Errol Morris’ Documentary The Pigeon Tunnel Explores Life and Career of British Author John le Carré


Apple TV+ will drop Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris’ latest work The Pigeon Tunnel this Friday, October 20, 2023, at 12 a.m. ET. The documentary unpacks the life and career of former British spy-turned-author David Cornwell, widely known as John le Carré. The documentary is an Apple Original Films production and will be exclusively available to stream on the platform starting Friday.

The Pigeon Tunnel’s John le Carré’s life and career, explored

Former British spy, John le Carré aka David Cornwell wrote the memoir “The Pigeon Tunnel” which serves as inspiration for Errol Morris’ documentary. He became a best-selling author following Britain’s MI5 and MI6 in the 1950s and ’60s.

The Guardian reported that Carré was in his 20s when he started writing fiction. His books “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold,” “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” and “The Night Manager” are quite popular. Hollywood has now adapted all these works. The author created a fictional character named George Smiley, a veteran intelligence officer who features in most of his books.

According to Deadline, the former spy died of pneumonia at the age of 89 on December 12, 2020. The prolific writer’s books also include “Call For the Dead,” “The Naïve and Sentimental Lover,” “A Perfect Spy,” “The Russia House,” “The Tailor of Panama,” and “A Legacy of Spies,” among other works.

The Pigeon Tunnel on Apple TV+: Plot and more about the Errol Morris documentary

Apple TV+ Press stated that Morris’ documentary The Pigeon Tunnel documents John le Carré’s legacy. The Oscar-winning documentarian’s upcoming work is set “against the turbulent backdrop of the Cold War leading into the present day.”

The documentary will span six decades as Carré delivers his final and most candid interview along with rare archival footage. The Pigeon Tunnel is described as “a deeply human and engaging exploration of le Carré’s extraordinary journey and the paper-thin membrane between fact and fiction.”

Dominic Crossley-Holland, Steven Hathaway, Simon Cornwell, and Stephen Cornwell serve as producers. Moreover, Executive producers include Hossein Amini, P.J. van Sandwijk, Michael Lesslie, Joe Tsai, Arthur Wang, Michele Wolkoff, and Katherine Butler.

The Pigeon Tunnel debuts on Apple TV+ on October 20, 2023.