Former England midfielder Carrick played 464 games in all competitions for United between 2006 and 2018, having been signed from Tottenham by Sir Alex Ferguson.
He has been out of work since he was sacked by Championship club Middlesbrough last June after after two and a half years in charge.
Carrick guided Boro to the Championship play-offs in the 2022-23 campaign, only for them to lose to Coventry in the semi-finals.
His side then narrowly missed out on the top six in successive campaigns, resulting in Carrick losing his job.
Wallsend-born Carrick does not boast the same managerial experience as Solskjaer, given he has had only one permanent role with Middlesbrough.
Following his retirement from a glittering playing career at Old Trafford, Carrick immediately joined Jose Mourinho’s coaching staff at United at the end of the 2017-18 season.
After the Portuguese was sacked, he was kept on as a first-team coach throughout Solskjaer’s 168-game reign.
This article contains spoilers for the first three episodes of “The Night Manager” Season 2.
It wasn’t inevitable that “The Night Manager,” an adaptation of John le Carré’s 1993 spy novel, would have a sequel. Le Carré didn’t write one and the six-episode series, which aired in 2016, had a definitive ending.
But after the show’s debut, fans clambered for more. They loved Tom Hiddleston’s brooding, charismatic Jonathan Pine, a hotel manager wrangled into the spy game by British intelligence officer Angela Burr (Olivia Colman). And at the heart of the series was the parasitic dynamic between Pine and his delightfully malicious foe, an arms dealer named Richard Onslow Roper (Hugh Laurie).
The show was so good that even the story’s author wanted it to continue. After the premiere of Season 1 at the Berlin International Film Festival, Le Carré sat across from Hiddleston, a twinkle in his eye, and said, “Perhaps there should be some more.”
“That was the first I’d heard of it or thought about it,” Hiddleston says, speaking over Zoom alongside the show’s director, Georgi Banks-Davies, from New York a few days before the U.S. premiere of “The Night Manager” Season 2 on Prime Video, which arrived Sunday with three episodes, 10 years after the first season. “But it was so extraordinary and inspiring to come from the man himself. That’s when I knew there might be an opportunity.”
Time passed because no one wanted a sequel of less quality. Le Carré died in 2020, leaving his creative works in the care of his sons, who helm the production company the Ink Factory. That same year, screenwriter David Farr, who had penned the first series, had a vision.
“We didn’t want to rush into doing something that was all style and no substance that didn’t honor the truth of it,” Farr says, speaking separately over Zoom from London. “There was this big gap of time. But I had this very clear idea. I saw a black car crossing the Colombian hills in the past towards a boy. I knew who was in the car and I knew who the boy was.”
That image transformed into a scene in the second episode of Season 2 where a young Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva) is waiting for his father, who turns out to be none other than Roper. From there, Farr fleshed out the rest of the season, as well as the already-announced third season. He was interested in the relationship between fathers and sons, an obsession of Le Carré’s, and in how Jonathan and Roper would be entangled all these years later.
Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva) is revealed to be Roper’s son.
(Des Willie / Prime Video)
“Teddy crystallized very quickly in my head,” Farr says. “All of the plot came later — arms smuggling and covert plans for coups in South America. But the emotional architecture, as I tend to call it, came to me quite quickly. That narrative of fathers and sons, betrayal and love is what marks Le Carré from more conventional espionage.”
“There was enormous depth in his idea,” Hiddleston adds. “It was a happy accident of 10 years having passed. They were 10 immeasurably complex years in the world, which can only have been more complex for Jonathan Pine with all his experience, all his curiosity, all his pain, all his trauma and all his courage.”
Farr sent scripts to Hiddleston in 2023 and planning for Season 2 began in earnest. The team brought Banks-Davies on in early 2024, impressed with her vision for the episodes. Hiddleston was especially attracted to her desire to highlight the vulnerability of the characters, all of whom present an exterior that is vastly different than their interior life.
“Every character’s heart is on fire in some way, and they all have different masks to conceal that,” Hiddleston says. “But Georgi kept wanting to get underneath it, to excavate it. Explore the fire, explore the trauma. She came in and said, ‘This show is about identity.’ ”
“I’m fascinated with how the line of identity and where you sit in the world is very fragile,” Banks-Davies says. “I’m fascinated by the strain on that line. In the heart of the show, that was so clearly there. I’m also always searching for what brings us together in a time, particularly in the last 10 years, that’s ever more divisive. These characters are all at war with each other. They’re all lying to each other. They’re deceiving each other for what they want. But what brings them together … instead of pushes them apart?”
The new season opens four years after the events of Season 1 as Jonathan and Angela meet in Syria. There, she identifies the dead body of Roper — a reveal that suggests his character won’t really be part of Season 2. After his death, Pine settles into a requisite life in London as Alex Goodwin, a member of an unexciting intelligence unit called the Night Owls.
Angela (Olivia Colman) and Jonathan (Tom Hiddleston) meet in Syria, four years after the events of Season 1.
(Des Willie / Prime Video)
“He’s half asleep and he lacks clarity and definition,” Hiddleston says. “His meaning and purpose have been blunted and dulled. He is only alive at his greatest peril, and the closer his feet are to the fire, the more he feels like himself. He’s addicted to risk, but also courageous in chasing down the truth.”
That first episode is a clever fake-out. Soon, Jonathan is on the trail of a conspiracy in Colombia, where the British government appears to be involved in an arms deal with Teddy. It quickly becomes the globe-trotting, thrill-seeking show that captivated fans in Season 1. There are new characters, including Sally (Hayley Squires), Jonathan’s Night Owls’ partner, and Roxana Bolaños (Camila Morrone), a young shipping magnate in league with Teddy, and vibrant locations. Jonathan infiltrates Teddy’s organization, posing as a cavalier, rich businessman named Matthew Ellis. He believes Teddy is the real threat. But in the final moments of Episode 3 there’s another gut-punching fake-out: Roper lives.
