The first series, based on John le Carré’s novel of the same name, stars Tom Hiddleston (Loki) as Jonathan Pine, a former military man and the night manager of a luxury Egyptian hotel. When Pine gets involved with one of his guests, he ends up assisting task force leader Angela Burr (Olivia Colman, The Crown) in taking down a terrifying and ruthless arms dealer, Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie, Blackadder).
Based on the novel of the same name by Sarah Perry, the six-part drama is set in the Victorian times.
Cora (Claire Danes) is newly widowed and ready for a fresh start after being released from her abusive marriage due to the death of her husband. She finds herself drawn to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, after hearing about a local superstition regarding a mythical sea dragon known as the Essex Serpent.
Tom Hiddleston joined co-star Sophia Di Martino, series writer and executive producer Michael Waldron and director Kate Herron at a sold-out RTS event to share insights into their big-ticket Disney+ show Loki.
They discussed, among other things, the pressures of conjuring high-end TV for a streaming behemoth, pushing the envelope on content based on a character drawn from a blockbuster film franchise – and keeping legions of loyal fans happy.
Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, director Kate Herron and writer Michael Waldron discuss the making of the hit Disney+ series, Loki. Watch the event in full here.
Hiddleston left the sell out crowd at a panel discussion hosted by the Royal Television Society Wednesday evening (March 2) hungry for more details but the star of the Marvel show about the god of mischief and chaos, couldn't and wouldn't be drawn. "There is going to be a series two," Hiddleston smiled mischievously. "That's a complete sentence I think. I'll get into real trouble if I say more."
Wunmi Mosaku, best known for her work in the award-winning The End of the F***ing World, comes in to audition for a role, but is turned away for being black.
“Look, it’s not that kind of film darling”, the panel says as she enters the audition suite. “They’re auditioning for that other film… Black Panther Returns… That’s in the next suite.”
“It was so awkward and so painful,” recalls writer and director Jessica Swale. “It does make you feel dirty setting that scene up, knowing that it is not that far away from what [Mosaku may] have faced in real life.”
The series is a collaboration between BBC One, AMC and The Ink Factory, who previously worked together on 2016's award-winning spy drama, The Night Manager.
Set amidst rising tensions in the Middle East during the 1970s, the show will star Florence Pugh as a young brilliant actress named Charlie, who is preparing for her ultimate role.
Few recent TV dramas have brightened up our screens as much as The Night Manager. One critic described the six-part adaptation of John le Carré’s 1993 novel as “the BBC’s glossiest, smartest, most indecently entertaining Sunday-night drama in ages”. Who could possibly disagree?
The Night Manager was the first television adaptation of one of John Le Carré's novels in 20 years.
The result was a roaring success. It has been one of the most talked about series of the year, was nominated for 12 Primetime Emmys and close to 10m viewers watched the finale on the BBC.
She said that long-form TV drama was where the best writing now took place.
“I’ve probably read 100 scripts in the last five or six weeks and there is no doubt that primarily the great writing is in television, it’s way better,” said Bier.
“There are exceptions. There are a couple of good feature scripts but in general it’s much better in TV.”
Bier, the only living woman to have won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Golden Globe, was speaking at an RTS event, The Night Manager – Anatomy of a Hit.
