I had this series on my rental list for a year before lifting it to the top and committing to watch this 83 series and the more recent 86 one after. I am SO GLAD I did - it is BRILLIANT. Way better than ANY UK drama and anything I have seen set in the 80s (Ashes to Ashes was a pantomime).
Superb period details, the Cold War paranoia, and full of thrills and twists, slips and slides of spying, and nail-biting tension in the slithering plots, with strong characters and performances (the main character is perfectly cast; also the general's son is the actor who played Viktor in the brilliant German TV WWII series GENERATION WAR - a great actor too). Whenever an episode finished I was desperate to watch the next part. I have not felt that way about a UK TV drama for years with the possible exception of Peaky Blinders. This is up there with Breaking Bad for quality.
Just superb. Proper grown-up intelligent drama - unlike what you see on the BBC then.
Five stars.
Lots of tension as the plot unfolds and the hero becomes trapped in the deceit. Good on the paranoia of East vs. West Germany, on both sides.
So well made and in my opinion very realistic. I was a teenager at the time and it was like going back in time only a lot more exciting!