“The idea was: We must do the classic thing that stories do, which is to lose the father in order that he must appear again,” Farr says. He confirms there was never an intention to make “The Night Manager” Season 2 without Laurie. “What makes it work is this feeling that you are off on something completely new,” Farr says. “But that’s not what I want this show to be.”
Hiddleston compares it to the tale of St. George and the dragon. “They define each other,” he says. “At the end of the first series, Jonathan Pine delivers the dragon of Richard Roper to his captors. But after that, he is lost. The dragon slayer is lost without the presence of the dragon to define him. And, similarly, Roper is obsessed with Pine.”
Jonathan realizes the truth as he sneaks up to a hilltop restaurant to listen in on a meeting. Banks-Davies opted to shoot the entire series on location, and she kept a taut, quick pace during filming because she wanted the cast to feel the tension all the way through. She and Hiddleston had a shared motto on set: “There’s no time for unreal.” Thanks to her careful scene-setting, Roper’s arrival and Jonathan’s reaction were shot in only 10 minutes.
“I felt everything we talked about for months and everything we’d shot up until that point and everything we’d been through was in that moment,” Banks-Davies says. “There are so many emotions going on, so much being expressed, and it’s just delivered like that. But it was hard to get us there.”
Farr adds, “It is the most important moment in the show in terms of everything that then follows on from that.” He wrote into the script that Roper’s voice would be heard before Laurie was seen on camera. “It’s more frightening when something is not instantly fully understood and seen,” he says. “You hear it and you think, ‘Oh, God, I know that [voice].’ ”
Hiddleston wanted to play a range of emotions in seconds. He describes it as a “moment of total vitality.” Right before the cameras rolled, Banks-Davies told Hiddleston, “The dragon is alive.”
“After all the work, that’s all I needed to hear,” he says. “This moment will be memorable to him and he’ll be able to recall it in his mind for the rest of his life. He is wide awake, and reality is re-forming around him. His sense of the last 10 years, his sense of what he can trust and who he can trust, the way he’s tried to evolve his own identity — the sky is falling. There is a mixture of shock, grief, disenchantment, disillusionment, surprise and perhaps even relief.”
As soon as Jonathan arrives in Colombia and meets Teddy, a calculating live-wire dealing with his own sense of isolation, he becomes more himself. Hiddleston expresses him as a character desperate to feel the edge. Despite his layered duplicity, Jonathan understands and defines himself by courting risk.
Teddy (Diego Calva), Jonathan (Tom Hiddleston) and Roxana (Camila Marrone) get close. “This is a character who pushes his body to the limit and sacrifices enormous parts of himself at great personal cost to his body and soul,” Hiddleston says of Jonathan.(Des Willie/Prime Video)
“This is a character who pushes his body to the limit and sacrifices enormous parts of himself at great personal cost to his body and soul,” Hiddleston says. “He goes through a lot of pain, but also there’s great courage and resilience and enormous vulnerability. That’s what I relish the most, these are heightened scenarios that don’t arise as readily and in my ordinary life.”
“I could feel that shooting moments like this,” Banks-Davies adds. “Like, ‘It’s right there. Are we going to get it?’ Our whole show exists in that space between safety and death.”
Roper’s presence sends a ripple effect across the remaining three episodes. As much as Jonathan and Teddy are in opposition, they are parallel spirits, both with complicated relationships to Roper. Hiddleston describes them as “a mirror to each other,” although they can’t quite figure out what to be to each other. And neither knows who the other person really is.
“It is interesting, isn’t it, that my first image of him was 7 years old and that stays in him all the way through,” Farr says. “This sense of this boy who is seeking something — an affirmation, a place in the world. And he’s done terrible things, as he says to Pine in Episode 3. All of that was present in that first image I had.”
Hiddleston adds, “There is a competition, too, because Roper is the father figure, and they both need him in very different ways. Teddy is a new kind of adversary because he’s a contemporary. He’s got this resourcefulness and this ruthlessness, but also this very open vulnerability, which he uses as a weapon. They recognize each other and see each other.”
The characters’ dynamic is at the root of what drew Banks-Davies to the series. “It’s not about where they were born, it’s not about their economic status or their religion or their cultural identity,” she says. “It’s about two men who are lost and alone and solitary, and see a kinship in that. They are pulled together on this journey.”
Season 2, which will release episodes weekly after the first drop, will lead directly into Season 3, although no one involved will spill on when it can be expected. Hopefully they will arrive in less than a decade.
“It won’t be as long, I promise,” Farr says. “I can’t tell you exactly when, because I don’t know. But definitely nowhere as long.”
“That was the thrill for us, of knowing that when we began to tell this story, we knew we had 12 episodes to tell it inside, rather than just six,” Hiddleston says. “So we can be slightly braver and more rebellious and more complex in the architecture of that narrative. And not everything has to be tied up neatly in a bow. There’s still miles to go before we sleep, to borrow from Robert Frost, and that’s exciting. It’s exciting for how this season ends, and it’s exciting for where we go next.”
Hugh Laurie left quite the impression when he starred as villainous Richard Roper in The Night Manager 10 years ago.
Hugh Laurie, the legendary star of The Night Manager, is set to appear alongside a Westworld icon in a forthcoming crime thriller.
After initially rising to prominence in the Blackadder franchise with Rowan Atkinson and Stephen Fry, Laurie has since featured in numerous major dramas including Veep, House, and naturally, The Night Manager.
While his previous co-stars Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman return to the BBC thriller, Laurie has been busy filming his latest project, The Wanted Man, for Apple TV+, which is presently in post-production.
The 66 year old will portray crime boss Felix Carmichael, who lands behind bars after running the infamous criminal organisation The Capital for two decades.
The official synopsis reveals: “Upon discovering internal betrayal while locked up, he plots his breakout to seek vengeance and restore his criminal empire.”
