The Serpent follows the life of Charles Sobhraj, a con man and a killer. In the gripping tale of identity theft and murder, one man stands out: Herman Knippenberg. The Dutch diplomat investigated the string of murders that were happening in Thailand, Nepal, and India during the 1970s. During his investigation, he uncovered major clues leading to Sobhraj. In BBC’s The Serpent, Herman is played by Billy Howle.
Knippenberg is the closest thing to a hero in The Serpent, seemingly driven purely by good-will and a sense of responsibility. In a DailyMail interview, he said, “These were Dutch citizens, and the parents had every right to think we would help. I’d been travelling in my 20s, and I knew that people like Henk and Cornelia would keep in touch.”
