[3] The series focuses on Bernard Samson (Ian Holm), beginning with his search for the "mole" that threatens the Brahms Network in East Germany.

He is then sent to Mexico to try to persuade a KGB major (Gottfried John) to defect, using his childhood friend Werner Volkmann's wife Zena as bait.

He noted that "the sharp direction by Kenneth Grieve and Patrick Lau and the provocative script by Howlett... comes up a winner through an assemblage of superb performances.

"[4] In TV Week, a supplement to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Lee Winfrey praised the production, calling it a "mind-bender", and singling out Gottfried John as a "mesmerizing menace", and cited Holm as "[holding] things together.

"[5] Conversely, in his review for The New York Times, John O'Connor wrote "Costly and ambitious, the 13-hour production of Game, Set and Match... is a mess."