The eight-episode series has been created by Hijack’s George Kay and also features Mission Impossible and Westworld star Thandiwe Newton.
However, they won’t be the only recognisable names, as Laurie and Newton will be accompanied by Game of Thrones actor Stephen Dillane, Say Nothing’s Hazel Doupe, and Dunkirk star Fionn Whitehead.
No official release date has been confirmed yet, though reports suggest The Wanted Man could launch around May 2026.
Meanwhile, fans’ focus has returned to Laurie following his memorable role in The Night Manager, which has made its comeback to British television screens. In the 2016 BBC thriller, he played the villainous Richard Roper, starring alongside leading man Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine and Colman as Angela Burr.
After a decade-long hiatus, The Night Manager has made a comeback for its second season, but with an unexpected twist – Roper was killed off-screen.
Laurie does make an appearance in the first episode through a dream sequence, but he hasn’t been seen in The Night Manager since and isn’t expected to return.
However, Laurie remains involved with The Night Manager behind the scenes, serving as an executive producer alongside Hiddleston.
The Wanted Man is slated to premiere on Apple TV+ in spring 2026.
Former England striker and manager Kevin Keegan has been diagnosed with cancer.
Keegan had an illustrious playing career which included spells at Liverpool, Hamburg and Newcastle United, while he twice won the European Footballer of the Year award.
He moved into management after ending his playing career and had stints in charge of Newcastle United, Fulham, England and Manchester City.
“Kevin was recently admitted to hospital for further evaluation of ongoing abdominal symptoms,” the 74-year-old’s family said in a statement.
“These investigations have revealed a diagnosis of cancer, for which Kevin will undergo treatment.
“Kevin is grateful to the medical team for their intervention and ongoing care.
“During this difficult time, the family are requesting privacy, and will be making no further comment.”
Michael Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have emerged as the frontrunners to become Manchester United’s caretaker manager until the end of the season.
The former players, who have both previously managed United, are set for face-to-face talks with the club’s leadership.
It is not out of the question the pair could also work together because Carrick was a significant part of Solskjaer’s coaching team when he replaced Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford in 2018.
Darren Fletcher, United’s current Under-18s coach, who has also been spoken to about the job, will continue as interim manager until a caretaker is appointed. The former midfielder takes charge of his first match on Wednesday, when United visit Burnley (20:15 GMT) in the Premier League.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, the ex-United striker, is also believed to be a contender.
United plan on naming a permanent successor for Amorim in the summer.
One player has told BBC Sport they felt it was possible the role could be shared by more than one of the contenders, or that Fletcher could even stay in the job until the end of the season if the next two matches are positive.
Solskjaer initially took charge in a similar fashion when United sacked Mourinho in 2018, and he subsequently became the full-time manager for three years before he was sacked in November 2021.
Carrick then had a three-game stint as temporary boss after Solskjaer’s dismissal before he left the club in December 2021.
The former England midfielder has been out of work since he was sacked by Championship club Middlesbrough last June after after two-and-a-half years in charge.
Solskjaer was sacked by Turkish club Besiktas in August.
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner and former Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi – now at Marseille – are understood to be early contenders for the full-time job.
Glasner, who won the FA Cup with the Eagles last season, was asked about the link during his news conference on Tuesday.
He said: “I am Crystal Palace manager and it makes no sense for you to ask me any more questions about it.”
Gary O’Neil has been appointed Strasbourg manager after Liam Rosenior left the French Ligue 1 side to join Chelsea earlier this week.
The 42-year-old, who has previously managed Premier League sides Bournemouth and Wolves, said he is “proud” to join a club with a “high-quality squad and clear, ambitious goals for the season”.
The former Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and QPR midfielder added: “Racing has a unique history, extraordinary passion, great resilience, and of course, loyal fans who want to see this team play attractive football and succeed.
“My priority is to work hard with the team and give everything for the club’s success.”
Strasbourg, who sit seventh in Ligue 1, moved swiftly to appoint O’Neil after Rosenior joined Chelsea on a six-and-a-half-year deal on Tuesday.
The French side are part of the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital-owned BlueCo multi-club ownership group which also controls Chelsea.
Leroy Rosenior, Liam’s father, played for the likes of Fulham, West Ham and Queens Park Rangers, and his managerial career peaked with a five-month stint at then-League One side Brentford in 2006.
In 2019 he was awarded an MBE in the 2019 New Year Honours for his services to tackling discrimination in football and wider society.
When Rosenior Jr retired from playing he followed his father’s footsteps. He began writing a column for The Guardian, where in 2017 he acknowledged the under-representation of black coaches. He highlighted that race does not influence ability and said opportunities should be given on merit.
He also made a point he would repeat: that vast under-representation leads to misunderstandings of players from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
In a podcast with The Athletic FC, Rosenior highlighted how his star striker, Emmanuel Emegha, was labelled “difficult” and “emotional”, but said he understood the Netherlands international with Nigerian parentage. Emegha is set to join him in moving from Strasbourg to Chelsea in July.
In further Guardian columns, Rosenior also admitted he was “ashamed” to hear an unnamed coach make a homophobic slur when he was a player. He pledged his support for the Premier League’s Rainbow Laces campaign and wrote an open letter to Donald Trump during his first US presidency, accusing him of “blatant” racism.
Rosenior has since made his name as a manager – first at Hull City, then Strasbourg – and Wayne Rooney said this week he was “as good a coach as I’ve ever worked with” following their time together at Derby County.
Rosenior said his farewells at Strasbourg on Tuesday morning before signing a six‑and‑a‑half‑year contract at Chelsea.
The Blues had the Premier League’s first black manager in Gullit and the first black captain in Paul Elliott.
Elliott has since worked in multiple senior positions, including the FA’s diversity and inclusion board, and is now the vice-chairman at Charlton Athletic – who Chelsea play in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.
