Inspired by real events, BBC One's new eight-part drama The Serpent tells the remarkable story of how the conman and murderer Charles Sobhraj (Tahar Rahim) was brought to justice.

 

Posing as a gem dealer, Sobhraj and his girlfriend Marie-Andrée Leclerc (Jenna Coleman) travelled across Thailand, Nepal and India in 1975 and 1976, carrying out a spree of crimes on the Asian ‘Hippie Trail’ and becoming the chief suspects in a series of murders of young Western travellers.

 

As Sobhraj repeatedly slips from the grasp of authorities around the world, Herman Knippenberg (Billy Howle), a junior diplomat at the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok, unwittingly walks into his intricate web of crime. Knippenberg sets off an extraordinary chain of events that will see Sobhraj become Interpol’s most wanted man, with arrest warrants in multiple continents.

 

Ellie Bamber also stars as Angela Knippenberg. Further casting includes Amesh Edireweera, Mathilde Warnier, Grégoire Isvarine and Tim McInnerny.

 

Commissioned by BBC One, The Serpent (8x60') is made by Mammoth Screen, part of ITV Studios, and is a co-production between BBC One and Netflix. The series was conceived and developed by Tom Shankland and Richard Warlow, and written by Richard Warlow and Toby Finlay.

 

It was directed by Tom Shankland and Hans Herbots, produced by Stephen Smallwood, and executive produced by Richard Warlow, Tom Shankland, Preethi Mavahalli and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen.

First episodes airs Friday 1st January at 9pm, second episode follows on Sunday 3rd and presumably the rest of the eight episodes remain in that slot.

Looking forward to this, especially with Jenna Coleman

Looks class this!

A new miniseries on BBC One starting on New Years Day - about serial killer Charles Sobhraj. Looks quite good, I'll give it a go (and also stars Jenna Coleman!)

Yeh looks good, Jenna is just ❤️

It was an interesting first episode, maybe a bit slow at some points but that did not bother me at all. I got quite excited to hear some Dutch words being used, haha.

I've seen all 8 episodes, all I'm going to say... some great drama, stick with it.

This is absolutely incredible!!

 

I’ve seen the first three episodes so far and it definitely gets better with each one. I get that the non-linear storyline has contributed to the show not being a BIG hit that it deserves to me but I think that’s one of the main reasons I’m enjoying it so much. I do love stories that show scenes that only tell part of a story and as you get further into it, it revisits stuff to extend scenes or show them from a different perspective.

 

I adore the visuals as well, the way they’ve made the filter for parts look like it’s airing in the 70s is so beautiful. There’s been so much effort put into making this, it’s really paid off.

 

The third episode got so tense though, dreading where it’s going next. Although I do have to remind myself it’s based on real events. It’s easy to get lost into a drama but it’s definitely important to remember the real life tragedies.

I ended up binging this really quickly just after New Year. I thought the first episode was a little slow but once you get to episode 2, it's quite a ride right through to the series finale. Episode 1 is the slowest so anyone who is wavering shouldn't be put off, it's very much a scene setting episode before the big drama that follows. I agree that the non-linear story telling is definitely the highlight! I'm not normally a big fan and can find it hard to follow but in this case if it had been linear, I don't think the story telling would have been quite as impactful or effective.

 

When I saw it was an eight part series, I expected it might be a bit of a drag to pull it out across so many episodes. But it's very well crafted and spaced out!

Watched the first two episodes tonight and thoroughly enjoying it, wondering why he actually did this!