[2] The play was adapted as a 1991 television film of the same name directed by John Schlesinger and broadcast as part of the BBC's Screen One series.
The film was produced by Innes Lloyd, a long-time collaborator of the author in his television work, and is dedicated to his memory in a title card at the beginning of the end credits.
[3] The New York Times called the film a "razor-sharp psychological melodrama" and it won the 1992 BAFTA TV award for Best Single Drama.
[5] While supervising the restoration of a dual portrait in which only partial attribution to Titian is thought credible, Blunt discovers a third figure that had been painted over by an unknown artist, and concludes by comparison with a better known triple portrait in London's National Gallery (Allegory of Prudence) that the newly revealed third figure was Titian's son.
As Blunt's public exposure as a spy in 1979 draws near, the play suggests that he has been made a scapegoat to protect others in the security service.