“Liam, in my opinion, represents everything that was right about the 21st century,” Elliott said.
“He has been an outstanding player, very articulate, hugely intelligent, and you can see that whatever he did – whether as a manager or technical director – he was really cognizant of the game.
“Whatever he did, I knew he would be a success. His passion was to forge a career in football management. He speaks in a way I hadn’t heard from many people – you felt you were learning.
“It sends out a strong, positive message to current and future generations – that people of colour who look like Liam can go to the very top and be at the cutting edge of football management.
“But let’s not forget – he’s there on merit. He’s there on talent.”
There is pressure on Chelsea to get this appointment right, with some supporters chanting the name of former owner Roman Abramovich during Sunday’s draw at Manchester City and a fringe group of fans planning a protest against the owners before the next home Premier League match against Brentford.
It is against that backdrop they have turned to a man who is well known to key figures at Stamford Bridge.
Rosenior first met Chelsea‘s co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart more than 15 years ago while playing for Brighton.
And Sam Jewell – Chelsea‘s director of global recruitment – worked closely with Rosenior when he began coaching Brighton Under-23s after retiring.
Rosenior also knew Stewart during his time as an analyst at Hull, where he played and later managed.
Last summer, during the Club World Cup, he travelled to the United States with Strasbourg president Marc Keller to meet Chelsea‘s leadership, and owners Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly have made regular visits to the French club.
He has always been seen as a potential successor to Maresca, but a mid-season change was not planned. Chelsea hoped Rosenior could continue to build experience at Strasbourg, but Maresca’s comments at the end of last year forced the owners into a change.
They see their new man, who favours a similar possession-based style, as the most seamless option.
Sources close to Rosenior also believe he has a more empathetic tone of communication – drawing on lessons from his mother Karen, who is a social worker.
He will face scrutiny over his perceived rawness, but Chelsea will point to the fact he has more experience than Maresca when the Italian was appointed in 2024.
Maresca had won the Championship, of course, while Rosenior has yet to lift a trophy – but the incoming coach has managed 153 senior games at Hull and Strasbourg compared with his predecessor’s 67. Maresca was also Pep Guardiola’s assistant during Manchester City‘s Treble-winning season of 2022-23.
There is also the issue of Rosenior coming to Chelsea on a bad run of form, having won none of his past five Ligue 1 matches, just two in 10, and having dropped 13 points from winning positions this season.
French football expert Julien Laurens told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I really believe the owners put him in the Strasbourg job to get him ready for the Chelsea job one day.
“I think if he showed he could be capable at Strasbourg, which is taking a team which was almost going down into Europe – to taking it close to Champions League qualification, which is what he did last season.
“I think that showed his potential. It showed his development, showed his ability to improve the team and players individually.”
Amorim has earned a reputation for his explosive news conferences since joining United in November 2024.
In January 2025, he described his team as “maybe the worst” in the 147-year history of the club.
“One of his best traits and most likeable things about him has always been his ability to be quite punchy in his press conferences,” former United centre-back Rio Ferdinand said on his podcast.
“He was upbeat, and he had quite a jovial way about him.”
The Portuguese manager’s comments last month on striker Chido Obi and left-back Harry Amass, both 18, also raised questions over his commitment to the club’s academy.
Trying to emphasise he is not scared to play young players, he criticised the performance levels of Obi and Amass, who is on loan at Sheffield Wednesday.
“Amass was doing really well and got player of the month, while you had Chido scoring goals in the under-21s,” said former United defender Phil Jones on BBC Radio 5 Live’s The Monday Night Club.
“The academy is a massive part and will always be a massive part of the DNA of the club and I don’t think that helped him in any way.”
Carragher, who believes Amorim would be “bottom of the list” of managers to have succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson at the club since 2013, added: “Best part of Amorim was his performances in the press conferences – not the performances of his teams.
“At times, it felt like he was as good a pundit as Gary Neville when talking about United. But the problem was that he was the manager.”
“I don’t think it’s been just sound bites from Amorim,” Neville said.
“I think he’s meant every single word that he said. I think that he’s a real, genuine, honest guy. I don’t think he’s someone who’s playing the game. He was absolutely all in every time he did anything.
“But if the performances are that poor and the results are so poor, it doesn’t matter how likeable or honest you are. You’re going to get sacked at a club like United.”
Hugo Broos lead Cameroon to the 2017 AFCON title but will have be no room for sentimentality with his South Africa side.
Published On 3 Jan 20263 Jan 2026
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South Africa coach Hugo Broos has promised to show “no mercy” to Cameroon when he comes up against his former side in the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday.
Broos will lead Bafana Bafana out at Al Medina Stadium in Rabat against the nation he led to an unexpected AFCON triumph in Gabon in 2017.
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“Tomorrow’s game is surely a special game for me. If you win an AFCON with a country, then a part of them stays in your heart, but tomorrow I can’t have mercy for them because I am the coach of South Africa now and I want to win the game,” Belgian Broos told reporters Saturday in the Moroccan capital.
“They are a very good team, a young team, and they have a good fighting spirit and mentality, which means if we want to beat them, we will have to be at our best.”
Cameroon took seven points from a possible nine in the group stage in Morocco despite a chaotic build-up to the tournament.
Coach Marc Brys was sacked by football federation president and Indomitable Lions legend Samuel Eto’o only a few weeks before their opening game, with David Pagou appointed as his replacement.
“I would have preferred to face Cameroon in the final – maybe now is a little too soon,” Broos said.
“I was curious to see Cameroon with all the changes in their team, and I have been surprised. They did not have much preparation time, but the coach has done a good job, and for us it will be a difficult match.”
He added, “No mercy tomorrow! You can be sure. I have to win that game, that is all that counts.”
