Ivan Radford | On 07, Nov 2024

“You’re paying me to kill him. I am charging for getting away.” Those are the terms of the Jackal (Eddie Redmayne), an international assassin with an eye for detail. Sky’s new adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s novel – previously adapted into a film in 1973 and, more loosely, in 1997 – spans not just 2 hours but 10 episodes, which gives lots of extra time for detail.

We’re introduced to this incarnation of Jackal during a job in Munich, and his attention to the little things becomes immediately clear. He moves slowly, waits silently and isn’t afraid to take several test shots before pulling off a hit at a record distance. Then, once he’s confirmed his kill, he leaves a bomb behind for anyone who comes looking.

We first meet him, though, while he’s preparing for that shot, as he puts on a wig and adopts a gravelly German accent to infiltrate his target’s life. He’s unrecognisable from one scene to the next, save for his precise, clinical ability to dispatch unwanted witnesses and threats – a rapid stairwell shootout is a stark contrast to the gradual assassination in an innocuous apartment, but they share the same calculated ruthlessness.

Later, we see the Jackal as he goes to visit his wife, Nuria (Úrsula Corberó), a warm and affectionate partner who brings out a smiling kindness to his otherwise enigmatic face. It’s a jarring surprise having seen him in action, although it perhaps helps to explain how someone so steeped in death also seems to have a disdain for bloodshed.

If it sounds like the Jackal is a hard man to pin down, that’s exactly the point – Top Boy creator Roman Bennett’s adaptation leans into the chameleonic nature of the killer, presenting us with so many sides of the ever-shifting assassin that we simultaneously know and don’t know him at all. It’s a hugely effective approach that adds fascination and nuance to a figure who could have been icily remote and not much more.

The scripts also bring a fresh angle to the plot, swapping out a plot against Charles de Gaulle to a contract taken out against a tech billionaire, Ulle Dag Charles (Khalid Abdalla). That introduces timely villains in the form of greed and capitalism, as well as data privacy and corruption, which makes it harder to work out where our sympathies lie. The Jackal, meanwhile, has to navigate compromising his processes to secure the lucrative contract by meeting his client face to face.

All this is without the other key piece of the puzzle: MI6 agent Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lunch), who starts to pick up the scent of someone unique after investigating the Munich incident. Increasingly drawn away from her family by her obsession with her job, she’s as hyperfocused as the Jackal is, with her collagues not sure whether she’s a pain in their side or an asset to be equipped.

And so the stage is set for two unrelenting forces to collide, and they do so surprisingly early on – an explosive clash of bullets that leads both of them keenly aware of the formiddable nature of their counterpart. Lashana Lynch follows her turn in No Time to Die with a brilliantly energetic and earnest performance that is entirely winning, even as we question Bianca’s decisions. Eddie Redmayne, meanwhile, taps into his naturally intense screen presence to deliver a properly chilling turn that dials down his usual vulnerability for something steely and efficient – even his character’s apparent fondness for collecting chess pieces is unnerving.

Director Brian Kirk (a Game of Thrones and Luther veteran) ups the ante with some slick set pieces and inspired sound design, dimming down background noise so that we can hear every click of a sniper rifle being adjusted. It’s a flawlessly executed cat-and-mouse thriller that is precise in its patience and patient in its precision. What a riveting bit of TV.

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