The Night Manager producer ‘always intended’ on shock return

The Night Manager’s executive producer has revealed the show “always intended” the shock twist at the end of Sunday night’s episode.

The latest instalment of the hit BBC drama starring Tom Hiddleston saw the return of the villain played by Hugh Laurie in the first series.

Speaking to the Press Association, Stephen Garrett, 68, said that showrunners “played on ambiguity” surrounding Laurie’s return to the show, and said: “He was never not going to be in it.

“It was a question of, how do we bring him back in the most exciting way possible?”

The first episode of the latest season saw intelligence officer Angela Burr (Olivia Coleman) confirming the identity of a body believed to be Laurie’s character, arms dealer Richard Roper, in a flashback scene set four years after the events of the first series.

Garrett said: “His end was sort of ambiguous. He’s bundled into a truck. He clearly owes some very bad people 300 million dollars, so it’s not looking good for him, but you don’t see anybody kind of shoot him or hang him or push him off a cliff.”

On Sunday night, viewers saw Hiddleston’s character, Jonathan Pine, follow Roper’s criminal son Teddy (Diego Calva) to a hidden location.

It was then revealed that Teddy was working with Laurie’s character, who was alive and living under the name Gilberto Hanson.

Garrett said: “We really feared the cat would come out of the bag. We had so many kind of close shaves.

“But I’m really thrilled we got away with it because I think for viewers, it’s just incredibly pleasurable to have these surprises.

“At the end of the day, you just want to entertain people. Hopefully, that’s what we’ve done.”

When asked if he could tease any more secrets which will be revealed, Garrett said: “That’s a secret.

“Are there things that will hopefully surprise and delight the audience? Yeah, absolutely. What are they? Well, you’re just going to have to keep watching.”

The Night Manager is based on the 1993 novel of the same name by John le Carre.

The second season follows Hiddleston’s character Jonathan, who thought he had buried his past, living as low-level MI6 officer Alex Goodwin, who is then pushed back into action when he meets with old mercenaries.

The Emmy-winning show, which debuted in 2016, has a star-studded cast – with David Harewood, Tom Hollander and Tobias Menzies featuring alongside Laurie, Hiddleston and Coleman.

The show is available to watch on BBC One and iPlayer, with the next episode airing on January 18 at 9pm.