South Africa upset with Morocco AFCON setup before Cameroon test
Meanwhile, the 73-year-old expressed anger at tournament organisers for forcing his side to train at the Moroccan national team’s facility, a 45-minute drive away from their hotel in Rabat.
Whoever wins on Sunday will face Morocco in the quarterfinals, should the hosts see off outsiders Tanzania in their last-16 tie.
“I don’t understand why CAF [the Confederation of African Football] allowed that. I have to say that because it makes me unhappy,” Broos complained.
Bafana Bafana, who have qualified for this year’s World Cup, are hoping to at least match their run to the semifinals at the last Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast in 2024.
But their coach admits that could be a tall order given the depth of quality left in the competition.
“It was the ambition when we came here to do at least as well as two years ago, but I said this tournament would be much more difficult.
“At the last AFCON, a lot of big teams were knocked out early, but this time they are all here, which means to get to the final, even the semifinals, it will be much more difficult, but our ambition remains intact.”
Viewers have been praising a BBC drama that’s been gripping them for months. Some say it’s so good they keep rewatching it, with it being deemed “better than Night Manager”
10:07, 03 Jan 2026Updated 10:08, 03 Jan 2026
The series has been deemed “better than Night Manager” (Image: BBC/The Little Drummer Girl Distribution Limited)
One such gem recently sparked discussion on Reddit when a user shared their obsession with a particular miniseries. They revealed they’d become utterly absorbed by it, watching it multiple times and discovering something new with each viewing. Since then, others have admitted how gripping it is, with some claiming it’s “even better than Night Manager”.
The Reddit user gushed: “The Little Drummer Girl is superb. At the risk of being a pretentious bore, the show really struck a chord with me. I watched it, and then immediately rewatched it. Now I’m watching it again.
“There’s a huge amount of depth here. It’s not Homeland, but it’s seriously good. Strongly recommended.”
The post triggered an enthusiastic response, with another viewer saying: “I agree with everything you just said! I LOVED Little Drummer Girl. Florence Pugh is fantastic in it. Very moving.”
On a separate thread, someone else declared: “I thought it was fantastic, one of the best spy thrillers I’ve ever seen. I chase the high of that show sometimes from other things, but nothing ever quite scratches the itch.”
A third gushed: “It’s a classic. My first exposure to Florence Pugh and loved her moments in just as she’s sassing Skarsgård. All episodes enraptured me to the very end. Excellent acting from everyone, excellent story, plot, masterful directing. Definitely would rewatch again. Recommended to anyone who enjoys political thrillers, espionage and/or spy fiction.”
Meanwhile, a fourth shared: “I watched the show first because I am a huge Park Chan-Wook fan and that is actually how I discovered Le Carré. I absolutely loved it. I thought the performances, cinematography and direction were phenomenal.
“Funnily enough, I haven’t actually read the book yet. When I tried to, I only read a few pages and put it down. Wasn’t in the right headspace for it, and was afraid I might dislike it.”
Other viewers have hailed the series as “magnificent”, calling it essential viewing. The stellar cast has also received widespread acclaim.
What’s the storyline?
For those unfamiliar, The Little Drummer Girl is a British spy thriller series adapted from John le Carré’s 1983 novel of the same title. The initial six-part series premiered on BBC One in 2018 and remains popular with audiences, still streaming on iPlayer.
The narrative unfolds in 1979, following a young English actress who gets recruited by Mossad. Her mission involves going undercover to infiltrate and dismantle a Palestinian organisation planning terrorist attacks across London and elsewhere in Europe.
The series features an exceptional cast, with stars such as Michael Shannon, Alexander Skarsgård and Florence Pugh all earning acclaim from viewers for their performances.
In certain cases, audiences have gone so far as to suggest the adaptation surpasses the original novel – remarkable praise by any measure. One viewer commented: “The book is a bit too long and meandering in parts, but the TV series definitely is worth watching.”
Another added: “Thought it was more engaging than Night Manager.”
The Night Manager has returned to BBC One, with a tense clip from episode two showing villain Teddy Dos Santos complaining about someone making his life difficult
The Night Manager could be in for a shocking twist, with a teaser clip showing baddie Teddy Dos Santos hinting that he wants someone killed.
The BBC drama, which stars Tom Hiddleston as MI6 agent Jonathan Pine, has returned for its second series, a decade after the first series captivated audiences. The initial series followed Pine, a night manager at a Cairo hotel, who was enlisted by Angela Burr from the Foreign Office (Olivia Colman) to infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie).
The second series, which premiered on New Year’s Day, picks up several years later, and a gripping snippet from the second episode shows Pine coming face-to-face with his new adversary.
Pine is now a low-ranking MI6 officer overseeing a discreet surveillance unit in London. However, things take a turn when he identifies one of Roper’s former mercenaries, with a synopsis stating it “prompts a call to action and leads Pine to a violent encounter with a new player: Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos.”
An exclusive preview of the second episode reveals him covertly listening in as Teddy (Diego Calva) engages in a sinister conversation with a General, reports the Express.
Teddy informs the General that a man named Alejandro Gualteros is “making my life difficult”, claiming that he has frozen his bank accounts and is attempting to inspect one of his shipments.
“That cannot happen,” he cautions.
The General reassures Teddy that he’ll handle it, to which the arms dealer responds: “Make it quick. No money. No operation.”
In a conversation between Teddy and Pine, Pine masquerades as a businessman who has spent his career in a Hong Kong bank, aiming to gain the villain’s trust.
“You’re English?” Teddy asks during their encounter at a tennis club. “I’m from Hong Kong,” Pine responds. “Swiss Bank. I’ve been there for 10 years.”
When questioned about his presence in Colombia, he coolly answers: “Let’s just say it’s getting more complex to work with our Chinese friends. So I’m seeking new opportunities.”
“You are a risk taker,” Teddy observes. “In life as in on the court,” Pine retorts with a smile.
