The Night Manager (TV series)
The Night Manager is a British television serial 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 to the present day by David Farr.[1][2][3] The six-part series began broadcasting on BBC One on 21 February 2016. In the United States, it began on 19 April 2016 on AMC. It has been sold internationally by IMG to over 180 countries,[4][5] and a second series has not formally been commissioned.[6]
| The Night Manager | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Drama Espionage |
| Based on | The Night Manager by John le Carré |
| Written by | David Farr |
| Directed by | Susanne Bier |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Victor Reyes |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 6 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | David Farr Susanne Bier John le Carré Tom Hiddleston Hugh Laurie |
| Producer | Rob Bullock |
| Cinematography | Michael Snyman |
| Running time | 58 minutes |
| Production companies | The Ink Factory BBC Demarest Films AMC |
| Distributor | IMG |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One (UK) AMC (US) |
| Picture format | 1080i |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 21 February – 27 March 2016 |
| External links | |
| BBC website | |
| Ink Factory Production Site | |
The first series of The Night Manager was nominated for 36 awards and won 11, including two Emmy Awards for director Susanne Bier and music composer Victor Reyes[7] and three Golden Globes for Best Performance to Tom Hiddleston, Best Performance for an Actress in a Supporting Role to Olivia Colman, and Best Performance for a Supporting Actor for Hugh Laurie.
Premise
Jonathan Pine, a luxury hotel night manager and former British soldier, is recruited by Angela Burr, the manager of a Foreign and Commonwealth Office task force investigating illegal arms sales, to infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper.
Cast
- Main cast[8]
- Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine
- Hugh Laurie as Richard "Dicky" Onslow Roper
- Olivia Colman as Angela Burr
- Tom Hollander as Major Lance "Corky" Corkoran
- Elizabeth Debicki as Jemima "Jed" Marshall
- Alistair Petrie as Alexander "Sandy" Langbourne, the Lord Langbourne
- Natasha Little as Caroline "Caro" Langbourne, the 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
- Hovik Keuchkerian as Tabby
- Guest and recurring cast
- Noah Jupe as Danny Roper
- 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 series would be co-produced by the BBC, AMC and The Ink Factory.[1] Onsite services were provided by Palma Pictures.
Filming began on 19 March 2015 in Zermatt, Switzerland.[9][10] 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.[11] 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.[12] At the end of May, production moved to Majorca, Spain; principal photography wrapped in Majorca on 3 July 2015.[13][14] Notable places include Port de Sóller, luxury property La Fortaleza in Port de Pollença and several locations in Palma.[15]
The author John le Carré makes a cameo appearance as an insulted restaurant diner in episode four.[16]
Broadcast
The first episode of The Night Manager was broadcast on 21 February 2016 on BBC One in the United Kingdom.[8] AMC Spain broadcast the series on 24 February 2016 in Spain.[17] TV3 in New Zealand broadcast the series on 28 February 2016.[18] In the United States, the show premiered on 19 April 2016 on AMC.[19] The serial aired in Australia on BBC First on 20 March 2016.[20] The serial aired in Saudi Arabia on AMC starting on 6 June 2016. In Finland the serial premiered 22 June 2016 on MTV3.[21] In Sweden the serial first aired on 22 August 2016 on TV4, split up into eight episodes not the original release of six episodes.[22] In Germany the serial started airing on 29 August 2016 on ZDF. The series was broadcast on Raidió Teilifís Éireann in Ireland on 29 August 2016.[23] On 24 February 2017, The Night Manager started to air in the Netherlands on public broadcaster NPO 1, being broadcast by AVROTROS.[24] The series was broadcast by BBC Persian from 15 February 2018 in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. In India, the series aired on Zee Café in October 2018.[25]
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [26][A] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode 1" | 21 February 2016 | 10.18 | |
|
During the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Jonathan Pine is night manager of the Nefertiti Hotel in Cairo, Egypt. He becomes involved with Sophie Alekan, the mistress of a playboy, Freddie Hamid, from a wealthy and influential local family. Sophie gives Jonathan confidential documents that she wants copied, including a list of weapons and warfare chemicals, and correspondence between the Hamids' companies and Ironlast Limited. She tells him to keep them safe, and to pass them to his contacts if anything happens to her. Jonathan turns the documents over to the International Enforcement Agency in London, England. This information makes its way to intelligence officer Angela Burr, who has been working to try and bring down Richard Roper. However, the information is somehow leaked to Roper, who pulls out of the deal with the Hamids. When Jonathan next sees Sophie, she is bruised and battered. Jonathan brings her to a safe house, and they become romantically involved. Jonathan confronts his contact over the leaked document, and demands that Sophie be given asylum. He is told that the Hamids have