The Night Manager: Episode 3

"Becoming a man is realising it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness – that’s freedom."

This is where it really gets interesting. High Laurie's extraordinary and revelatory performance as psychopath Richard Roper continues to enthrall as Tom Hiddleston's Jonathan Pine cunningly inveigled his way into Roper's organisation at the expense of his rival Corky, whose fondness for the bottle and nubile (is that the right word?) young men is ruthlessly used against him.

Incidentally, Tom Hollander is also superb as Corky, by far the most quotable character and likeable in spite of both his cynical amorality and his right wing proclivities. But this episode is the best so far. Shockingly, it begins with the suicide of an apparently spoiled rich girl on her 16th birthday- raped by Roper?- but it builds into a fascinating game of cat and mouth in which Pine uncovers secrets of, yes, dastardly arms dealing, but also of secrets abounding. Jed and Roper are not getting on and, indeed, I suspect the two of them will grow closer in future episodes. Jed is a sympathetic character, not without a conscience and with a deepening realisation of what a monster her paramour has become: witness the hair that Jonathan finds in Roper's secret study.

But what's this? Dastardly dealings at MI6? Again, a brilliant piece of television.