The latest series of the drama also stars actress and model Camila Morrone as Roxana Bolaños. She portrays a businesswoman who is close to Teddy and reluctantly assists Pine in penetrating his arms operation.
The plot summary concludes: “As allegiances splinter, Pine races to expose a conspiracy designed to destabilise a nation. And with betrayal lurking around every corner, he must decide whose trust he needs to earn and how far he’s willing to go before it’s too late.”
For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new Everything Gossip website.
London City Lionesses wanted a coach who could help develop and consistently deliver a unique style of football.
They have been influenced by Spanish football and its success, as well as the full-throttle style which has helped deliver eight Women’s Champions League titles at Lyon – one of the clubs also owned by wealthy businesswoman Michele Kang.
A shortlist of coaches was drawn up when they decided to replace former manager Jocelyn Precheur and they did not rule out some from the men’s game.
The main criteria was centred around the playing style, the coach’s ability to collaborate with a wider team of expertise and to have a track record of developing players and talented youth.
Maestre showed his potential with Spanish clubs CD Tenerife and Real Sociedad and London City believe he can become a future leading figure in the game
Led by chief executive officer Martin Semmens, London City have been working on a long-term project to achieve their aims of reaching European competition by 2026.
That is an ambitious target for a club only promoted to the WSL for the first time this season and their decision to replace Precheur with Maestre may have been premature but they were willing to take the risk and will be judged on that with intrigue.
The Night Manager has returned with both Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie as executive producers.
22:16, 01 Jan 2026Updated 22:19, 01 Jan 2026
The Night Manager season two has landed, but it didn’t take fans long to complain about a glaring problem.
Tom Hiddleston fans have been eagerly awaiting his return to The Night Manager, an unforgettable BBC drama that originally aired in February 2016.
Starring opposite Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman, The Night Manager season one revolved around ex-soldier Jonathan Pine (played by Tom Hiddleston), who was hired to infiltrate the inner circle of a secretive arms dealer.
Despite series one getting rave reviews, viewers had given up hope that it would return for a second season, but to everyone’s delight, the series two renewal came in April 2024.
The Night Manager season two finally made its debut this evening, Thursday, January 1, once again focusing on Pine, now known as Alex Goodwin, who works as part of the nocturnal surveillance unit, the Night Owls.
But it isn’t too long before he spots a familiar face from his past with Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie), taking him down yet another dangerous path.
Fans couldn’t wait to tune into the new series, but many couldn’t help but make the same complaint on X, formerly Twitter, as they struggled to remember season one.
“Watching #TheNightManagerS2 when you already have a notoriously bad memory,” someone joked.
A second echoed: “Was going to watch the #TheNightManagerS2 but I can’t remember #thenightmanager so will have to rewatch series one. Anyone else doing the same thing?”
“I have no idea what is going on”, a third began.
“Not sure if it would be easier to follow if they didn’t keep cutting back to characters from 10 years ago that I have forgotten about.”
A fellow user remarked: “Was struggling to understand why I couldn’t for the life of me remember what happened in season 1 of #TheNightManagerS2 only to Google it and see that it aired TEN years ago?????? Girl bye.”
Someone else posted: “The recap hardly helped, I can’t remember what happened last week, let alone what I watched on TV 10 years ago”, as another added: “The Night Manager is really testing everyone’s memory right now.”
Despite fans having an issue with remembering what happened in series one, others have also been praising the new season.
Someone labelled the debut episode as “outstanding” and “brilliant”, while a fellow viewer commented: “Well that didn’t disappoint!!! Episode 1 of The Night Manager- Phew – must resist the temptation to binge!”
Thankfully, fans won’t have to wait very long for the second episode, with the next instalment set to air on Sunday, January 4, at 9pm.
After this, The Night Manager will continue to be shown every Sunday in the same timeslot.
The Night Manager is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior is the leading contender for the Chelsea job vacated by Enzo Maresca.
Former Leicester boss Maresca, 45, left his role as Chelsea head coach on Thursday amid internal tensions with the club’s hierarchy and ownership.
The process to replace the Italian is under way, and it is understood Englishman Rosenior is the frontrunner, though sources have stressed other candidates are also under consideration.
The 41-year-old, who previously managed Hull, has significant backing internally at Chelsea and it is understood candidates to replace him at Strasbourg are being considered because of his possible departure.
Porto’s Francesco Farioli has also been mooted as a potential contender.
Before appointing Maresca in 2024, Chelsea interviewed Marseille manager Roberto de Zerbi, Ipswich counterpart Kieran McKenna, and Thomas Frank, who was then at Brentford but has since moved to Tottenham.
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola and Fulham‘s Marco Silva have also been linked with the role in the past, though it is unclear if they are now contenders.
The club will not change their style of play, so it is highly unlikely they would move for Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner.
It is not yet clear who will lead the side for Sunday’s match against Manchester City, though under-21s head coach Calum McFarlane will take on media duties for a news conference to preview the game on Friday.
A social media post from goalkeeper Robert Sanchez indicated that Maresca’s backroom team have also departed the club.
Maresca exits the club midway through a turbulent season with the team winning just one Premier League game in December.
Published On 1 Jan 20261 Jan 2026
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Chelsea have parted ways with Enzo Maresca, a dramatic fall from grace for the Italian who was named Manager of the Month for November before the club won just one of their last seven league games, causing them to fall out of the Premier League title race.
“Chelsea Football Club and head coach Enzo Maresca have parted company,” the club said in a statement on Thursday.
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Maresca, who joined Chelsea in 2024 after steering Leicester City to Premier League promotion, leaves 18 months to the day since he was tasked with reviving the club’s fortunes after two years of failing to qualify for the Champions League.
He eventually guided the London side to UEFA Champions League qualification with a fourth-placed finish, the Conference League trophy and the Club World Cup title in his first season with a young but expensively built squad.
