Review of The Night Manager

The Night Manager gets his kit off at every opportunity but is still shown as sensitive and empathetic towards women which his not a bad trick if you can pull it off. Mr H.Laurie is not convincing as a megalomaniac evil arms dealer(are there any other kind?)and in fact is rather hammy,which is a disappointment. At the very start of the first episode when Pine(Mr Hiddlestone - now promoted as the "new" Poldark" who in turn was promoted as the "new" Mr Darcy...yawn,yawn) walks through a serious riot in Egypt it is clear he is not merely a hotel employee.Here is a man who is accustomed to being in the midst of anarchy and chaos.As imperturbable as Noel Coward in "Our Man In Havana" he strides towards the British Consulate. Clearly a person to be reckoned with. After that,Im afraid,things went a bit south for me. Various shades of crookery displayed by British diplomats,Spy vs Spy, typical le Carre minutiae regarding the S.I.S.'s different tentacles and rivalry and corruption at the very top of M.I.6. And these are just the good guys. Mr Laurie and his bad guys ( lots of requisite East Europeans included,natch) all overact like mad and it is left to the great Miss Colman to provide the only portrait of a believable human being as the woman who handles the material sent over by Pine. It must have cost a few bob to put together and doubtless the cast had a fine old time in Mallorca at the home of some multi - millionaire financier with links to the disgraced "Kids Company". Nice to see my licence money going where it is needed.