THE SERPENT. (2021) A BBC/NETFLIX DRAMA REVIEWED BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©


THE SERPENT. (2021) A BBC CRIME DRAMA WRITTEN BY RICHARD WARLOW AND TOBY FINLAY. DIRECTED BY TOM SHANKLAND AND HANS HERBOTS.

STARRING TAHAR RAHIM, JENNA COLEMAN, BILLY HOWLE, ELLIE BAMBER, TIM MCINNERNY, MATHILDE WARNIER AND AMESH EDIREWEERA.

REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©

Oh boy. I had to keep reminding myself while watching this fantastic crime drama on Netflix recently that it was actually based on real life crimes and real life murders, and that real people had actually suffered terribly in real life in the timeline concerned.

And why? Why did I have to keep reminding myself of these unpleasant facts? Because Tahar Rahim, the actor who portrays Charles Sobhraj in this superb dramatization of the life and crimes of a real life serial killer, is so hot that I literally forgave him all the crimes instantly, no questions asked. Even though he didn’t personally commit them, lol.

And then I had to sternly tell myself that writing to Sobhraj in prison, where he apparently still rots, would not result in a meeting with Tahar Rahim, the hot actor, but would only make me look a total pillock. Thus are the lines blurred between television and reality…

Charles Sobhraj is a French serial killer of Indian and Vietnamese descent. He had a real bee in his bonnet about his mixed race, and was convinced that people looked down on him for it. He felt inferior to others, and this made him angry, angry and determined to be the best Charles Sobhraj that he could be… but not at art or music or philanthropy or even honest banking, or anything at all that might have benefited society.

No, Charles Sobhraj was a petty thief, the Prince of petty thieves, even. He dealt in stolen gemstones, stolen passports and travellers’ cheques, stolen identities and stolen lives. He frequently murdered his victims after robbing them, disposed of their bodies and even occasionally adopted their identities, with the help of his two accomplices: his devoted girlfriend, the French-Canadian Marie-Andree Leclerc, and his Asian strong-arm man, Ajay Chowdhury.

His victims in the drama series are the rich western tourists who travelled the so-called ‘hippie trail’ in the ‘Seventies, the route from Europe to South Asia that took in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Thailand. One of the victims is actually on her way to a monastery to become a Buddhist nun when she has the misfortune to meet with the deadly trio. Her ending is particularly sad.

Charles, calling himself ‘Alain’ and his girlfriend, ‘Monique,’ give every impression of being a lovely charming French couple with a cute little dog. They, along with their super-cool Asian hippie friend, Ajay, will seemingly put themselves out again and again to help any tourists who need it. Want to go to a cool party? Ajay will take you to one. Need a place to stay? Alain and Monique positively insist that you stay at theirs.

Suddenly got a horrible unexplained stomach ache and need to lie down? Don’t worry. Alain has some special ‘medicine’ he keeps for travellers who find themselves overwhelmed by the Asian cuisine, the climate or whatever else.

What, his lovingly prepared- often by Monique- medicine just makes you feel sicker? Oh dear. Well, everyone’s different, you know, and everyone reacts differently to things. Just lie there quietly now while we try to figure this out…

Many of the victims ended up in the sea, giving Sobhraj the name, ‘the Bikini Killer.’ He stripped them and put them in the water, and, even if they were found quite quickly, so what? It was just another drunken, stoned hippy chick who thought a swim in the sparkling blue ocean while high as a kite might be nice…

Charles seems to exert the same kind of controlling ‘spell’ over both Monique and Ajay. They both adore him and want to please him and make him happy. They vie for his attentions. Ajay calls himself and Charles ‘brothers.’ Monique wants his baby inside her. They take his occasional abuse lying down because, after all, it’s Charles, and Charles is the king, a notion the cold-hearted, reptilian Sobhraj obviously encourages.

Monique, however, seems to grow more and more disillusioned with Charles’s endless promises of the good life, which never seem to come to fruition. It’s all subterfuge and being on the run and kipping in dumps and squats, especially once the word gets out that the handsome, charming, cosmopolitan and ever-so-helpful Alain Gautier might be a killer. We see Monique’s eventual ending in the film, and it’s not a pretty one…

The other story portrayed in THE SERPENT is of course that of Herman Knippenberg, the determined official in the Dutch Embassy in Thailand who risked his position, and his marriage to Angela, to track down Charles Sobhraj so that he could be brought to some kind of justice. 

Two missing Dutch tourists first sparked his interest and, to his credit, he didn’t stop poking about until he discovered what had happened to them. Tim McInnerny of BLACKADDER and NOTTING HILL fame is very good as the Belgian diplomat Paul Siemons, who gave Herman verbal abuse and moral support in equal amounts as he struggled to track down the extremely slippery and elusive Sobhraj and pin something tangible on him.

The eight episodes move quickly. At first, I was bemused by the timeline changes, but I pretty soon forgot all about them as the story gripped me. It’s a deeply disturbing story, which after all happened to real people and wasn’t dreamed up by a script-writer, and there were actual young people who set out on the hippie trail with big dreams and big ideas of seeing the world and seeking enlightenment who never went home to their parents, families or children.

Charles Sobhraj would be termed in modern parlance a total scumbag. The way he took the engagement ring off Suda’s finger as he walked out of her life forever, though without troubling to tell Suda…! An utter rotter. He thought he was a big deal, but he was just a small-time petty thug, escape artist and thief, and he’s where he belongs now, ie, prison. Enjoy the ride…

 AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.

 Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, poet, short story writer and film and book blogger. She has studied Creative Writing and Vampirology. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, women's fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO

Her debut romantic fiction novel, 'THIRTEEN STOPS,' is out now from Poolbeg Books:

https://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Stops-Sandra-Harris-ebook/dp/B089DJMH64

The sequel, ‘THIRTEEN STOPS LATER,’ is out now from Poolbeg Books:

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1781994234

  

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