Spy fiction, flicks and television adaptations have become a big part of modern day culture and the latest addition, John le Carré’s The Night Manager for BBC 1, turned out to be a potential Classic in the making. With an all-star cast that included Hugh Laurie (House), Tom Hiddlestone (Thor: The Dark World), Olivia Colman (The Lobster) and Elizabeth Debicki (Macbeth), a significant budget and a contemporary interpretation of le Carré’s 1993 novel, adapted by David Farr (Spooks, Hannah), the BBC threw everything at making the production impressive.
Air date
An official air date was late to be confirmed by the BBC for the mini series, but the show went on to air on the 21st February 2016. Filming started in spring 2015, and it was all wrapped up before the end of summer. Six episodes aired in total, running through until the final installment on the 27th March 2016.
For anyone based in the States, AMC aired the series in 2016, having co-produced the adaptation with BBC and The Ink Factory.
Story
The plot follows ex British army soldier Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddlestone) as he’s recruited by an intelligence operative called Burr (Olivia Colman) to take an assignment to infiltrate an illegal arms trade criminal gang that has managed to strike up an alliance with key officials in London and Washington. It sees him working his way into their midst, becoming a criminal himself in the process as he tries to gain the confidence of the head of the operation, Richard Onslow Roper (Hugh Laurie), and the rest of his crew.
Cast
In addition to the roles for Hiddleston, Olivia Colman and Laurie, the BBC has also confirmed that Elizabeth Debicki, who recently starred in Justin Kurzel’s movie adaptation of Macbeth, will play Rowper’s girlfriend Jed. Tom Hollander (A Poet In New York) has also been cast in the mini series as another key figure in Roper’s arms dealing gang.
Production
The Night Manager is being directed by Academy Award-winning Danish director Susanne Bier (In A Better World), building on Farr’s screenplay adaptation of John le Carré’s novel. Rob Bullock (The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher) is producing the mini series and Stephen Cornwell, Simon Cornwell, Stephen Garrett, David Farr and Polly Hill are executive producing. The Cornwell brothers are le Carré’s son’s, using his real surname
Review
It’s been more than 20 years since one of John le Carré’s novels was last adapted for television, so we were understandably holding out a fair amount of hope for the production. The cast is very strong and with le Carré’s storyline – adapted and brought up-to-date by Farr – direction from Bier and the might of the Beeb behind it, it went on to be one of the most impressive TV events of the decade.
You’ve only got to look at the BBC’s track record when it come to le Carré adaptations to know that they know what they’re doing when it comes to thrillers. The BBC’s 1979 adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is highly regarded as one of the great television spy thriller’s of the last fifty years, with an exceptional performance from Alec Guinness’ in lead role of George Smiley, going on to inspire the movie of the same name in 2011. In The Night Manager it’s created something just as special and while there’s a little “we want to be like James Bond” about the production it’s still a future classic in the making.