Poor run of form
However, a poor run of form in December and an uncharacteristic outburst from the Italian prompted the club hierarchy to take action and part ways with the 45-year-old manager.
“With key objectives still to play for across four competitions including qualification for Champions League football, Enzo and the club believe a change gives the team the best chance of getting the season back on track,” the Chelsea statement said.
Chelsea were as high as third in November and were among the title contenders, high on confidence after they had also crushed Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge.
But they have since slipped to fifth in the league to sit 15 points behind leaders Arsenal at the halfway stage of the season.
Chelsea star Cole Palmer shakes hands with Maresca, left, after being substituted during what turned out to be the Italian’s last match in charge of the club against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge, London, UK, on December 30, 2025 [Andrew Boyers/Action Images via Reuters]
‘Worst 48 hours’
Last month, Maresca voiced frustration over issues behind the scenes, saying he felt he had a lack of support from the club, describing a period after a 2-0 win over Everton as “the worst 48 hours” of his tenure.
The Italian did not clarify what he meant by the comment, but the damage seemed to have been done as Chelsea’s league form nosedived.
Although Chelsea beat Cardiff City to reach the League Cup semifinals, they picked up only two points in their last three Premier League games.
Off the pitch, there was also the unwelcome distraction of rubbishing links to the Manchester City job as Maresca pointed out that he was committed to Chelsea, where he had a contract until 2029.
But Tuesday’s 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth – where fans chanted, “You don’t know what you’re doing” when he substituted playmaker Cole Palmer while they also booed at the final whistle – proved to be his final match in charge.
The club did not say who would take charge before Sunday’s match against second-placed Manchester City.
Those comments came without any warning to club staff or senior management, who would have preferred any discussions to remain private.
But friction had been brewing in the months before that.
Maresca had hoped to raise his profile following the Blues’ successes through opportunities outside the club. He was planning to publish a book before being blocked, and spoke at Il Festival dello Sport – an event in Italy organised by La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper – without the club’s permission.
He also made public that he disagreed with the club not signing a central defender after Levi Colwill injured his anterior cruciate ligament in pre-season. The club’s hierarchy explained that doing so could prompt academy prospect Josh Acheampong to request a transfer, which ultimately led Maresca to back down.
The former Leicester manager has also switched agents – from the Wasserman agency to Jorge Mendes – and has been talked of as a potential successor to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, which Maresca has dismissed.
In addition, he has increasingly avoided wearing club tracksuits – opting instead for his own clothing.
Following his last game with Chelsea – a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth on 30 December – assistant manager Willy Caballero said Maresca felt too unwell to do his post-match media duties, but it is understood his absence was more due to his disillusionment at the club.
And it was noticeable that when Chelsea posted a 52-second video on social media on New Year’s Eve summarising their year, there was no trace of Maresca.
Brennan Johnson will meet Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner on Thursday before making a final decision on whether to complete a £35m move from Tottenham.
BBC Sport understands the growing expectation is for the deal to be completed, but the talks will be pivotal towards the transfer’s successful progression.
Palace have agreed the fee with Tottenham to sign the 24-year-old forward but are still waiting for the green light to conclude the deal.
Wales international Johnson’s talks with Glasner will centre around the player’s role in the team and the club’s future and ambitions to ensure all parties are aligned.
If talks are successful, Johnson is expected to sign for Palace in the coming days.
Tom Hiddleston is set to make his anticipated return to The Night Manager after almost 10 years
Almost a decade after its explosive finale captivated over 10 million viewers, hit BBC spy thriller The Night Manager is officially back with a bang.
Based on the characters created by John le Carré, the series followed Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston), a night manager of a luxury hotel in Cairo and a former British soldier, who was recruited by the manager of a Foreign Office task force to infiltrate the inner circle of a dangerous arms dealer.
The award-winning drama returns to BBC One tonight (January 1) at 9pm as Pine takes on an explosive new case. The official synopsis teases: “Jonathan Pine thought he’d buried his past. Now living as Alex Goodwin – a low-level MI6 officer running a quiet surveillance unit in London – his life is comfortingly uneventful.
“Then one night, a chance sighting of an old Roper mercenary prompts a call to action and leads Pine to a violent encounter with a new player: Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos.”
Pine later meets a businesswoman who reluctantly helps him infiltrate Teddy’s Colombian arms operation. Once in Colombia, Pine is plunged deep into a deadly plot involving the training of a guerrilla army.
The logline concludes: “As allegiances splinter, Pine races to expose a conspiracy designed to destabilise a nation. And with betrayal at every turn, he must decide whose trust he needs to earn and how far he’s willing to go before it’s too late.”
Alongside Tom Hiddleston, the new season also stars Diego Calva as Teddy, as well as Camila Morrone as Roxana, Indira Varma as Mayra, Paul Chahidi as Basil, and Hayley Squires as Sally.
Olivia Colman reprises her role as Angela Burr, alongside returning cast members Alistair Petrie as Sandy Langbourne, Douglas Hodge as Rex Mayhew, Michael Nardone as Frisky, and Noah Jupe as Daniel Roper.
Where was The Night Manager filmed?
The Night Manager filmed across several diverse locations for season two, including the UK, Spain, Colombia and France.
Colombia serves as a major backdrop for the new storyline, with filming taking place at a villa in Girardot – four hours from the capital of Bogotá.
On the preparations that took place before production began in South America, screenwriter David Farr explained at the season two premiere: “Colombia is a very, very complex country, massively misunderstood. Everyone thinks it’s just completely dangerous and it’s totally not true. But for me, I think it was really important to sort of engage in that seriously. So we did.
“We went there properly, we met people, fantastic people. That’s the great luxury of being writers.”
Director Georgi Banks-Davies added: “We went on a massive global adventure because I’m a realist… I think we shot 96, 97 days across six months because of the travel.
“That meant going to the depths of every place, and that’s brutal. It’s really, really hard. You just can’t fake it, and my god, it was hot!”
