Given that Frederick Forsyth’s novel The Day of the Jackal birthed the ’70s adaptation of the same name, then the loosely-based ’80s Indian film August 1 and then the tremendously loosely-based ’90s film The Jackal, we might have thought this source material was a dead horse begging not to be flogged.
But what a foolish thought! With decent IP, there’s always room for more, so says the C-suite of TV nowadays. We managed to go a couple of decades without touching it, but now have The Day of the Jackal (2024) to add to the book’s adaptation tab on Wikipedia.
This one differs because it’s a 10-part Sky TV show from the penmanship of Top Boy showrunner Ronan Bennett, starring Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch.
And the assassination target is no longer French president Charles de Gaulle – although we can’t disclose who exactly is in the crosshairs this time around. If that’s not enough of a tease to get you in, then what is?
Perhaps this. Redmayne is the dead-eyed assassin – codenamed Jackal – with the same assiduous care for each step-by-step of his kills that Patrick Bateman has for his morning routine. This is who Michael Fassbender’s assassin in The Killer thinks he is, but the Jackal never misses.
After his latest extremely high profile kill – a populist politician – Lashana Lynch’s MI6 agent Bianca is the cat to the Jackal’s mouse as he acquires a new target.
Bianca is initially just painted as being very good at her job and not all that good as a parent. But as we go along, we see she shares the Jackal’s ability to deaden the senses to everything but the task at hand.
The show pours over the logistics of a contract killer, leaving us to piece together how exactly what the Jackal is up to feeds into the larger project of getting in the right position at the right time to take the shot. Those prone to a flap will be mightily impressed with his ability to think on his feet.
The Jackal’s ruthless exterior cracks at the end of the first episode when he walks into a sumptuous Spanish villa – the production budget must have been astronomical – and into the arms of a loving wife, played by Úrsula Corberó. It’s a Mad Men pilot type of final scene twist: even bad blokes contain multitudes. This show loves a final scene twist.
Lynch and Redmayne give spot-on performances, as the former chases the latter across various chic European cityscapes. Lynch is superb in a role that is dramatically less showy than her counterpart’s, without as much background luxury and intrigue to juice up scenes.
It will be a right turn for anyone familiar with Redmayne’s bookish, neurodivergent-coded Newt Scamander or even his fidgety, bashful, Etonian-with-a-heart-of-gold persona on The Graham Norton sofa. This is more like his real-life nurse serial killer in The Good Nurse.
The Day of the Jackal owes much to Killing Eve. The echoes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge‘s virtuoso first season bounce off several scene walls. The MI6 boss is even a no-nonsense, quippy battleaxe with a pixie cut and quiet, raspy voice. Her name’s just Isabel (Lia Williams), instead of Carolyn.
This is also stylishly ruthless, with an opening scene that might not be as attuned as Villanelle’s ice cream shop moment, but similarly establishes who we’re dealing with in brief and economical strokes. Much like Eve was onto Villanelle before anyone else, Bianca quickly figures out the assassin used a highly specific sniper gun and was likely a Brit.
The main difference is that there are no brilliant twists on the spy genre conventions, aside from the fact our lead agent on the case is a Black woman – but that is after Lynch’s own role in No Time To Die. (The title sequence is very Bond-forward, with husky Adele-style vocals dripping off the score, so there is a consciousness of that.)
The feminist credentials are the most disappointing part of what is a taut, tight script with sublimely-placed thrills. Bianca is a mum constantly disappointing her teenager and every time we’re reminded, it’s in scenes that are bordering on hackneyed. This part only becomes more interesting in later episodes, when her fixation on catching the Jackal shows her family she can be just as cold-blooded.
Meanwhile, Corberó’s Nuria is stuck in a Carmela Soprano position and up until her husband’s latest job, has been pretty unbothered about where he disappears off to or even what he does to afford their life.
None of that might matter much in the face of The Day of the Jackal‘s compulsive watchability. This is probably the best-case scenario of the IP-driven media landscape we’re stranded in: a modern update on well-trodden terrain that is tremendously well put together.
It may not be massively original, but it’s a hell of a thrill while you’re there.
The Day of the Jackal premieres on Thursday, November 7 on Sky Atlantic and NOW.
Deputy TV Editor
Previously a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape for Digital Spy, when she’s not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas.
When she’s not bingeing a box set, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we’re all watching.