Muffin the spy?

So I recently read the June 2011 Mobile Read Book Club selection, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Meh . I also recently read a couple of the nominated books that did note win the vote. The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst that I found to be an excellent espionage novel. Also The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré, once more excellent. Though for the last I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had not already seen the film a number of times. I thus already knew the plot, including the twist ending. That and however le Carré wanted the reader to envision Leamas, I could not imagine anyone but Richard Burton.

Anyway what I wanted to ask is this. A number of years ago I watched a few episodes of a British TV series about another Cold War spy. I am fairly certain that the hero, a British intelligence agent, was named “Muffin.” Seriously . I am wondering if this was based on a book? I thought it might be an alternate character, to George Smiley, of le Carré's. Not so though. Any intelligence on this matter would be much appreciated.

[Mike L]

Are you perhaps thinking of Charlie Muffin by Brian Freemantle? It's a Cold War spy novel from the 1970s. I don't know if it was on TV, but I believe it was made into a movie.

Thank you. A Google search revealed that is it. The book Charlie M. by Freemantle was indeed made into a movie, released as A Deadly Game here in the US. Either the movie was later serialized, or my memory is playing tricks on me in thinking it was multi-episode. Apparently Charlie M. was just the first in a long series of books by Freemantle featuring the Charlie Muffin character.