The Night Manager: Episode 6

It is 27 March 2016, and time for the final episode of The Night Manager.

Everything comes full circle: Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is back at Cairo's Nefertiti Hotel, where he was first drawn into the criminal world of Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). Roper's arms deal is about to be made, and with Corky dead Jonathan is running out of avenues to keep Roper from discovering he is a spy. Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) is in Cairo to help, but can she do enough to help trap Roper and keep Jed (Elizabeth Debicki) out of harm's way?

There is a very pleasing symmetry to this final episode of The Night Manager. After moving from Cairo to Switzerland to Spain to Turkey, the series now snakes back to its starting point: a new deal, a new disguise, but the self-same hotel in which Jonathan originally worked as the titular night manager. It also brings him back in contact with corrupt Egyptian playboy Freddie Hamid (David Avery), whose murder of his lover brought a vengeful Jonathan to British intelligence in the first place.

The Night Manager: Episode 5

It is 20 March 2016, and time for episode 5 of The Night Manager.

Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) has defied the orders of his handler Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) and accompanied arms trader Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) to his latest deal in Turkey. Jonathan has never been closer to trapping Roper and exposing his criminal enterprise, but with his location growing more and more isolated and with Corky (Tom Hollander) still working to unseat him in Roper's circle, it may be too dangerous to continue.

There is a striking change in tone with this fifth episode, which takes the series out of its luxurious settings in Spain and Switzerland and shifting instead to the industrial ports and wilds of Turkey. The stakes have been raised considerably, since Jonathan is now operating without any support from London at all. The series also shifts its visual palette: the softer, richer colours of earlier episodes have given way to muddy greys and browns. As Jonathan moves closer to the centre of Roper's operations, so too does the audience: it is all feeling much more vicious and unpleasant.

The Night Manager: Episode 4

It is 13 March 2016 and time for the fourth episode of The Night Manager.

Former hotel night manager Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is now deeply enmeshed in the secret arms trade Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). As Pine gets closer to securing evidence of Roper's crimes, his mission is imperilled by a romantic advance from Roper's girlfriend Jed (Elizabeth Debicki), the growing suspicions of Corky (Tom Hollander), and his London-based handler Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) attempting to pull him out of the fire.

The slightly unconvincing insertion of Pine into Roper's life is complete, and that frees the second half of The Night Manager to arc up the stakes and suspense as it approaches its climax. Pine now has two main causes for worry: the fear he will be caught out spying on Roper, and the fear he is going to get caught out sleeping with his girlfriend. The second one feels a bit of a cliche to me, but it is admittedly very well performed by Hiddleston and Debicki and does lead to the episode's most outstanding scene.

The Night Manager: Episode 3

Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) has found himself stuck in Spanish island estate of billionaire-turned-arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). Now he has to ingratiate himself fully into Roper's service if he is to stand any chance of helping British intelligence pin him down. All the while Roper's right-hand man Major Corcoran (Tom Hollander) is watching Pine with suspicion, waiting for him to make a single mistake.

One thing you cannot fault about The Night Manager is its cast. There is not a single let-down in the entire group, whether it's Tom Hiddleston's intense, mercurial Jonathan Pine, or Tom Hollander's bitchy, predatory Corky, or Elizabeth Debicki's mysterious, brittle performance as Roper's girlfriend Jed. Each actors gives it their all, and transforms what are in the main very archetypal spy fiction characters into three-dimensional people. Sadly with this episode there are a few things to criticise about the script.

The Night Manager: Episode 2

It is 28 February 2016, and time for episode 2 of The Night Manager.

Jonathan (Tom Hiddleston) agrees to assist British intelligence operative Angela (Olivia Colman) in bringing down billionaire and suspected arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). To do so, he must create a believable and attractive back story for Roper to buy into and accept, and that means putting his own life and reputation at serious risk.

There seems to be a film-like storytelling style to The Night Manager. Each of the first two episodes has by-and-large told its own relatively self-contained mini-story. The first episode, set in Cairo and Switzerland, told the story of how Jonathan came to know of Roper and how the death of a woman he attempted to help left him intent on destroying Roper and bringing him to justice. This second episode is about how Jonathan transforms himself into a violent criminal to make himself a more likely candidate for Roper's operation. I like this sort of format, which reminds me quite a bit of fellow spy thriller series 24. It gives each episode its own sense of urgency and narrative, and ensures that despite the overall serialisation there is still a proper story each week with a beginning, middle and end.

The Night Manager: Episode 1

It is 21 February 2016, and time for the first episode of The Night Manager.

Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is the night manager at Cairo's prestigious Nefertiti Hotel. During the chaos of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 he becomes involved with Sophie Alekan (Aure Atika), mistress to wealthy and influential playboy Freddie Hamid. When Sophie hands him documents to be copied and placed in the hotel's safe - documents that report on a massive illegal arms sale - Jonathan finds himself drawn into the world of international espionage.

The Night Manager is a glossy, lavishly produced TV adaptation of the John Le Carre novel of the same name, co-produced by the BBC and AMC and released to much acclaim last year. That acclaim is well deserved. This is, based on its first episode at least, a brilliantly directed low-key thriller with an excellent cast and a gripping narrative.