Dead) was on yesterday morning and enjoyed it immensely.

One of the most enjoyable performances I’ve ever heard on the radio was the author reading his own work (Absolute Friends). He sounded like a madman jumping around the recording booth no doubt, doing the accent for little Mustafa and his mother Zara in broken Hungarian then jumping into eurobanker English and back to that lost boy Mundy and his head prefect voice, which lé Carre mimics well, considering he’s the son of a disgraced con-man / social climber. He knows his characters well and obviously cares about their voices beyond the page. Listen to this short interview on Front Row if you’re interested. There’s more lé Carre archived on the BBC’s website- he’s an writer well worth investing some serious time to. Remember this is the author of The Constant Gardener, that bitter melancholic story which was turned into an unlikely Oscar winning film. Much more than simple espionage plots. His new novel A Most Wanted Man does sound interesting.