Distant drums

I fear for the future of Little Drummer Girl; the first episode played to over 7m over seven days, but, with two episodes to go, we're below 5m and falling.

Some of that is due to the arrival of I'm a Celebrity. But the Little Drummer Girl is suffering from too many cooks, and lacks the impact of the Night Manager.

Le Carre researched his story from a base in Israel, and consciously tried to build around the left-wing leanings of his actress half-sister, Charlotte Cornwell. He thought it should have been dramatised with her in the lead a long time ago. There are no less than three Le Carre/Cornwells billed as executive producers, in partnership with a South Korean director and a South Korean composer. The script writers are Michael Lesslie and Claire Wilson. Michael Lesslie was supposed to be adapting Rogue Male for Benedict Cumberbatch, but there's no sign of it as yet.

It looks fine, but there's little rationale or motivation in the female lead - as written or acted.  In the US, satellite chanel AMC ran two episodes a night for three consecutive nights, which might have helped in concentrating on the plot.