The Night Manager series 1 recap: If Richard Roper got caught, and Jonathan Pine's fate
Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, and Olivia Colman starred in the stylish thriller from John Le Carré
The Night Manager series 1 was quite possibly the most hyped TV drama of 2016, the year it first aired on BBC One – and, with series 2 coming soon, here’s a handy recap of what happened.
The slick thriller introduced Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine, a former soldier with good intentions working as a night manager in a luxury hotel in Cairo.
However, during the course of his work, he stumbled across some very nasty people… A synopsis for the series said: “In his quest to do the right thing, he must become a criminal himself.”
The six-part spy drama was based on the book of the same name by John le Carré. David Farr adapted the novel, having previously bought to life The Midwich Cuckoos.
And with a cast including Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander, David Harewood and Adeel Akhtar (to name just a few of the impressive, mostly British, cast), this was always going to get headlines. So as The Night Manager series 2 approaches, here’s a handy recap of series 1. Well, it has been nine years!
***Warning: spoilers from The Night Manager series 1 ahead***
The Night Manager series 1 recap: What was the plot?
The Bond-esque thriller followed Jonathan Pine, night manager of a luxury hotel in Cairo. A former “distinguished” British soldier, viewers knew very little else about his past – and it stayed that way.
While performing his duties at the hotel, he became aware of a dangerous arms dealer hiding behind a facade of charitability. Enter Richard Roper, described as “the worst man in the world”.
Tricky Dickie was said to “laugh” as he illegally “sold destruction, pain and death” via deadly weapons. And he had a dogged enemy. Angela Burr, the manager of a Foreign Office task force investigating illegal arms sales, had made it her life mission to bring Richard down.
In The Night Manager series 1, Angela asked Jonathan to infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper. He didn’t need much convincing. At the beginning of the series, Jonathan had become close (ahem) to Sophie Alekan, the girlfriend of Freddie Hamid. However, he soon discovered that Freddie wasn’t a very nice man.
Not only did he work for Roper, he also beat his “whore” Sophie. Desperate to escape Freddie, she asked Jonathan to help her. But Freddie got to her first. He killed her in cold blood. And left Jonathan seeking revenge against the criminal gang…
Who was Richard Roper?
Hugh Laurie’s Richard ‘Dickie’ Onslow Roper was a charismatic but ruthless and amoral arms dealer. We found out very little about his motives, apart from money and power. Although he did have one weak spot – his son Daniel.
“Napalm-loving” Richard had a small team of people he trusted, including Tom Hollander’s Major Lance ‘Corky’ Corkoran, his second-in-command and front man.
There was also his rather beautiful but fragile girlfriend Elizabeth Debicki as Jemima ‘Jed’ Marshall.
The Night Manager series 1 recap: What was Operation Limpit?
Operation Limpet was the code name for the joint British and American intelligence sting operation to bring down Richard Roper and his illegal arms dealing empire.
Of course, this became centred around Jonathan Pine and his infiltration of the gang. The operation, primarily run by Angela Burr, involved several key steps to embed former British soldier and hotel manager Jonathan Pine into Roper’s inner circle.
How did Jonathan Pine infiltrate Richard Roper’s gang?
Jonathan leaked some important documents about Richard Roper to British Intelligence – via his friend Simon Ogilby, who worked at the British Consulate. Angela Burr subsequently made contact with Jonathan and asked him to work for her. He would need to assume a new identity and a new past in order to look “morally ambiguous” enough to infiltrate Richard Roper’s inner circle.
In episode 2 of the spy thriller, we saw Jonathan living in Devon and calling himself Jack Lyndon. It’s worth mentioning here that during the six-parter, he was called Jonathan Pine, Jack Lyndon, Thomas Quince, and Andrew Birch. But for the purposes of clarity, we’ll call him Jonathan throughout.
In Devon, Angela’s new “asset” Jonathan built a new criminal identity as a violent drug dealer. He then travelled top Zermatt in Switzerland where he took another job as a hotel manager. They very same hotel where Roper was holidaying.
After this ‘accidental meeting’ the next act was the staged kidnapping of Roper’s son, Daniel, in Mallorca. Jonathan just happened to be working as a chef at a nearby restaurant and ‘rescued’ the boy by fighting off the supposed attackers.
Of course, this earnt him Roper’s gratitude. After weeks of recovering from his rather realistic beating, Jonathan became an important part of Roper’s gang. Much to the annoyance of Roper’s second-in-command, Major Lance ‘Corky’ Corcoran.
How did Jonathan help bring down Roper?
