Sleepers

This miniseries regarding the cold war is probable the best you are ever likely to see. It is both serious and hilarious at the same time. The stars are all excellent, particularly Michael Gough. I do not know of any other serious-comedy that can hold your attention. make you laugh; keep you under suspense, all at the same time.

More than a decade after its first airing on "Masterpiece Theatre," I still pull out my copy of "Sleepers" to watch once a year or so.

"Sleepers" has it all: wonderfully witty, satiric commentary on post-Cold War politics; superb acting by Nigel Havers & Warren Clarke & Company, in turns farcical, funny, & poignant; a script that pokes fun at the Yanks, the Brits, the Soviets, & all of our cultures simultaneously. It's a travesty that it's never surfaced on video or DVD, & that it got a mere passing mention in the recent "Masterpiece Theatre" anniversary book. "Sleepers" is one of the finest, & unfortunately most overlooked, installments of the "Masterpiece Theatre" series.

Now if you'll excuse me, Episodes 3 & 4 are cued up in the VCR & awaiting my return to the sofa....

"Sleepers" is the story of two KGB moles sent to Britain in the mid-60s for the purpose of establishing legends. After twenty-five years the KGB has forgotten all about these guys, but that is soon to change. The KGB accidentally stumbles across their identities in a database and starts researching who they are and why the were sent to England. The KGB now wants to find them and bring them back. Only problem is these two guys have essentially crossed cultural lines and become more British than Russian and, needless to say, do not want to return to the Soviet Union. This story is both funny and somewhat melancholy. Superb performances by all the cast. A great story that puts a rather novel spin on the spy genre. You won't be disappointed.

The most amusing mini-series about the end of the Cold War to be done in 20 years!

In 1966, an ambitious Soviet agent sends two sleepers (spies who infiltrate a country and do not act until they receive their activation code-word) to England on an undisclosed mission. Unbeknownst to the agents, their controller is imprisoned during an official purge, and they never receive their activation code! Now, 25 years later, the records of the mission have been unearthed but the agents are nowhere to be found--or, at least, that's the way they want it! One is a wealthy stockbroker, the other a married brewery worker with three children!

Perhaps the funniest scene is when the KGB agent-in-residence-in-London, Victor Chekhov (David Calder) is confiding in the situation to his British counterpart (William Chubb). Both men are mooning over how dull the spy world has become, compared to the past. "Yeah," says Chekhov, wistfully, "remember the Good Old Days?"

Bear in mind, this is not a slam-bang action series, but a touching human comedy. The sleeper agents are two men who until now have been happy with their lives. But now, with their buried pasts starting to catch up to them, they have to decide what to do. It's humorous, and at the same time ironic because it's really a story about how change comes to all things.

This series was superb. It's listed in the IMDB as a comedy, but it is in fact a Cold War drama of the most compelling and chilling sort. Why on earth it hasn't appeared in video is beyond me. It deserves the highest rating.