John Le Carré’s ‘The Night Manager’ to be filmed by the BBC.

This is my inscribed copy of John Le Carré’s ‘The Night Manager’ and whilst I am not the person to whom it was inscribed to, I am still no less delighted to own a couple of signed editions of his work. I am not showing off by using this image, there will be thousands of photos of the book’s front cover on the internet and so I wanted to stand out from a rather large crowd.

So today I can announce some good news for any John Le Carré fans out there, particularly those who wished his works were either filmed, or filmed better. We have to go back to the start of the 1980s for a classic filmed production. Alec Guiness, of course. Is there another? ‘The Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy’ and ‘Smiley’s People’ television series were, in my humble opinion, one of the corporations finest moments. Whatever the chemistry was for that production they should have bottled it, the casting was the work of a genius.

Now the BBC are set to film another of his books, ‘The Night Manager’ which will star Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie. Two fine actors which gives one a semblance of hope for an improvement on the last film version of ‘Tinker’ with Gary Oldman horribly miscast as Smiley. For fans of the major hit series ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Mad Men’ then you will, I assume be pleased to know the BBC are using the same co-producers, the American company, AMC.

Sounds as though the BBC are showing some ambition with this one, it is twenty years since their last attempt and we, the public are long overdue a decent Le Carré production. The story is based around an ex-soldier who returns to Civvy Street as a night auditor. Jonathan Pine, who will be played by Hiddleston is lured by Secret Intelligence to go undercover in a bid to plant a sting operation against an arms dealer called Richard Onslow Roper. (Hugh Laurie) The story ties in drug smuggling, espionage and illegal arms dealing against a back-drop of inter-agency bickering and back stabbing. The usual Le Carré fare!

So, watch this space. I am quietly confident about this one.