The Night Manager (British TV series)

The Night Manager
Genre	Drama Espionage
Based on	The Night Manager by John le Carré
Written by	John le Carré
Screenplay by	David Farr
Directed by	Susanne Bier
Starring	Tom Hiddleston Hugh Laurie Olivia Colman Tom Hollander Tobias Menzies Elizabeth Debicki Douglas Hodge Antonio de la Torre
Music by	Victor Reyes
Country of origin	United Kingdom United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	6
Production
Producer	Rob Bullock
Cinematography	Michael Snyman
Running time	58 minutes
Production companies	The Ink Factory BBC AMC
Original release
Network	BBC One (UK) AMC (US)
Release	21 February (2016-02-21) – 27 March 2016 (2016-03-27)

The Night Manager is a British-American television miniseries directed by Susanne Bier and starring Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman, David Harewood, Tom Hollander and Elizabeth Debicki. It is based on the 1993 novel of the same name by John le Carré and adapted by David Farr to the present day. The six-part serial began broadcasting on BBC One on 21 February 2016. In the United States, it began on 19 April 2016 on AMC. IMG sold the series internationally to over 180 countries.

Summary

Former British soldier Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is recruited by Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), an intelligence operative. He is tasked to navigate Whitehall and Washington, D.C. where there is an alliance between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade. He must infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper (Hugh Laurie), Roper's girlfriend Jed (Elizabeth Debicki), and associate Corkoran (Tom Hollander).

Cast

Main cast

• Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine
• Hugh Laurie as Richard Onslow Roper
• Olivia Colman as Angela Burr
• Tom Hollander as Major "Corky" Lance Corkoran
• Elizabeth Debicki as Jed Marshall
• Alistair Petrie as Sandy, Lord Langbourne
• Natasha Little as Caroline, Lady Langbourne
• Douglas Hodge as Rex Mayhew
• David Harewood as Joel Steadman
• Tobias Menzies as Geoffrey Dromgoole
• Antonio de la Torre as Juan Apostol
• Adeel Akhtar as Rob Singhal
• Michael Nardone as Frisky

Guest and recurring cast

• David Avery as Freddie Hamid
• Amir El-Masry as Youssuf
• Aure Atika as Sophie (Samira) Alekan
• Nasser Memarzia as Omar Barghati
• Russell Tovey as Simon Ogilvey
• Neil Morrissey as Harry Palfrey
• Katherine Kelly as Pamela, the Permanent Secretary
• Bijan Daneshmand as Kouyami
• Hannah Steele as Marilyn

Production

In January 2015 it was announced that the serial would be co-produced by the BBC, AMC and The Ink Factory.

Filming began on 19 March 2015 in Zermatt, Switzerland. Production then moved to London, UK. From 13–17 April 2015, location filming took place at Blackpool Mill Cottage, Hartland Abbey, and in and around Hartland, Devon. On 20 April 2015, production moved to Marrakesh, Morocco. The Es Saadi Resort was used as the location for the fictional Nefertiti Hotel in Cairo. At the end of May, production movied to Mallorca, Spain; principal photography wrapped in Mallorca on 3 July 2015.

Broadcast

Episode 1 of The Night Manager was broadcast on 21 February 2016 on BBC One in the United Kingdom. AMC Spain broadcast the first episode on 24 February 2016. TV3 in New Zealand broadcast the first episode on 28 February 2016. In the United States, the show premiered on 19 April 2016 on AMC. The series was scheduled to air in Australia on BBC First on 20 March 2016. The series is scheduled to air in Saudi Arabia on AMC starting on 6 June 2016. In Finland the series premiered 22. June 2016 on MTV3.

The author John le Carré made an appearance in Episode 4.

