'The Ipcress File' Gets an Official Release Date on AMC+

The Ipcress File was a smash hit when it debuted on ITV in March 2022, holding its own in the ratings against Peaky Blinders' final season. Fans have known for a while that the series had been picked up over here by AMC Networks and was planned for a streaming run on flagship streaming service AMC+ set for later this spring. Thankfully, we now have an actual day and date to go along with it, with the thriller kicking off in late May and a schedule of how the series will air. ITV split the difference by doing weekly episodes on broadcast while dropping it as a binge on streaming, but it looks like AMC+ plans to let fans have one installment at a time.

The new series is based on the 1962 debut novel The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton. Arriving at a time when James Bond was all the rage, it was quickly picked up and turned into a movie starring Michael Caine, in 1965, as a semi-downbeat working-class alternative to the tuxedoed and sophisticated 007. Not only did the film win the top prize at the BAFTAs that year, but four sequels followed, a second and third film in the 1960s and then two revivals (also starring Caine) in the 1990s. The new version is not an adaptation of the movies but instead draws directly from the books.

From all (positive) reviews from the show's debut across the pond, this series is not strictly faithful to the material — several described it as a "very loose" adaptation of the original. The "Cold War Brainwashing" story was extensively reworked. (One assumes "IPCRESS" still stands for "Induction of Psycho-neuroses by Conditioned Reflex under Stress.")  The series also altered some of the characters radically, including giving the leading lady more to do and diversifying the characters. New material has also been added to update the story and make it more in line with the times. In short, this is a very 2020 version of a cold war spy story, despite the 1963 period setting.