The Serpent

The remarkable story of how murderer Charles Sobhraj was captured. As the chief suspect in unsolved murders of young Western travellers across India, Thailand and Nepal’s ‘Hippie Trail’ in 1975 and 1976, Sobhraj had repeatedly slipped from the grasp of authorities worldwide to become Interpol's most wanted man, with arrest warrants on three different continents.

The Serpent (2021) is a British true crime miniseries created by Richard Warlow and Toby Finlay for BBC One. Tahar Rahim plays Charles Sobhraj, a charismatic con artist and suspected serial killer who slips between identities across Asia, while Billy Howle plays Herman Knippenberg, a Dutch diplomat who refuses to let the case go, and Jenna Coleman plays Marie-Andrée Leclerc, a French-Canadian travel companion whose disappearance draws her into the pursuit. Across eight episodes the engine is a cat and mouse game: investigators must prove crimes committed across borders where authorities barely cooperate, while Sobhraj stays one step ahead with forged papers, flattery and sudden charm. Each episode moves between the detectives' tense investigations and the murky world of young Western backpackers drifting along the 1970s Hippie Trail through India, Thailand and Nepal. Set in mid-1970s Bangkok, Kathmandu and Delhi, the series is a grounded, unsettling true story with a brooding, paranoid atmosphere, where the mood is dread rather than spectacle. Fans of Mindhunter, The Night Manager and Ripper Street will find resonance in its patient, detail-driven dramatization of real criminal manipulation and the people determined to stop it.

Audiences rate the miniseries positively, praising its gripping true-crime account and well-made craft.

• Ripper Streetslow burn true crime procedural tracing a charismatic killer across borders, serialized European-set tension
• Catch Me If You Canreal-life criminal manipulator with a cat and mouse pursuit, based on a notorious case, dread and charisma
• Mindhuntertrue crime miniseries dramatizing a real serial killer's manipulation and the investigators hunting him
• The Night Managercharismatic criminal mastermind and international manhunt grounded in real events, tense atmospheric period crime

Created by

Richard Warlow, Toby Finlay

Release Date

2021-01-01

Episode runtime

58 min

Rating

7.6 / 10 (413)

What is The Serpent about?

A dogged Dutch diplomat and a French-Canadian woman hunt the charming serial killer Charles Sobhraj as he preys on young travellers along the 1970s Hippie Trail.

What is The Serpent like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Serpent as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.

Is The Serpent violent?

Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Serpent as moderate.

What did critics think of The Serpent?

Audiences rate the miniseries positively, praising its gripping true-crime account and well-made craft.

Which shows are like The Serpent?

Shows with a similar feel include Ripper Street, Catch Me If You Can, Mindhunter, and The Night Manager.

How long is The Serpent?

The Serpent: 1 season, 8 episodes.

Is The Serpent still running?

No, The Serpent has ended.

Where can I watch The Serpent?

In United States, The Serpent streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.