Review: The Night Manager- The Show That’s Gripping The Country

Containing all the ingredients of a successful British drama (being based on a best-selling book by John Le Carré, set abroad and containing a national treasure in Hugh Laurie) it would be criminal if The Night Manager was anything less than good, so it is fortunate that it far exceeds such meagre praise and enters into the realms of fantastic television.

The premise is almost off putting in its simplicity; a shadowy wing of the British government hires a tortured ex-military anti-hero to take down a socio-pathic British arms trader et entourage. However, it is in its execution that this six part BBC series transcends the largely banal and bland company it keeps on the TV guide. What should feel like a bad Spooks plot line is actually an intricate and well-paced narrative, keeping just enough questions popping up and intrigue lying about to draw the viewer into its world without resorting to any cheap cliff hangers or similar TV tropes. You want to watch the next episode because you care what happens to the characters not because an annoying plot point has been set up, each character is fascinating in a different way which throws up searching questions about our very humanity.
Largely the show has its cast to thank for its success which represents a powerhouse of British acting talent. Hugh Laurie is spectacular and chilling as the seductive and deadly Richard Roper- who will have even the most sceptical viewer transfixed. Tom Hiddleston is brilliant as brutal anti-hero Jonathan Pine, bringing great physicality to a role with few words which he makes count. While Elizabeth Debicki really lives and breathes her character Jed to life, moving fluidly from cunning femme fatale to vulnerable victim of circumstance, the ambiguity of her character and conviction of her performance are one of the best aspects of this show. Throughout Angela Burr is as usual an unexpected delight, bringing a drier form of her comedy than usual to this more serious role she gives the performance of a career.

The series can also thank TV writer David Farr who adapted and modernised Le Carré’s novel for the BBC, his careful attention to detail and insistence you must “love you characters even when they do dreadful things” has created the depth of character and relationships that make the show so watch-able and moving. In all The Night Manager is suspenseful, thrilling and emotive in all the right measures, it’s the best thing British TV has offered so far in 2016 and hopefully represents a return to form for the BBC in the dramatic genre.

Cara Davies