The Serpent

[eastendanto]

Not usually a recommender of Movies/TV shows, but BBC currently running series (with artistic license) about "The Serpent" see actual

story here https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/the-serpent-bbc-charles-sobhraj-b1775052.html 

Rarely that I get totally involved with characters on TV shows but watching the portrayal of this guy makes me hate him and what he did.

 

Thailand mid 70's ..... truly evil person (The Serpent) of Franco-Vietnamese extraction, preying on travellers (typically the backpackers with money)

extremely persuasive, charming as needs be and absolutely evil, corrupt Thai Police officials (surprise surprise), incompetent FO officials (more surprise, surprise,

the British attache in particular made to look  pretty useless) and the outright stubborness of a Dutch Embassy official in Thailand in tracking this evil person down

to bring him to justice, despite not only his own bosses, but Thai Police and other FO's complete lack of interest in getting involved.

 

You can catch it on the BBC iPlayer (probably other places as well).

[anchadian]

Yes, saw this last week on iPlayer.  Nearly 8 hours long (8 episodes).

 

It's worth a look.

[Mahseer]

Charles Sobrahj is still alive and presently serving a 30 stretch in Nepal. He was living a free man in France but for whatever reason he went to Nepal where he was arrested and banged up.
 

Didn't thing France was that bad meself.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Yeah, evil monster - all of them.

 

His old house at soi Convent have been demolished.

They found a similar location and most of the scenes from the pool and house was filmed at soi Nana.

The Miami hotel at soi 15 was also used in the TV series. 

[eastendanto]

2 hours ago, Mahseer said:

Charles Sobrahj is still alive and presently serving a 30 stretch in Nepal. He was living a free man in France but for whatever reason he went to Nepal where he was arrested and banged up.
 

Didn't thing France was that bad meself.

Wonder what made him knowingly travel and enter a country which he knew had an arrest warrant out for him resulting in his immediate arrest upon entering the country. Karma maybe, thats where he burned to death two dutch nationals while they were alive, maybe he thinks he deserves incarceration for his evil deeds...

[sammieuk1]

Looks like the police still uphold many traditions with this weeks episode featuring a large brown envelope being stuffed with gold and cash and the crim walking free????

[ExpatOilWorker]

54 minutes ago, eastendanto said:

Wonder what made him knowingly travel and enter a country which he knew had an arrest warrant out for him resulting in his immediate arrest upon entering the country. Karma maybe, thats where he burned to death two dutch nationals while they were alive, maybe he thinks he deserves incarceration for his evil deeds...

Sobhraj denied having been in Nepal before and, because he had travelled on a fake passport – belonging to Henk – he knew the police would find it hard to prove otherwise. But he had forgotten about his nemesis, Herman Knippenberg, who by now had settled in New Zealand with his second wife, Vanessa.

The arrest came just as the diplomat was beginning his retirement.

'I was sitting down with my wife having breakfast, eating pancakes, and I was thinking I will never have to go into an office again,' he said. 'Then there was a phone call. I said, 'It's a miracle! He's been arrested in Nepal. I have to be quick.'

I ran down the stairs to my garage where there were six boxes of evidence that I had taken all over the world and I fished out one of the files and called Interpol.'

Within Knippenberg's files there were interviews with Leclerc conducted by the Indian police after the couple's arrest in Delhi in 1976. They contained crucial testimony – namely, confirmation that she and Sobhraj had been in Kathmandu at the time of the murders. That played a key part in finally nailing him.

Sobhraj looks set to die in a Kathmandu prison – still protesting his innocence – after being convicted first of murdering Bronzich in 2004. In 2014, he was handed a second life sentence for murdering Carriere.

'He wanted to move from the shadows into the limelight by showing up in the one place where he knew he had committed murders but they would not have the evidence any more,' says Knippenberg. 'But he forgot I still had the documents. He was a gambler. It was like he always did with casinos, putting everything on black. But then it landed on red.'

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9179773/The-man-nailed-Serpent-real-life-theres-hell-thats-belongs.html

[Moonlover]

4 hours ago, anchadian said:

Yes, saw this last week on iPlayer.  Nearly 8 hours long (8 episodes).

 

It's worth a look.

Oh most definitely! I'll be watching episode 7 tonight.

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Moonlover

[mstevens]

Really enjoyed the series. Downloaded the whole series and watched it all over 2 days. I thought it was really well made and it held my interest to the very end - and I say this as someone who watches little TV and typically doesn't get in to a TV series like this.

Edited January 26, 2021 by mstevens

[jobsworth]

After a recommendation from a friend I managed to download it from "(probably other places as well)."

Charles Subraj is only one of a whole range of characters who made up the Goa scene, some very beautiful and some very evil of which he is the worst.

