Little Drummer Girl reviews round-up: What the critics are saying about new BBC drama starring Florence Pugh

The reviews are in for the first episode of the BBC adaption The Little Drummer Girl, by John le Carré.

Directed by Oldboy's Park Chan-wook and produced by the people behind The Night Manager, the new six-part drama stars Florence Pugh, Alexander Skarsgard and Michael Shannon.

Reactions from critics have been largely positive, with praise for Pugh's performance as the idealistic actress Charlie, and Shannon as the Israeli spymaster Martin Kurtz.

Here's what the reviews have said so far (spoiler warning):

★★★★☆

It makes less effort to please. At times, it seems if it wants to unsettle. The dialogue occasionally feels stilted, as if even the speakers were picking their way through their sentences. The Seventies costume and settings are kind of gorgeously unstylish. Park’s directorial flourishes are everywhere.

He does not aim to be invisible but to remind you constantly that what you are seeing is a creation. Take the scene at a beachside taverna in Greece, where Charmian and Becker start talking properly to each other. The camera stays still, the focus snaps between him and her. Or the denouement in Athens, so sumptuous that we forget the absurdity of spooks privately renting a temple to do their recruiting.

Some will see these as straightforward flaws, but the first episode is all the more satisfying for the way it draws attention to its own artifice. It is a beautiful and oddly disconcerting piece of filmmaking, steeped in the idea of appearances, and how they can be used to seduce and betray. Surfaces, details, attention: the language of cinema is not so different from the language of spying. (Ed Cumming)

★★★★☆

It’s all brilliantly, beautifully done and the dialogue sounds as good as everything else looks. By the end of the hour you’re more firmly recruited than Charlie is. Do I know what is real and what is not? Do I know where to position myself at the border between fact and fiction? I do not. Let Le Carré and his team determine my truth. I’m along for the six-week ride. (Lucy Mangan)

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★★★★☆

Some of the action moved like tar, especially the bits involving that annoying troupe of London actors who, ironically, delivered the most wooden performances... This episode, in fairness, had much heavy lifting to do setting scenes, establishing new characters, and flitting between London, west Germany and Greece (which won't harm BBC programme sales abroad)... this has the feel of a drama that will end up being addictive. And I suspect that ulimately I'll enjoy it more – and it will certainly be more plausible – than previous Sunday night incumbent, Bodyguard. (Carol Midgley)

★★★★☆

Even by the standards of the BBC’s exceptionally strong drama slate this autumn. expectations for its new John le Carré adaptation were high. And The Little Drummer Girl (BBC One) didn’t disappoint. But as the curtain closed on last night’s opening episode, one couldn’t help feeling that some fans of the BBC’s previous le Carré mega-hit, The Night Manager, would have been left feeling a mite short-changed. Or at the very least confused. (Gerard O'Donovan)

(Positive)

Pugh is a wonder – which is no surprise to anyone to have caught her BAFTA nominated-role in Lady MacBeth – being handpicked by director Park, and separately producers – and sons of Le Carre – Simon and Stephen Cornwell.

After a summer of being spoilt by the BBC, The Little Drummer Girl is the perfect anecdote for breaking into the winter nights and more than keeps us satisfied until The Night Manager’s return is eventually confirmed – presumably as the final credits roll here. (Adam Miller)

Digital Spy

(Positive)

Some viewers may feel the pace isn't exactly on the urgent side. The explosive start gives way to a more thoughtful backstory and intricate character development rather than kicking off a domino of blockbuster set-pieces. Having said that, the ending does up the stakes once more leaving the audience desperate to know what happens next.

It may lack the instant hit and gratification of other high profile BBC offerings such as Bodyguard or, indeed, the global flash of The Night Manager – but The Little Drummer Girl has depth and intrigue in spades. And its leads, Florence Pugh and Michael Shannon, are two of the most unusual and downright pleasing things to happen to television in a long time. (Cameron K McEwan)

(Positive)

Period rather than modern, stylised rather than naturalistic, lofty rather than gritty… this six-part John Le Carre adaptation may take the familiar premise of a group of agents trying to bring down a terror cell, but its execution is unique.

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That’s down to Old Boy and The Handmaiden director Park Chan-wook, who massages beauty out of thorny international politics. The Little Drummer Girl doesn’t look glossy and expensive in the way Le Carre/BBC predecessor The Night Manager, from the same production team, did. It looks, as people seem fond of saying, ‘authored’. That means desaturated backdrops and punches of colour. It means exquisitely rendered backdrops, brutalist architecture, clever framing and locations that announce themselves. (Louisa Mellor)

★★★★☆

Its characters may be flimsy, but The Little Drummer Girl has been filmed with extraordinary care. Every shot is sculpted, with tiny clues scattered everywhere. Gold watches are one motif: Richthofen wears one, as does the bomber Halil, who looks like he has just stepped out of an Old Spice advert. Girls swoon at his feet.

When we meet Kurtz, we’re looking down from a high aerial shot as he steps out of a car. Then we watch from above as he descends a spiral staircase. It’s all elegantly choreographed, and designed to induce a dizzy sense of foreboding. (Christopher Stevens)

The Little Drummer Girl continues on BBC One, Sunday 4 November at 9pm