The Night Manager Page #3

BURR:

You’re not going to be a pudding

traitor are you?

ANGELA BURR, 3 months pregnant, stares across at JONATHAN

PINE as the main course dishes are cleared away, the Alpine

snow stretching behind them through the window of this very

different, rather sober restaurant. The restaurant from the

end of Episode 1.

PINE smiles.

PINE:

Good lord no.

BURR turns to the waiter.

BURR:

We’ll have the puree of chestnut.

Two spoons. And coffee. Strong. Two

sugars in mine...

PINE:

No sugar for me.

BURR raises her eyebrows The waiter leaves. Beat.

BURR:

So why did you do it?

PINE:

Do what?

BURR:

Why does Jonathan Pine, the

respected hotelier, risk his career

by snitching on his guests. First

Cairo. Now here.

PINE:

I don’t know.

BURR:

Yes you do.

PINE:

Something stirred I suppose.

BURR leans in quietly.

Night Manager ep 2 final

BURR:

What stirred?

PINE:

A man’s peddling a private arsenal

to an Egyptian crook, he’s English,

you’re English, and those arms can

cause a lot of pain to a lot of

people. Well you just do it.

BURR:

Plenty wouldn’t. You were a

soldier yourself, of course.

PINE.

Iraq

BURR:

Two tours. You know what those

weapons can do to a body.

Beat.

BURR (CONT’D)

Why did you leave the army?

PINE:

I saw things... that didn’t reflect

my idea of being a soldier.

BURR:

And then there’s Sophie Alekan.

Your Sophie.

PINE:

She’s not my Sophie.

Beat.

WAITER:

Your dessert madame.

The WAITER appears.

He puts it down. Two spoons. They each take a spoon.

And stare at each other.

12 INT. ZERMATT. TRAIN. DAY. 12

A small train winds up the hill, through the stunning Zermatt

countryside. BURR and PINE talk in a quiet corner of an

almost deserted carriage. BURR stares out the window at the

astonishing view.

Night Manager ep 2 final

BURR:

Mr Burr always wanted to come to

the Swiss lakes. Likes the peace

and quiet, does Mr Burr.

PINE:

You don’t?

BURR:

All this snow and silence? Makes me

want to scream.

She looks around at the demure Swiss passengers.

BURR (CONT'D)

Don’t worry, I’m not going to.

PINE:

How long have you been together?

BURR:

Twenty years, come November.

PINE:

Congratulations.

BURR:

It’s marriage Jonathan. It’s not a

state of bliss.

PINE:

How many children?

BURR:

This is the first and last.

The train rattles on gently.

BURR (CONT’D)

Cairo isn’t on your professional

CV. No mention. I checked.

PINE:

I took it off after I left.

BURR:

Why?

PINE:

Why do you think?

BURR:

I think you didn’t want people

asking questions.

Beat.

Night Manager ep 2 final

BURR (CONT’D)

So if Roper checked Meisters for a

biography Cairo wouldn’t come up.

PINE:

No.

BURR:

What about Freddie Hamid?

PINE:

I was just a man in a uniform. He

never knew my name.

BURR:

With a bit of airbrushing you’ll

clean.

PINE:

Clean for what?

BURR turns to look at the Meisters Hotel as they pass it.

BURR:

Do you handle cash at the hotel?

PINE:

Sometimes. Some guests still prefer

it.

BURR:

And that cash goes in the safe?

PINE:

Until the end of the month.

BURR:

Suppose you stole some of it? All

of it? Would anyone one notice

straight away?

PINE:

If I was clever. No. They wouldn’t.

BURR:

Luckily, you are clever, Jonathan.

I checked.

13 EXT. ZERMATT. PINE’S APARTMENT. DAY. 13

At the top of the mountain is a small monk’s cell of a place.

PINE’s apartment. BURR and he approach it.

BURR:

Don’t get many visitors, do we?

Night Manager ep 2 final

14 INT. ZERMATT. PINE’S APARTMENT. DAY. 14

They enter PINE’s apartment. BURR takes off her coat. Stares

at the small, sparsely decorated room. Eyes scanning,

absorbing everything she can.

PINE:

I’ll make some coffee.

He goes to make coffee, struggles to find a second cup. She

notices. She goes to the bookcase. Takes out her phone and

discreetly snaps four shots of PINE’S reading landscape.

BURR:

You a fan of Hardy?

PINE:

My shot at nostalgia I suppose.

BURR:

Mr Burr teaches Hardy.

PINE:

So he is a fan.

BURR:

No, he can’t stand him. Man as

mouse and god as uncaring bastard,

that’s what he says.

She sees another book.

BURR (CONT’D)

TE Lawrence. Of Arabia. The lonely

genius who wished only to be a

number.

She takes the book.

PINE:

Would you put that back please.

BURR:

Whose initials are these?

PINE:

My father’s actually. Will you put

it back. It’s private.

PINE grabs the book.

BURR:

I’m sorry. I didn’t know how much

it mattered to you.

PINE:

Yes you did.

Night Manager ep 2 final

BURR:

Your father was undercover in

Belfast wasn’t he?

PINE:

Yes.

BURR:

Same regiment as you.

The book taken firmly and replaced on the shelf.

BURR (CONT'D)

I read they had to put his uniform

back on before they buried him.

PINE:

What do you want, Ms Burr?

Beat. BURR stares at PINE.

BURR:

I want to make you an offer.

(frowns)

No, that’s not right. I want to

give you a chance. Come and work

for me. Afterwards when it’s over,

I’ll look after you. Resettlement,

new name, new identity... new life.

What do you say?

PINE:

A chance to do what?

BURR:

To bring down Richard Roper.

Beat.

I’ve spent ten years of my life

going after that man. I’ve had

microphones up his arse, I’ve had

GCHQ tapping into every bloody

email, overflying him with a

thousand satellites, and listening

to every phone call he makes. I

can’t touch Roper. And why?

PINE:

Because he’s never near the

destruction he causes.

BURR:

But that’s going to change. I want

to get you on the inside. I’ll give

you a legend thicker than your arm.

(MORE)

Night Manager ep 2 final

BURR (CONT'D)

I’ll send you so deep inside his

operation, you won’t feel like

you’ll ever get out. You’ll be

feeding the rat three meals a day,

hanging on by your finger-nails in

force ten gales, there’s not a

scrap of you won’t be used, not an

hour you won’t be scared stiff. But

you’ll nail him. You’ll nail him

for Sophie Alekan. You’ll nail him

for your country. And you’ll nail

him for the man that owned that

book.

BURR stares at the bookcase.

BURR (CONT’D)

Or you can stay hiding in the hotel

of non-existence. It’s up to you.

15 INT. ZERMATT. MEISTERS HOTEL. LOBBY. NIGHT. 15

JONATHAN PINE is standing at the night desk of the Meisters

hotel. The small hours, sleepy atmosphere, no one around.

The same world. The same people. Nothing changes.

PINE walks into the office and stares at the safe.

16 INT. ZERMATT. MEISTERS HOTEL. OFFICE. NIGHT. 16

He quietly closes the door of the office and pulls down the

blind.

He does the combination. Opens the safe.

Inside is a significant amount of cash.

He stares at it. A moment of decision.

One last look through the blinds at the sleepy hotel he is

leaving forever.

Then puts his hand in and takes the cash.

17 I/E. MADRID. RESTAURANT. DAY. 17

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