British filmmaker John Irvin has died at the age of 86, following a career spanning more than five decades.

The director of the Bafta-winning BBC miniseries Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was remembered by his children as an "archetypal romantic warrior and storyteller".

A statement from Emilie, Luke and Amy Irvin said their father had a “fierce heart” and “commitment to social justice”.

They said: “Our father was the archetypal romantic warrior and storyteller… raconteur and rebel. He travelled between the working man’s clubs of Tyneside and the Garrick club in London, the desert and Malibu.

“Dad made us all laugh and cry, and we will miss his wisdom, his will, his optimism and his love.”

His producers Vaughn Mullady and Claire Evans said in a statement that working with Irvin was “not so much work as a great journey”.

They said: “What interested him was as broad as it is wide in genre and in subject matter, but always at its centre you will find the human heart and an urge to illuminate the human experience.”

Alec Guinness starred as George Smiley in the 1979 television adaptation of John le Carre’s 1974 spy novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The production received six Bafta nominations – winning two – along with an Emmy Award nomination.

Irvin also helmed several Hollywood films during the 1980s, including The Dogs of War, Ghost Story, Raw Deal, and Hamburger Hill.

Born in Wallasey, Cheshire in 1940, along with twin brother David, Irvin grew up in South Shields and graduated from the London Film School in the late 1950s.

He began his career working for British Movietone News.

In 1963 Irvin released his first film, the documentary Gala Day and the documentary short Inheritance, which was narrated by Richard Burton and won Irvin his first Bafta.

Mafia No!, which focused on Italian social activist Danilo Dolci, was nominated for best short film in 1967.

Many of his documentaries at this time were created for his own company, Mithras Films, as well as the BBC and ITV.

In the 1970s he turned his focus to working on TV shows after directing Anthony Hopkins in 1969’s The Peasants Revolt, which marked the actor’s first small screen role.

The success of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy saw him hired to helm Hollywood movies, directing a string of stars including Christopher Walken in The Dogs Of War, Fred Astaire in Ghost Story, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Raw Deal, Don Cheadle and Dylan McDermott in Hamburger Hill and Patrick Swayze and Liam Neeson in Next Of Kin.

He returned to working in the UK and Europe with notable projects including Shiner, starring Michael Caine, and The Boys and Girl from County Clare starring Andrea Corr and Colm Meaney.

The director’s final film was 2016’s Mandela’s Gun, a biopic of Nelson Mandela which focused on his experience as a guerrilla fighter for the African National Congress.

Irvin, who died on August 11, was married to Sophie (nee Litchfield) from 1970 until her death in 1991. He is survived by their three children.