The Serpent: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Con man, escape artist, thief, master of disguise and psychopath, Charles Sobhraj was the chief suspect in the sensational unsolved murders of up to 20 young Western travellers across India, Thailand and Nepal through 1975 and 1976. Having slipped repeatedly from the grasp of authorities worldwide, by 1976 Sobhraj was Interpol's most wanted man and had arrest warrants on three different continents.

When Herman Knippenberg, a junior diplomat at the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok, unwittingly walks into Sobhraj's intricate web of crime, he sets off an extraordinary chain of events that will see these two diametrically opposed men engaged in a chase across the porous borders of the Asian Hippie Trail in its twilight years.

The Serpent is based on the phenomenal true story of how one of the most elusive criminals of the 20th century was caught and brought to trial.

Series details

• Title: The Serpent
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Drama, Crime
• Premiere date: 2021-01-01
• Final broadcast date listed: 2021-01-01
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Web channel listed by TVmaze: BBC iPlayer
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVmaze community rating: 6.8/10
• TVMaze ID: 35732
• IMDb ID: tt7985576
• TVDB ID: 368813

Cast and credited roles

• Tahar Rahim — Charles Sobhraj
• Jenna Coleman — Marie-Andrée Leclerc
• Billy Howle — Herman Knippenberg
• Ellie Bamber — Angela Knippenberg
• Tim McInnerny — Paul Siemons
• Mathilde Warnier — Nadine Gires
• Grégoire Isvarine — Remi Gires
• Amesh Edireweera — Ajay Chowdhury
• William Brand — Ambassador van Dongen
• Ilker Kaleli — Vitali Hakim
• Fabien Frankel — Dominique Renelleau
• Chicha Amatayakul — Suda Romyen

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2021-01-01; final listed air date 2021-01-01; episode order: 8.

Source and licence

Adapted from The Serpent on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.