The real deal was far more interesting than the series which i find rather boring.

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

The books should be captive reading also.

 

Sobhraj has been the subject of three non-fiction books, Serpentine (1979) by Thomas Thompson,[30] The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobrhaj (1980) by Richard Neville and Julie Clarke,[31] and the section titled "The Bikini Murders" by Noel Barber in the Reader's Digest collection Great Cases of Interpol (1982). Neville and Clarke's book was the basis for a 1989 made-for-TV movie, Shadow of the Cobra.[32]

The 2015 Bollywood film Main Aur Charles, directed by Prawaal Raman and Cyznoure Network, is reportedly based on Charles Sobhraj's escape from Tihar Jail, New Delhi.[33][34] The film was initially produced by Pooja Bhatt but due to differences midway into the shoot, Pooja left the film.[35]

An eight-part BBC miniseries called The Serpent was broadcast in the UK in January 2021 starring Tahar Rahim and Jenna Coleman.[36]

[Estrada]

An excellent gripping series. Brings back memories of Bangkok when I first came here with clever shots of Bangkok as I knew it at that time. Well worth watching. Well acted and the period costumes also brought back memories of how we dressed at that time. 

[camble]

He was able to make money because people were interested in his story.  I’m not interested in this guy and won’t watch this series.

[thaiowl]

Watched the first two episodes and then gave up....far too slow and disjointed for my liking.

[4737 Carlin]

I was watching it last night and am enjoying it so far. I was surprised to see it was a BBC production. It's a cut above the usual 'woke' garbage they tend to produce these days.

[lazygourmet]

19 hours ago, Mahseer said:

Charles Sobrahj is still alive and presently serving a 30 stretch in Nepal. He was living a free man in France but for whatever reason he went to Nepal where he was arrested and banged up.
 

Didn't thing France was that bad meself.

Megalomania 

[Fairynuff]

22 minutes ago, 4737 Carlin said:

woke' garbage

Yeah, reruns of The Apprentice would be much better. Ugh

[1Gringo]

thanks for the tip.  it is available through EZTV for download, BTW.

[RocketDog]

OP thanks for the tip. I'm downloading the whole season now. 

[ThaiFelix]

I thoroughly enjoyed the series although the continuous jumping back and forth in time was a bit disorienting but keeps you on your toes.  I have always had an interest in this guy as I also traveled the hippie trail back then and as someone already pointed out the series really captured the time, our lifestyle and the scenery then, especially in Bangkok.  The Thai police and the embassy officials would have found their parts very easy to play as little seems to have changed there lol.

[Jonnapat]

Streamed it a couple of weeks ago and it's well worth viewing. Not exceptional but held my interest to the end.

[Peterphuket]

I just downloaded from PB and will view tonight, at day I have other things to do....like watching TV, or is it TV?

[StevieAus]

3 hours ago, thaiowl said:

Watched the first two episodes and then gave up....far too slow and disjointed for my liking.

My view exactly gave up after two episodes found it depressing and kept flashing back to the seventies, but each to their own.

[Nout]

He met his girl and  partener in crime on Dal Lake in Srinergar, Kashmir just 4 months after I left the area...The series is very good and makes compelling viewing..That 'on the road' scene does not exist anymore. It shows how great and free wheeling Thailand used to be.

Edited January 27, 2021 by Nout

[parallaxtech]

Thanks for the tip.  You can download it from thepiratebay.org .  I met several serpents when I moved to Koh Samui in 2004.  Thankfully, all of them are gone along with some of my money.  You always need to be on guard when it comes to money and new found friends.

[KannikaP]

4 hours ago, thaiowl said:

Watched the first two episodes and then gave up....far too slow and disjointed for my liking.

I watched all of the episodes but got really peed off with all the backtracking and then back to real time.

[thecyclist]

4 hours ago, ThaiFelix said:

I thoroughly enjoyed the series although the continuous jumping back and forth in time was a bit disorienting but keeps you on your toes.  I have always had an interest in this guy as I also traveled the hippie trail back then and as someone already pointed out the series really captured the time, our lifestyle and the scenery then, especially in Bangkok.  The Thai police and the embassy officials would have found their parts very easy to play as little seems to have changed there lol.

It got some things right, others were less accurate. As far as I remember, there were no traffic jams in Bangkok back then, just not enough traffic to cause gridlock. 

[Darksidedude]

On 1/26/2021 at 12:08 PM, ExpatOilWorker said:

Yeah, evil monster - all of them.

 

His old house at soi Convent have been demolished.

They found a similar location and most of the scenes from the pool and house was filmed at soi Nana.

The Miami hotel at soi 15 was also used in the TV series. 

cant believe that miami hotel is still there

[2009]

How did Ajay just get let off the hook completely?