numerous friends in England, so it is recommended that Sophie returns to the Hamids. A short while later, Burr discovers who provided the documents to England, and contacts Jonathan to rescue Sophie. Jonathan rushes to her room, where he discovers Sophie dead. Four years later, Pine, who is now night manager of the Meisters Hotel in Zermatt, Switzerland, is told by the day manager to take care of late arriving guests, and to give them a parcel that is addressed to Roper, Ironlast's CEO. Roper and his entourage arrive late at night. Pine contacts Burr, and provides her with the information he obtained during Roper's stay. He says he wants nothing further to do with this, while Burr, seeing an opportunity to bring down Roper, wants Pine to help her investigation. When Jonathan baulks, she cites Pine's 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 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, England, 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 organisation is named Limpet. In Majorca, Spain, an abduction of Roper's son Daniel is staged at a seaside restaurant. Jonathan, as Quince working as a chef, appears to free Daniel by confronting the attackers, who are in reality undercover agents. During the confrontation, Quince fractures one of the agent's arms "to make it look real", and one of the other abductors violently beats him in retaliation. The badly injured Quince is recognised by Roper as "Pine from Switzerland" and while grateful for the rescue, Roper remains sceptical. Quince is taken by Roper back to his villa to recover. Roper's henchman Corky 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 would disrupt the operation if they learn about it. | ||||
| 3 | "Episode 3" | 6 March 2016 | 9.74 | |
|
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, and that he will have to stay and concoct another. In Madrid, Spain, Roper's lawyer Juan "Apo" Apostol hosts a birthday party for his daughter, Elena, which Roper and his entourage attend. Elena is found hanged to death. Angela finds a grieving Apo and attempts to gain his trust. From Daniel, Jonathan learns of Roper's secret study and its hidden key, and that an alarm test is done 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 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 Roper in Monaco, and tells him about the existence of Limpet. | ||||
| 4 | "Episode 4" | 13 March 2016 | 9.61 | |
| Roper gives Jonathan the details of his new 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 Geneva, Switzerland. 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. Commission is being paid to two codenames, Halo and Felix. Angela later learns that Halo is Dromgoole, who falsifies Ministry of Defence documents. Felix is Barbara Vandon, a CIA operative. 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 tells Jonathan that he knows that Angela has 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 demonstrate the 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 US military action against Roper's trucks at the Syrian border. However, when inspected, they contain merely agriculture equipment and foodstuffs. They all return to Cairo, where Roper contacts Freddie Hamid. In London, when Angela comes home, she finds the place ransacked and her husband lying wounded on the floor. | ||||
| 6 | "Episode 6" | 27 March 2016 | 9.90 | |
| In London the Ministry begins disbanding the IEA office. In Egypt, the Tradepass team meets Hamid, whom Jonathan denies knowing, and strikes a deal for the weapons shipment. Meanwhile Angela arrives at Cairo after receiving Jonathan's tip. 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 for Tradepass Holdings. At a casino, Jonathan spikes Hamid's drinks and escorts him home. He asks Hamid about Sophie's death; Hamid reveals that Roper had her killed because she refused to tell him who helped her. As a result, Jonathan strangles Hamid and dumps him in the pool. Using the certificate, Jonathan smuggles 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. He concludes 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 for the investors, or Jed will die. Jonathan blows up the trucks 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, has blackmailed him into staying silent. Roper is arrested by local police, but the police van is commandeered by his angered buyers, who drive off with Roper and his bodyguards. Jed arranges to return to America to see her son, and Jonathan promises to come see her. He watches her depart the Nefertiti as he addresses the new night manager. | ||||
Critical reception
The series received widespread critical acclaim.
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."[27]
Reviewing the first episode 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."[28]
IGN reviewer Jesse Schedeen gave the miniseries 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."[29]
The New Yorker reviewer Emily Nussbaum was unimpressed, calling the miniseries "elegant but ultimately empty," with "overwrought sequences of doomed love," "just an old recipe made with artisanal ingredients." She praised the actors but found the characterization of Roper "less Dr. No and more Mr. Magoo." [30]
Accolades
Notes
A. ^ Based on twenty-eight day data.
References
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External links
- The Night Manager at AMC
- The Night Manager at BBC Programmes
- The Night Manager at the British Film Institute
- The Night Manager at IMDb
- The Night Manager at TV.com
