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She thinks romer is the one watching her because he is paranoid about being exposed. So he is the only one that can help because he is the one controlling it

"(A couple of the shots described as being in 'London' also shot in Cambridge, down side of Senate House)."

Aha! I thought that too!

Young Eva did it very well, I liked her (and her dresses)

Am also confused by the unresolved "watchers" - can understand if old Eva was paranoid after her photo appearing in the paper but who would be looking for her after all that time? If the British did suspect her of being a traitor (as old Romer said) they'd hardly be hanging around the woods.

Also surely even after all that time she'd be canny enough not to send her daughter to Romer under her own name. And why would Romer, whom she knows was the spy and behind the "rolling up", be the only one who could help her?

Liked the young Romer very much, but Michael Gambon is always Dumbledore Michael Gambon.

Enjoyable watching, if a bit uneven. Best thing when that happens is coming on here and asking all my "But why/what/who" questions

Thought it was a bit disappointing.

I really enjoyed it but came away a bit confused.

When Old Romer was surprised that Old Eva was 'being watched', is this because he was genuinely surprised and a, it was somebody else or b, she was delusional or option c I supposed, Romer is still a lying old cad. Is it supposed to be ambiguous?

Getting her to sleep with the obnoxious American. Was this part of her job really or did Romer set it all up for his own ends?

The other female spy who was shot after refusing to run with Eva, was she on Eva's side? When Eva rang her to say we need to run, she immediately rang somebody else. Was she telling Romer? Had Romer already convinced all of the others that Eva was the traitor?

I also wasn't sure if we were supposed to believe that Romer had genuine feelings for Eva despite his loyalty to the Russians. His wistful looks sometimes looked like they were supposed to be heartfelt.

Still enjoyed it. Was just a bit sloppy in places. Fab looking lead though. Loved her dresses. <shallow>

The book by William Boyd is worth reading, better than the TV version, though still has plot unlikelihoods.

There'smore in it about the daughter's relationship with the father of her child and also about a possible new romance for her. Also she's studying in Oxford, not Cambridge. No idea why that was changed. (A couple of the shots described as being in 'London' also shot in Cambridge, down side of Senate House).

I loved it- plot was nuts.
But those dresses and her figure....fab.

I didn't get why the nkvd guy (found dead in new York) was at her interview about the Dutch agent mess up?

I think you are right.

I love that, throughout the story he is telling us that it's him who is the double agent as he instructs her on being a spy. All that stuff about not trusting anyone and also the motive that people have for betraying their country.

I should add that I haven't read he book and this is just what I think after watching the tv adaptation

I guess he slept with her for the same reasons she slept with the American guy - part of the job. Obviously it bothered him a lot less than it bothered her!

He killed himself because he didn't want to be exposed as a traitor

So basically Roma was a psychopath or narc, how else could he have a relationship with someone he was setting up to die. I don't understand why Roma killed himself at the end either

I also questioned the Charlotte Rampling age thing. I still keep thinking about the story a few days after watching the drama, it didn't make sense to me why she would make contact with Roma at the end-did she want him to kill himself? It has made me want become a spy.

I think William Boyd wrote it

I don't think she was meant to die after the first cock up. I think he was setting her up so when she was found dead with the map the British would assume she was a double agent for te Russians and thus not suspect romer

I think I will have to read the book, who wrote it?

I wondered if Ava got paranoid about being watched after being Widdowed?

So the bit where Ava escaped through the WC window, was Romer setting her up to die then also?

So the marrying in Dublin is how Ava escaped into another identity?

Ooh I read the book over Christmas and really enjoyed it - I even temporarily gave up my MN habit to read it while breastfeeding. A real page turner though not a patch on any human heart. Didn't realise it was on tv though - damn! Will it be on iplayer? Must check.

I thought Charlotte Rampling was too old. I thought the character was more likely to be mid fifties rather than mid sixties

Yes, I think in the book there is a lot that goes on in the modern day to try to confuse you into wondering if this is a big delusion, based in some reality or all totally true.

I felt that her mum was increasingly paranoid in her old age and there was never any modern day conspiratory. There is more in the book about this, based round the daughter's job and also her relationship with her son's father.

It's definitely worth reading.

The daughter thought the police visit was really to do with her mother. The boyfriend turning up as he did showed that the police probably were there for him.

It all comes down to whether or not you believe there were people watching her as romer seemed very surprised

Also, Morris showing her the suicide was to make ou think he was the double agent, although after the Amsterdam/te Hague error it was pretty obvious it was romer. He clearly saw her as the patsy from day one

so both my ideas in one (Roma/Romer/the Russians wanted her dead - her specifically? was she possibly about to discover Roma/Romers' russian spyingness? AND they wanted the British plan to go ahead as well)?

Should I read the book? Does it explain the seeming pointlessness of the German boyfriend part?

Romer (her boss who was actually a Russian spy) intended Eva to be killed. He wanted a known British spy (the FBI were already unto them) to be found with the map (the spelling mistake in the German was so it looked obviously like british fakery as a german would not make such a basic mistake) so that the Americans would be aghast at such British dirty tricks and be more determined to stay out of the war.

The Russians (according to "old"Romer) wanted to keep the war European only as it suited their long term dominance plans. Romer did not anticipate that Eva would kill her captor and that the US would not be perturbed by the spelling mistakes and accept it as genuinely german (as they are so dumb .

Loved this - great acting, but huge plot flaws.

I'm still confused by the whole map plot. The British wanted a fake (but accurate) map to be found on a German spy so that the USA would come into the war. So spygirl needed to hand it over to drunkspy (was he supposed to be a German spy?). But Roma produced a map that was obviously fake (knowing that spygirl would notice) - did he intend for that to be handed over to drunkspy, or did he mean for spygirl to be caught with it (thereby fulfilling his Russian spy aim)? Who intended spygirl to be killed? The British or the Russians?

True, Cuddly. I meant that more as an upshot of the life she led rather than a sort of punishment thing really

I also wondered if the whole 'looking into the woods' was her being delusional, and that they weren't actually coming after her at all

Why would they, after all those years?

Or am I missing something?

It made more sense that she was still looking right at the very end, because of worrying she'd made a mistake involving her daughter.