Episodes

No.	Title	Original air date	UK viewers (millions) [A]
1	"Episode 1"	21 February 2016	10.18
During the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Jonathan Pine works as night manager of the Nefertiti Hotel. He becomes involved with Sophie Alekan, the mistress of Freddie Hamid whose family owns most of Cairo. Sophie gives Jonathan an envelope of confidential documents she wants copied. Inside, he finds a list of weapons and warfare chemicals, and correspondence between the Hamids' companies and Ironlast Limited. Jonathan turns the documents over to the International Enforcement Agency in London, resulting in Sophie's death. Four years later, intelligence officer Angela Burr contacts him to help investigate Ironlast CEO Richard Roper. When Jonathan balks, she cites Pine's two tours of duty during the Iraq War and his witnessing what harm chemical weapons can inflict, as well as Sophie's murder.
2	"Episode 2"	28 February 2016	10.19
Jonathan agrees to work with Angela, upon her promise of a new identity for him afterwards, and is given non-official covers, Jack Linden and, later, Thomas Quince. As Linden, Jonathan spends time in Devon establishing a violent cover identity. Later, Angela sends him to Spain, where Roper is meeting partners in relation to an arms deal. The operation to place Jonathan within Roper's organization is named Limpet. In Majorca, a staged abduction of Roper's son Daniel is conducted at a seaside restaurant. Jonathan, as Quince, in place as a worker at the restaurant, appears to free Daniel by confronting and battling the attackers. During the confrontation one of the abductors violently beats him in retaliation for his excessive violence against another of the kidnappers as part of the fake rescue. The badly injured Quince is taken by Roper back his villa. Roper believes he is "Pine from Switzerland" and is grateful to him for the rescue and allows him to recover, but remains skeptical. Corky, Roper's henchman, confronts Jonathan about his criminal past and multiple identities, and Roper says he will soon learn who the wounded man is. In London, Angela works to keep the status of Operation Limpet secret from the "River House" (MI6), who she believes will disrupt the operation if they learn about it.
3	"Episode 3"	6 March 2016	9.74
In Madrid, Roper's lawyer Juan "Apo" Apostol hosts a birthday party for his daughter, Elena, which Roper and his entourage attend. Elena is soon found hanged to death. Back at his villa, Roper questions Jonathan about his criminal past. Jonathan shares his crafted backstory, of which Roper has a dossier to match. Jonathan states that he is leaving, but Roper says his Quince cover is blown. He will have to stay and concoct another. In Madrid, Angela finds a grieving Apo and attempts to gain his trust. Later with Daniel, Jonathan learns of Roper's secret study and its hidden key. Daniel also discloses that an alarm test is done once daily. Jonathan finds the key and, during the test in the study, photographs documents on Tradepass, Roper's agricultural equipment company which is a front. The next day, Roper presents Jonathan with a passport under the name Andrew Birch. However, Jonathan must do something for him in exchange. Roper gives him Corky's former job of control of Tradepass. Jonathan accepts his new name and role. In London, members of the River House attempt to take control of Limpet from Angela's backer Rex Mayhew; he resists, even when offered a bribe. Later, another corrupt River House member meets with Roper in Monaco, and tells Roper about the existence of Limpet (though not Jonathan's role, of which he is unaware).
4	"Episode 4"	13 March 2016	9.61
Roper gives Jonathan the details of his Andrew Birch identity and his plan to introduce him to willing financial supporters of Tradepass. He adds that the investors will not know where the money comes from, as the company will be registered in Cyprus and the bank in Geneva. At the IEA, Angela produces Tradepass documents and explains that Roper pays his investors 20-percent profit for backing Tradepass, but sells his purchased weapons for twice the amount. Special attention is given to two names, Halo and Felix. Angela later learns that Halo is Dromgoole, who falsifies Ministry of Defense documents. Felix is Barbara Vandon, a Langley operative who assists in the falsification. Dromgoole suspects Apo to have leaked the Tradepass documents, and Apo is later found murdered. Meanwhile, Corky's suspicions about Jonathan and Roper's girlfriend Jed prove true when they have sex. She later calls him by his actual name over the phone, which reaches Angela who wants to pull him out. Jonathan tells her about a shipment of weapons crates in Istanbul that could amount to starting a war. When Angela refuses to listen, Jonathan tells Roper they are being watched and their team escapes from the IEA.
5	"Episode 5"	20 March 2016	9.67
During a flight to Turkey, Roper informs Jonathan of knowing Angela obtained the Tradepass documents, including those with written notes from Apo, which is why he is "no longer with us". Roper adds that he knows only four other people, including Jonathan, could have leaked the document. Arriving at a compound, called the Haven, mercenaries prepare to display their weapons to Roper. On a hill above a cleared village, he delights in seeing jets napalm it. Jonathan makes note of the convoy trucks disguised as aid trucks as they leave the compound. In London, Dromgoole contacts Angela to ask where she got the papers she took to Apo. She asks about Dromgoole's involvement with Roper. Dromgoole says he knows someone is on the inside for Limpet and warns her not to get in the way. Jonathan sneaks out of the compound to have his notes delivered to Angela but is caught by Corky upon returning. A struggle results in Jonathan beating Corky to death and Roper being told Corky may have met with someone outside the fence. Angela manages to request U.S. military action against Roper's trucks at the Syrian border. However, when inspected, they contain merely agriculture equipment. Roper, watching with his team via satellite feed, has played a shell game. They all return to Cairo, where Roper contacts Freddie Hamid.
6	"Episode 6"	27 March 2016	9.90
In London, following the botched raid at the Syrian border, the Ministry begins disbanding the IEA office. In Egypt, the Tradepass team meets Hamid, whom Jonathan denies knowing, and strike a deal for the weapons shipment. Meanwhile Angela arrives at Cairo after receiving Jonathan's tip. Later, Jed manages to get the code to Roper's safe for Jonathan, which he gives to Angela. She steals an envelope from it containing an owner registration certificate under Tradepass Holdings. At a casino, Jonathan spikes Hamid's drinks and escorts him home. He asks Hamid about Sophie's death. Roper had her killed because she refused to tell him who helped her. Jonathan strangles Hamid and dumps him face down in the pool. Using the certificate, Jonathan sneaks in a team to investigate the weapons cargo and rig them with explosives, before returning the envelope to Jed. While replacing it, she is caught by Roper, who starts to have her tortured for information and figures out that Jonathan is the mole . Meanwhile Jonathan transfers $300 million out of the Tradepass account. Angela saves Jed from Roper's bodyguard, while Roper and Jonathan meet with the Egyptian buyers. Roper tells him to give an excellent performance with the investors or Jed would die. Jonathan blows the trucks up and has Roper take him to Jed, in exchange for the money. At the hotel, Angela confronts Roper, who attempts to phone Dromgoole to call her off, only to receive no answer; Angela's team, armed with the certificate as evidence of his involvement with Roper, has blackmailed him into staying silent. Roper is captured, but the police van is commandeered by his bilked buyers, who drive off with him and his bodyguards. Jed and Jonathan later make future plans, before he watches her depart the Nefertiti as he addresses the new night manager.

