From the Archive - The Night Manager Review:

The Night Manager is a six-part TV drama about Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) going undercover in Richard Roper's (Hugh Laurie) criminal organisation. Pine is the night manager at a hotel in Cairo, and to avoid spoilers, it is at this job where he first encounters Roper. Four years later, Pine is now the night manager at a Hotel in Switzerland and out of the blue, Roper walks through the door to check in. Pine quickly takes his chance to turn certain things over to the police, which could incriminate Roper and enact his revenge for his actions in Cairo. However, the information Pine was able to turn over is not enough, and Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), an MI6 operative, turns up asking Pine to go undercover.

The Night Manager is a stunning TV series with an outstanding cast and an even more outstanding cast of locations. The series is the most expensive show produced in BBC history, with a budget of 20 million, about 3 million per episode and 50% more expensive than its most recent high-end War and Peace adaptation. Despite the lavish production, the show is not in any way style over substance. The story is tense and thrilling, and the characters are well-drawn. I have not read the source material, so I cannot comment on the quality of its adaption, but as a TV series in its own right, it is definitely one to watch.

This is truly an ensemble show. Hiddleston is the main character but is supported by some fantastic characters. Hugh Laurie was the perfect choice for Ropper, although from what I understand, he needed to be convinced to take the part. Ropper is a character who is always playing the long game and has an abundance of tricks up his sleeve. He is always playing several angles at once, and you can never tell what he is thinking, which reachets the tension twofold. Coleman is an unrelenting presence who will be damned if she lets Ropper get away with it. Her character is a seasoned professional and knows all the underhanded tricks in the book to get her way and reveal the truth.

Interestingly, Colman's character in the book is male and was written as such in the screenplay. But Colman convinced the showrunners she was right for the part and, to the writer's credit, didn't change the dialogue to have a more female inflexion. Additionally, Colman was actually pregnant during filming, but this lends a nice duality to her performance, highlighting the contrast between her professional and personal life and raising the stakes when her job encroaches on her home life. Hiddleston is charming and sleek, and somehow, his lingering looks of suspicion and plotting don't give him away. Pine has a bond-esque quality to his character, but his womanising ways seem less sleazy due to the warmth Hiddleston lends to his performance.

The Night Manager is a rip-roaring ride; it keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time, and specific plot points don't play out how you expect them to go, especially the finale. It is probably one of the best TV shows of the year.

Written March 2016