However, there was a revival of curiosity when, in 2017, the BBC screened a dramatisation of SS-GB, almost 40 years after the publication of the novel on which it was primarily based.
And, in 2022, The IPCRESS file – the e book that began all of it – was remade for ITV, starring Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton and Tom Hollander.
Deighton not often gave interviews and by no means thought of himself a pure writer.
“The best thing about writing books, he said on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs programme, “is being at a get together and telling some fairly woman you write books.
“The worst thing is sitting at a typewriter and actually writing the book.”
But, every so often, he stated, being an writer has its benefits.
“When you make a book,” he as soon as stated, “it’s like making a hand grenade. It’s a dull process but when you throw it the person at the other end gets the effect.”
