The Night Manager season 2 is barrelling towards an epic conclusion with episode 5, which sees Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) rally against his re-emerged rival. In a dramatic shoot-out at the end of last week’s chapter, Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) revealed himself as a plant inside the operation of Roper’s own son, Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), in order to save the life of an innocent teenager. Although the bold intervention allowed him to rescue both Tavo (Samuel Gómez López) and Roxana (Camila Morrone), it came at a heavy price: alerting Roper to the fact that Pine is on his case once again. In an exclusive clip for readers of RadioTimes.com, the ruthless arms dealer can be seen plotting with allied MI6 boss Mayra Cavendish (Indira Varma), ordering her to root out Pine’s support team in England. Meanwhile, Roper plans to deal with the spy himself personally in Colombia – after all, we wouldn’t expect the worst man in the world to pass up an opportunity to exact revenge in the cruelest form. Want to …

TV viewers have become accustomed to increasingly lengthy waits between seasons of their favourite shows. Stranger Things took three years between its fourth and fifth seasons, while Euphoria will be back next year, more than four years after it was last on air. But BBC One’s The Night Manager – which returns this week after a 10-year hiatus – takes the biscuit. When last we followed the adventures of Tom Hiddleston’s Jonathan Pine, David Cameron and Barack Obama were still in office, the Paris Climate Accords had just been adopted, and Covid-19 was just a glint in a pangolin’s eye. So, you’d be forgiven for not knowing quite what to expect from the return of John Le Carré’s taciturn hero. Several years on from the events of the first season, Pine – now known as Alex Goodwin – is leading a subdivision of MI6 dedicated to nocturnal surveillance. “Nothing above the parapet,” Pine’s mentor Rex (Douglas Hodge) warns him. “That face is too pretty to lose.” But Pine is still transparently haunted by the mission …

The Night Manager season 2 is off to an explosive start on BBC One and iPlayer, giving viewers long-awaited details on the fate of Hugh Laurie’s sinister arms dealer Richard Roper. Given how season 1 ended, the highly memorable character had not been expected to play any major role in this sequel, with Laurie’s continued involvement limited to strictly behind-the-camera duties. However, the very first episode has already upended that notion with a fleeting appearance from the actor, which powerfully connects Jonathan Pine’s new assignment to Roper’s ugly legacy. It raises the question of whether a more substantial flashback could follow down the line, giving Laurie another chance to inhabit this juicy role – for now, we can only speculate (and hope). Read on for everything you need to know about Laurie’s on-screen appearance in The Night Manager season 2, and a refresher of what exactly happened to his once-untouchable character at the end of the first chapter. Does Hugh Laurie appear in The Night Manager season 2? Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman star in …