The Night Manager villain inspired by John le Carré's own father

The son of The Night Manager author has said the series' villain is inspired by his own "evil" grandfather.

Simon Cornwell, executive producer of the popular spy series, said his late father John le Carré "could never quite shake the character of his father off" when writing the book's villain, Roper.

The second series of the BBC thriller reached its dramatic finale on 1 February, with Cornwell revealing a third series is already in the works.

While most of the filming took place in the heat of Columbia and Spain, viewers were surprised to see a Gower beauty spot in one of the episodes.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Cornwell said arms dealer Roper, played by Hugh Laurie in the TV adaptation, was actually based on disgraced businessman Ronnie Cornwell.

He said: "My grandfather was a pretty terrible man - he was a confidence trickster, he was in and out of jail.

"I think he went bankrupt 13 times in the course of his lifetime.

"He wanted to be a grand businessman, an empresario, but he had an evil streak to him."

Le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell, had a "tough childhood" after his mum left the family when he was five.

Like Roper, Ronnie Cornwell was an arms dealer and a known acquaintance of the infamous Kray twins, spending time in prison for offences like insurance fraud and embezzlement.

Simon Cornwell believes Le Carré used the difficult relationship as "fuel" for his writing.

While the series was filmed internationally, the location of one particular scene may have felt more familiar to Welsh viewers.

Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower Peninsula, Swansea, acted as the hidden retreat for MI6's head of technical in the show, Basil Karapetian.

"We wanted somewhere that was isolated, where one of our characters, played by the wonderful Paul Chahidi has a hideaway in Wales where he uses to get away from the world," Cornwall said.

"It just felt right to shoot what was a sort of sad, reflective sequence there.

"It came out quite beautifully I think."

Le Carré released his first book Call for Murder while still working for MI5 in 1961.

His work at MI5 and MI6 went on to inspire a further 25 books with many of them, including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Little Drummer Girl, adapted for screen.

Cornwell said it was "sad" that his father, who died in 2020, will never see the current and future series of The Night Manager.

"He knew we were going to do a follow-on series and he loved the idea," Cornwell added.

"There's a lot of the themes and the texture of his work, and a lot of the excitement.

"I think it's a really good homage to him."

While 10 years has passed since the first series, Cornwell said he hoped viewers will not be left waiting as long for the third instalment.