Actor says le Carre spy is perfect mix of charming and fearless

Tom Hiddleston gets to wear sharp suits as spy Jonathan Pine but he says there's something he loves more about his character in The Night Manager than just embodying elegant espionage.

- BY MARC BAKER and SUE LEE

He explains: "On the surface he is immaculate, charming, collected, capable and calm, like all great hoteliers, a great actor - so think about it the next time you are staying in a hotel!

"But he had also been a British soldier in the Army. There is this tension between the still water of this immaculate, pristine face and inside a heart that is on fire with moral courage and solitude and pain and trauma. Who does not want to play that guy?

He says the character created by author John le Carre is stencilled into his brain, adding: "Le Carre was fascinated by the masks we wear.

"Spies have to lie to get to the truth and it is easy to get lost in the maze. One slip-up and you are a dead man."

Tom, 44, is speaking shortly after season two of the hit series came out on New Year's Day, and says even more work went into the comeback premiering a decade after season one.

He says: "We set a high standard for ourselves. We knew it had to be bigger, bolder, deeper and we had to risk more.

"We knew it would cost more in terms of spirit. It takes time to develop six hours of television."

In season one, Cairo hotel manager Pine is recruited by Foreign Office operative Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) to get close to arms dealer Richard Roper, played by Hugh Laurie.