In 1963, spy chief Major Dalby gives small-time crook and black-marketeer Corporal Harry Palmer a way out of Military Prison at Colchester Garrison by offering him a job as an intelligence officer in his small but influential Whitehall security unit, WOOC(P).

[6] Contrary to previous adaptations, the story has been extensively reworked, with plot and some characters radically altered and a lot of new material added, making the TV series significantly different from Deighton's original.

Visually, director James Watkins makes several nods to the direction of Sidney J. Furie, with regular use of angled camera work, and in places borrows almost shot-for-shot the framing of certain scenes.

"[7] Writing in The Guardian Stuart Jeffries comments that "this opening reference to 57-year-old movie eyewear is a surprising gambit by director James Watkins and writer John Hodge, given their creative betrayal elsewhere of the source material.

[10] Chris Bennion in The Telegraph laments that "Joe Cole is horribly miscast as Harry Palmer" but "the rest is terrific", calling this adaptation of Len Deighton's novel "atmospheric, cool and compelling.

Still, the costumes are “fabulous”, the look of the show is "beautiful" and the story "motors along nicely," and Singh praises the production for sticking with Len Deighton's original creation and not trying to "turn Palmer into an action hero.

Cooke laments Joe Cole's 'lack of charisma', says Lucy Boynton is "as woefully stiff as a Thunderbirds puppet", but praises Tom Hollander's performance as he "oozes patrician superiority".

"[15] Stuart Jeffries, writing in The Guardian, suggests that what makes The Ipcress File worth reviving is that "now, as then, the Etonian death grip on politics and public service imperils Britain more than any tooled-up Russian."