Executive producer Stephen Garrett concluded: “We ended up slightly mad, Georgi and I and a couple of others. There were a few of us who ended up in daily shirt wars, just because they would be destroyed on a daily basis, because we got, sorry to say, so sweaty.
“Weirdly, one of the challenges we had in post [production] was communicating the heat that we were actually experiencing.”
The Night Manager season 2 premieres on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 9pm on Thursday, January 1
For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new Everything Gossip website
Chelsea were satisfied with Maresca at the end of last season after he delivered Champions League qualification – regarded internally as his most important achievement – plus a Uefa Conference League win, which had broadly been expected, and a Club World Cup triumph, which came as a welcome surprise.
There was genuine delight and backing among key figures at Stamford Bridge, including sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Lawrence Stewart, and influential owner Behdad Eghbali.
In line with the agreed strategy when appointing Maresca from Leicester City in 2024 – for which the club paid £10m – he focused on coaching the team while those above him oversaw much of the backroom staff, medical department and transfers.
The transfer policy – signing the world’s best young players from lesser leagues to create the youngest team in the Premier League – remains in place.
Maresca will have known what he was signing up for. His complaints are not about the quality of his players or the strategy, but about the perception of his work with this young group.
The Italian is encouraged to rotate his squad, but he often feels that when he does so in the Premier League, his team drops points. He has also openly urged reporters to question the hierarchy.
Those familiar with his thinking say he has defended his work because he believes he is performing better than many have acknowledged, given the squad’s age. He also feels the club should have offered him stronger protection from external criticism.
Maresca has sought to raise his own profile following recent success. He had planned to publish a book – blocked by the club – and spoke at Il Festival dello Sport in Trento, Italy, without Chelsea‘s permission, at an event organised by La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.
His “worst 48 hours” comments came without prior warning to club staff or senior management, who would have preferred such discussions to remain private. The remarks even surprised members of his own team.
Maresca also publicly criticised Chelsea for failing to sign a central defender after Levi Colwill suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in pre-season. The hierarchy explained that doing so could prompt promising academy prospect Josh Acheampong to request a transfer, which ultimately led Maresca to back down.
There has also been a switch of agents – from the Wasserman agency to Jorge Mendes – alongside links to a potential move to replace Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, which Maresca has denied.
In addition, he has increasingly avoided wearing club tracksuits, opting instead for his own clothing.
Chelsea have a history of poor December form, collecting just 62 points from a possible 120 over the past seven seasons. Last season, they endured a stretch of only two wins from mid-December through the final week of February.
This context shows that Chelsea could have taken bad spells on the chin previously – the situation remains recoverable – but those other factors which have strained his relations with the club hierarchy now mean results are essential to strengthen Maresca’s position.
BBC thriller The Night Manager is set to return to screens after its successful debut back in 2016
BBC thriller The Night Manager is set to return to screens for its second season.
Based on the characters created by John le Carré, the series followed Jonathan Pine, a night manager of a luxury hotel in Cairo and a former British soldier, who was recruited by the manager of a Foreign Office task force to infiltrate the inner circle of a dangerous arms dealer.
The show won multiple BAFTAs, Emmy Awards, and Golden Globes, including Best Actor for Tom Hiddleston as Pine.
Almost ten years after its explosive finale captivated over ten million viewers, the hit BBC spy thriller is now back with a bang as Pine takes on an explosive new case.
The official synopsis teases: “Jonathan Pine thought he’d buried his past. Now living as Alex Goodwin – a low-level MI6 officer running a quiet surveillance unit in London – his life is comfortingly uneventful.
“Then one night, a chance sighting of an old Roper mercenary prompts a call to action and leads Pine to a violent encounter with a new player: Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos.
“On this perilous new journey, Pine meets Roxana Bolaños, a businesswoman who reluctantly helps him infiltrate Teddy’s Colombian arms operation. Once in Colombia, Pine is plunged deep into a deadly plot involving arms and training of a guerrilla army.”
The logline concludes: “As allegiances splinter, Pine races to expose a conspiracy designed to destabilise a nation. And with betrayal at every turn, he must decide whose trust he needs to earn and how far he’s willing to go before it’s too late.”
Here’s everything you need to know about the BBC thriller’s return, including release date, cast, and episode details.
When will The Night Manager be released?
The first episode of season two is set to premiere on BBC One on Thursday, January 1 at 9pm. The new series will then be available to stream on Prime Video from January 11.
Who is in the cast of The Night Manager?
Tom Hiddleston returns as former British intelligence operative, Jonathan Pine, with Diego Calva as Teddy, and Camila Morrone as Roxana. They are joined by Indira Varma as Mayra, Paul Chahidi as Basil, and Hayley Squires as Sally.
Olivia Colman reprises her role as Angela Burr, alongside returning cast members Alistair Petrie as Sandy Langbourne, Douglas Hodge as Rex Mayhew, Michael Nardone as Frisky, and Noah Jupe as Daniel Roper.
The cast and creatives have promised “danger, espionage, betrayal, love, heartbreak, drama, and suspense” in the next chapter of Pine’s story.
How many episodes are in The Night Manager?
The Night Manager season two consists of six hour-long episodes. After the first episode premieres on New Year’s Day, the drama will continue three days later on Sunday, January 4 at 9pm on BBC One.
The following four episodes will air every Sunday at 9pm, with the explosive finale expected to air on February 1.
For international viewers, the first three episodes will drop on Prime Video on Sunday, January 11, with subsequent instalments premiering every Sunday through to February 1.
The Night Manager season 2 premieres on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 9pm on Thursday, January 1
For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new Everything Gossip website
Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has told his players to “enjoy themselves” but to “use common sense” over christmas. His comments follow Pep Guardiola’s admission that Manchester City’s players will be weighed when they return to training to check their fitness has not dropped over the festive period.
