ARE you riveted to BBC One’s fascinating adaptation of John le Carre’s spy thriller The Night Manager?

Tom Hiddleston takes the role of the former hotel employee with hidden depths, recruited on a solo spy mission. Apart from gratuitous shots of him running in his trunks along a sunny beach (well, he is being talked about as the next James Bond), the series boasts some of acting’s currently best-known names including Hugh Laurie and Olivia Coleman.

Like many of le Carre’s stories, you’ve got to keep your wits about you, keep up as the story takes plenty of twists and turns and the dialogue is only a clue to the plot, not the whole story.

Hiddleston certainly provides a restrained, compelling performance but, personally, it’s Laurie who shows once again that he’s an actor with multi-layered talent n- and he makes a wonderfully cold and Machiavellian baddie.

It’s all a million miles from cosy Downton Abbey’s entertainment, but it’s nonetheless c watchable stuff and makes Sunday night viewing once more a treat.