Charlie's Apprentice

Charlie Muffin, most devious of spies, has been put out to pasture. Director General Peter Miller, Charlie's new director, has turned Charlie into a schoolmaster, a teacher of spies. All seems set for Charlie in his new role until his apprentice, John Gower, is sent to Beijing to extract a British agent. Gower's mission quickly becomes a failure as he is imprisoned within days of arrival. Miller reluctantly dispatches Charlie to rescue Gower before he reveals all in the face of certain torture; but as Charlie gets more deeply involved, he begins to wonder who is really pulling the strings now that the Cold War is over.