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BBC The Night Manager fans hail ‘cliffhanger of cliffhangers’ as series ends

BBC’s The Night Manager has aired its second series finale with Tom Hiddleston – and it was packed full of twists and turns

After six weeks of gripping drama, the second series of The Night Manager reached its explosive finale on Sunday, February 1, leaving viewers captivated as revelation after revelation unfolded.

Eight years following the thrilling season one conclusion which drew over 10 million UK viewers, Tom Hiddleston returned last month to portray former British intelligence operative, Jonathan Pine.

Drawing on the characters conceived by John le Carré, the inaugural series of the BBC’s The Night Manager followed Pine working as a hotel night manager before being enlisted by intelligence officer Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) to penetrate the inner sanctum of international arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie).

Those watching the second series discovered Pine living under the alias Alex Goodwin – now a junior MI6 officer managing a modest surveillance unit in London – his existence reassuringly mundane.

Then one evening, a chance glimpse of a former Roper mercenary triggered a call to action and thrust Pine into a brutal confrontation with a fresh adversary: Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva) – who turned out to be Roper’s son, reports Wales Online.

And whilst Roper’s ‘death’ had been established in a flashback, a subsequent twist disclosed he was, in reality, very much alive, paving the way for the duo’s spine-chilling reunion. After weeks of gripping drama, the final episode saw Teddy betray his father – attempting to sabotage the plan to destabilise Colombia.

During nail-biting scenes, despite Pine’s efforts to intercept the plane carrying the weapon, he realised that Roper had switched the aircraft.

As the episode drew to a close, Roper gained the advantage and killed his own son Teddy before escaping the country and reuniting with younger son Danny in the UK. Meanwhile, Pine was offered 50 million dollars to vanish, leave Roper alone, and begin a new life while Angela Burr was murdered in cold blood – all laying the groundwork perfectly for a third series.

Viewers flocked to social media platform X to share their reactions to the shocking finale.

One commented: “The Night Manager had one of drama’s great finishes. It really was one you’ll never forget. The cliffhanger of hangers.”

A second said: “This show is bloody insanely GOOOODDD.” A third posted: “WHAT AN ENDING WHAT A SHOW WHAT A CAST just don’t leave it another 10 years.”

Another added: “Always a twist.” And a fourth said: “Richard Roper is some guy.”

One fan posted: “Well that was splendid viewing and left nicely open for s3.” And another added: “I just hope it doesn’t take another 10 years for season 3.”

However, others were unhappy with the conclusion especially the killing off of Angela. One said: “Well the ending of #TheNightManager was a disappointment especially killing off Angela. Bit flat if I’m honest plus having subtitles that are unreadable is pointless, i just zoned out when they were on the screen.”

Meanwhile, it’s now been confirmed what will be taking over The Night Manager’s coveted Sunday 9pm slot in the coming weeks. Lord of the Flies will debut on Sunday, 8 February.

William Golding’s Nobel Prize-winning novel from 1983 has been adapted for television by screenwriter Jack Thorne, known for his work on Adolescence, His Dark Materials, Help, and Enola Holmes.

An ensemble cast of over 30 young actors, many making their professional debuts, is led by Winston Sawyers as Ralph, Lox Pratt as Jack, David McKenna as Piggy and Ike Talbut as Simon. They’re joined by fellow shipwrecked boys Thomas Connor as Roger, Noah and Cassius Flemming as twins Sam and Eric, Cornelius Brandreth as Maurice and Tom Page-Turner as Bill.

The Night Manager is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

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Starmer, Xi hail ‘reset’ of relations between Britain and China

Chinese President Xi Jinping (3-L) meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (2-R) on Thursday in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. It was first visit to China by a British leader in eight years. Photo by Vincent Thian/EPA

Jan. 29 (UPI) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer emerged from a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday to pronounce that ties between the two countries were back on track, with progress made on trade, tourism and business travel and disrupting illegal migration.

Speaking to reporters after his 80-minute meeting with Xi in the Great Hall of the People, the first by any British leader in eight years, Starmer said it was “very good, productive session with concrete outcomes” that represented a substantive advance.

“It was a real strengthening of the relationship and that’s in the national interest because, of course, there are huge opportunities here in China. A lot of the discussion was about how we open up access for those opportunities, focusing, as I always do, on how this is going to be delivered back in the United Kingdom, how does it benefit people back at home,” he said.

Starmer said headway had been made on Scottish whisky tariffs, visa-free travel to China for Britons and a border security deal on deporting illegal immigrants from Britain, tackling Chinese gangs producing synthetic opioids, and cutting off the flow of Chinese-made marine engines used by people smugglers moving migrants across the English Channel in small boats.

Starmer’s meeting with Xi ran for more than double the period of time scheduled for the talks.

Downing Street later confirmed British citizens would be permitted visits for tourism or business purposes of up to 30 days without a visa.

On issues where they did not see eye to eye, the two sides agreed to “maintain frank and open dialogue,” according to the readout from No. 10.

Starmer insisted he raised human rights at the meeting, including the treatment of the Uyghur minority in China and media mogul and democracy activist Jimmy Lai, a British citizen who has been in prison in Hong Kong since 2020 on sedition and other charges.

He said they had a “respectful discussion” and that his Chinese hosts had listened, with Starmer pointing out that the opportunity to raise “issues we disagree on” was part of the rationale for engagement.

Praising the contributions of past Labour governments to building Sino-British ties, Xi said that China stood ready to move beyond the “twist and turns” to develop a “long-term relationship” with Britain and “consistent, comprehensive, strategic partnership” that would benefit both peoples and the wider world.

However, no major deal or breakthrough came out of the meeting with the only agreement thus far a $20.7 billion investment in China through 2030 by U.K. pharma-giant AstraZeneca to expand its Chinese operation, particularly its work on anti-cancer cell therapy.

The Conservatives’ shadow national security minister, Alicia Kearns, who had urged Starmer to make the release of Lai and the lifting of sanctions on British MPs a condition of his visit, doubled down on her criticism.

“Keir Starmer’s visit tells the Chinese Communist Party they can carry on just as they are,” she wrote on X.

Picketers hold signs outside at the entrance to Mount Sinai Hospital on Monday in New York City. Nearly 15,000 nurses across New York City are now on strike after no agreement was reached ahead of the deadline for contract negotiations. It is the largest nurses’ strike in NYC’s history. The hospital locations impacted by the strike include Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, Montefiore Hospital and New York Presbyterian Hospital. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

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