Richard Roper began to rely on Jonathan. And by rely, we really mean that he made him the front man of his dodgy deals. Thus making Jonathan the one culpable if they were ever caught.
However, Jonathan was gathering evidence against Richard the whole time. Roper planned a large-scale arms deal with a Colombian drug cartel. He used a company called Tradepass as a cover, and made Jonathan – now living as Andrew Birch – the owner. This kept Richard Roper’s hands clean, but it also gave Jonathan Pine all the power. He had access to the money, and to the arms. Which was ultimately Dickie’s downfall.
It all came to a head in Cairo when Jed and Jonathan conspired to set Richard Roper up. But Roper soon found out that they were working together against him. While Roper’s heavy Frisky dealt with Jed, Roper handled Jonathan. After all, he needed Jonathan to complete the arms deal as his name was on the important documents. Blackmailing Jonathan, Roper said Jed would come to no harm if he cooperated and went through with the deal.
As Angela turned up to save with day with Jed, Jonathan had his own plan. Instead of doing what he was told, he detonated all of the bombs instead of selling them to Mr Omar Barghati. This left a furious Barghati without his bombs or his money…
Meanwhile, Jonathan also got revenge for Sophie Alekan. He killed Freddie Hamid by beating him and drowning him.
The Night Manager series 1 recap: What happened to Richard Roper?
In The Night Manager series 1 ending, Roper’s empire crashed around his ears. Even though British intelligence had tried to shut Limpit down, Angela and David Harewood’s Joel Steadman arrived to arrest Roper. They had enough evidence to arrest him for contravention of Egyptian import laws, and conspiracy to murder.
However, as he was led away in handcuffs, a furious Mr Barghati arrived to impose his own rough justice. They took charge of the police van and drove it away.
We can only assume they killed him. And as Angela said as the van drove away: “He deserved it.’
Did Corky die in The Night Manager?
Tom Hollander’s Major Lance ‘Corky’ Corkoran was Roper’s trusted right hand man. Until Jonathan Pine arrived. Corky was the only person who could see through his charming veneer. But nobody listened to him. They just thought he was bitter and jealous about Roper’s new toy.
Eventually, Jed framed Corky for leaking Roper’s list of investors. Having fallen out of favour, it was only a matter of time before he came to a sticky end.
In the end, it was Jonathan who beat Corky to death to keep him quiet. RIP one of the best villains in a drama ever.
The Night Manager series 1 recap: Who were Halo and Felix?
The British government was somewhat complicit in Roper’s arms dealing. While most were good eggs, there were some rotters, whose financial interests lay in helping Roper.
Jonathan discovered that Halo and Felix were code names for Roper’s investors in the UK. Halo was the codename for Geoffrey Dromgoole, a senior MI6 official who was working with Barbara Vandom to help facilitate weapons sales for Richard Roper.
Felix was Langley’s Barbara Vandom – CIA station chief in London. They were both involved in falsifying documents to aid Roper’s operations.
What happened with Jonathan Pine and Jed?
Jonathan and Richard’s girlfriend Jed fell him love – as if Johnny’s situation wasn’t dangerous enough. In episode 4, they shared their first kiss, and things quickly progressed.
In fact, such was the imminent threat if Roper found out that Angela tried to pull Jonathan out of the operation as soon as she found out they were sleeping together.
However, Jonathan refused and went rogue. He knew he was the only chance they had of bringing Roper down. And, of course, he was.
At the end of The Night Manager, both Jed and Jonathan – and the world! – were free of Richard Roper. Jed planned to return to the States to be with her son, and the pair said goodbye promising to see each other soon.
The Night Manager reviews: Is it any good?
The Night Manager series 1 received rave reviews, and became the water cooler TV series of 2016. Before The White Lotus and The Day of the Jackal, The Night Manager was the slick, glamorous TV show we all gathered to watch every Sunday. The beautiful cast, tense plot, and stunning locations across the world combined to make a hit. Major scenes took place in London, Cairo, Mallorca, Switzerland, Istanbul, and Madrid.
It was nominated for 36 awards and won 11, including two Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards for Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman, and Hugh Laurie.
The Guardian’s Sam Wollaston said: “Hugh Laurie is the best worst man. A splendid villain, bullish and bullying, not overdone though, just right. Tom Hollander is on fabulousness, as Roper’s camp fixer. Roper’s beautiful American missus, Jed, stretches a bubbly leg out of the freestanding bath, demanding more champagne.”
Den of Geek’s The Night Manager is the real deal. It is just a damn good story told capably.”
The Radio Times named it their show of 2016, ahead of Line of Duty, Happy Valley, Fleabag, and War and Peace.