Critical reception

The series received universal critical acclaim, with The Sun calling it "one of the greatest series of all time".

Adam Sisman, le Carré's biographer, wrote in UK daily newspaper The Daily Telegraph, "It is more than 20 years since the novel was published, and in that time two film companies have tried and failed to adapt it, concluding that it was impossible to compress into two hours. But this six-hour television adaptation is long enough to give the novel its due." He added, "And though Hugh Laurie may seem a surprising choice to play 'the worst man in the world', he dominates the screen as a horribly convincing villain. Alert viewers may spot a familiar face in the background of one scene, in a restaurant: John le Carré himself makes a cameo, as he did in the films of A Most Wanted Man and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. But he is on screen only for an instant: blink and you'll miss him."

Reviewing Episode 1 for The Guardian, Archie Bland began by noting, "The Night Manager is as sexed up as television drama comes. In Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie it has bona fide international stars; in John le Carré's source novel it has a pedigree of untouchable grandeur. The palette is as sumptuous as one of our hero Jonathan Pine's beautiful hotels." He added, "It's Laurie's vulpine performance that gives The Night Manager its force once the smell of money has worn off. But we barely see him for the first 40 minutes – a delayed gratification trick that's always worked like magic on me, ever since we spent the whole first episode of The West Wing waiting impatiently to meet Josiah Bartlet." Turning to Hiddleston's performance, Bland wrote, "And as the embodiment of the show's atmosphere of paralysed establishment glamour, Hiddleston is the business. When the noble beast beneath that accommodating English exterior begins to make itself known, I do find the righteous revenge he's intent on wreaking on Roper compelling."

IGN reviewer Jesse Schedeen gave the miniseries an 8.8 out of 10, saying "The Night Manager proves that television is the ideal format to bring le Carré's novels to life. This miniseries is tightly paced, suspenseful and boasts strong performances from the likes of Hiddleston, Laurie, Colman and Hollander. With any luck, this series will open the doors for more of le Carré's classic spy tales to make their way to the small screen."

Notes

A. ^ Based on twenty-eight day data.

External links

• The Night Manager at BBC Online
• The Night Manager at AMC
• The Night Manager at IMDb