The Night Manager follows Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) making attempts to infiltrate and dismantle the organisation of a weapons dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) aided by intelligence operative Angela Burr (Olivia Colman). Jonathan agrees to be a part of the operation to avenge the death of Sophie Alekan (Aure Atika), his former love, who died as a result of passing along information about Roper to Jonathan. The novel was set in 1990s but the show occurs in present day and you barely notice the switch, it fits into 2016 seamlessly. I have read the book (yes, I read on occasion) and will advise any book readers that sections of the book have been omitted but this is purely for pacing reasons. The bulk of the story is still there but condensed into six one hour episodes and although I was looking forward to seeing Jonathan's long journey to Roper, from working on a ship to making his way to a Canadian hotel, I can see the necessity for the chop. The show is truly captivating when Jonathan and Richard interact so the writers got them to meet as early in the story as possible.
Another change that the miniseries made is the female characters which I am in full support of. In the novel Angela Burr is Leonard Burr but I honestly can't see this character played by anyone else than Olivia Colman at this point. Colman fills Burrs shoes very well being both stern and supportive with Jonathan which shows that women don't always have to be damsels in distress or femme fatales in this genre. Colman was outstanding in episode four when she finally revealed her motivation to take down Roper, I would say that is one of the best scenes of the series so far. It's no wonder why she is splashed all over British television screens, she is incredible at what she does. There's also and improvement in the series to the character of Jed (Elizabeth Debicki) who is Roper's girlfriend as well as being Jonathan's main love interest. In the book I saw her as bland and I believed the only reason Jonathan was interested in her was the physical attraction and the hero complex he seems to have when it comes to women, he's always going for the ones that seem to have major issues and need someone to take care of them. I'm not saying Jed is the pinnacle of female empowerment because she is far from it but she actually has some sort of personality in this adaptation which makes the relationship between the two a lot easier to swallow in the miniseries.Now that I'm done with unleashing the feminist I should probably talk about the males in the show. Hiddleston is the one that holds the show together, Jonathan can go from mild mannered former soldier turned hotelier to an ASBO yearning drug supplier/murderer in the flick of a switch. Sophie says in the first episode that he is a man of many faces and she isn't wrong there, he changes to fit any environment he's in. I honestly don't understand the James Bond comparison because Jonathan is infinitely more expressive and interesting, I'd take this over any incarnation of Bond any day. The antagonist of the story is played by the great Hugh Laurie who seems to make any horrible person somehow likeable, he did this in House and he's doing so here. Roper deals with weapons so he is a supplier of destruction yet he still charms me into believing that he is a nice guy. In all honesty if I was in Jonathan's situation Roper could probably convince me to see his way of thinking and to embrace his life but that may just be me not being that great a person. I can't end this section without mentioning Major Lance Corkoran (Tom Hollander) who I enjoyed in the novel and I'm thoroughly enjoying Hollander's portrayal of him here. He is quite despicable yet hilarious and still garners empathy and with all that goes on in the episodes I tend to leave thinking of something he's done or said. Last episode was the crotch grabbing, the episode before it was the Mussels.
I'm usually dissatisfied with adaptations of books I've read but The Night Manager is an exception, I would say that the miniseries is on a par with the novel. It's aesthetically beautiful with an intriguing storyline which keeps you wanting more and this is the best way we could possibly seeing Le Carré's novel bought to life. There were cinematic adaptation's in production over the years but there is no way that this could have worked, there is way too much to fit into two hours so I'm glad it's found it's way to the small screen. Now that I've essentially written a dissertation I shall answer the question I posed in the title, does The Night Manager have longevity? The have been rumours of a second series due to the success of the show and although I recently wrote a piece on why limited shows should stay limited I sort of support The Night Manager coming back. It truly is riveting drama and I don't want to spoil the ending for any of the audience that hasn't read the novel but there certainly is story left to tell. I say I sort of support it because the only way it will work is if all parties involved the first time around come back for the second run, apparently La Carré is up for it so we just need to get everyone else to sign up. All the actors involved are incredibly busy so that may be a bit of a hindrance but there is no reason that they couldn't wait a while before going into the next series, this is the BBC and sometimes it takes years for a show to return (I'm looking at you Sherlock).
Even if the show was terrible I would still be happy because thanks to that Stan Lee-esque cameo I now I know what Le Carré looks like and that he's alive. Yes, for some reason I thought he had passed away.
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