Police issue public warning after prisoner flees jail on Christmas Day

Police are searching for a man who absconded from an open prison in Buckinghamshire on Christmas Day.

Mahad Elmi, 27, is now considered unlawfully at large after fleeing HMP Springhill, Thames Valley Police said.

Elmi absconded from the facility, located near the village of Grendon Underwood, overnight on Thursday into Boxing Day.

HMP Springhill is a Category D prison, housing over 300 inmates.

This classification, according to the Prison Service, denotes “minimal security” and permits eligible prisoners to spend most of their day away from the prison on licence for work, education, or other resettlement activities.

Thames Valley Police said Elmi is a “black man, around 5ft 8ins tall, of medium build and has medium-length black hair, a beard and brown eyes”.

The force said he has links to south-west London.

“We are appealing for the help of the public to trace Mahad Elmi, who is unlawfully at large after leaving and not returning to HMP Springhill,” Detective Sergeant Matthew French, of Buckinghamshire’s Priority Crime Team, said.

“If you see Elmi, do not approach him and call 999 instead.

“If you have any information as to where Elmi may be, please call 101 or make a report online, quoting reference number 43250653119.”

Aftershock warning after Taiwan hit by magnitude 7 earthquake

People across Taiwan reported feeling “shaking” and tremors after a magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit the island’s northeastern coast.

The earthquake started at around 11.05pm local time on Saturday about 32km from the coastal town of Yilan but was felt across the island.

While the US Geological Survey said the magnitude was 6.6, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said the earthquake stood at magnitude 7, making it the strongest the country had recorded since 1999.

“Saturday’s quake was strongly felt across Taiwan, but because it occurred at a considerable depth and its epicenter was offshore, it was relatively unlikely to cause serious damage,” Chen Da-yi, a section chief at the the weather agency’s Seismological Centre, said at a press conference.

Buildings in the capital Taipei shook as Taiwanese president William Lai Ching-te urged residents to be alert for possible aftershocks.

One resident in Yilan county described how a building shook first vertically and then horizontally.

“It kept on shaking for a while. Then I ran out, but most people did not run out. I was scared,” he said.

The epicentre was 70km deep, and there were no immediate reports of widespread damage or casualties.

Local news stations showed hanging TVs swaying inside an office building, and spilt cleaning products and broken bottles that had fallen off supermarket shelves.

More than 3,000 homes in Yilan briefly lost power, the Taiwan Power Company said, as Taipei’s city government reported isolated cases of damage including gas and water leakage and minor damage to buildings.

It designated the incident a category four earthquake, meaning minor damage was possible.

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said that a small number of its facilities in the Hsinchu science park, where it is headquartered, reached evacuation criteria due to the earthquake.

The weather administration warned people to stay alert for aftershocks of magnitude 5.5 and 6.0 in the coming day.

A number of “high wave” advisories were issued in the Japanese regions of Hokkaido, Tohoku, Hokuriku, and Okinawa, but no tsunami alerts or warnings were given.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes. An earthquake with a magnitude between 6.0 and 6.9 is described as “strong”.

More than 100 people were killed in an earthquake in southern Taiwan in 2016, while a 7.3-magnitude quake killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.

Hotel evacuated after fire breaks out in centre of Glasgow

A large fire in Glasgow city centre on Saturday evening prompted the evacuation of hotel guests and a soup kitchen.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) dispatched seven fire engines and two high-reach appliances to Virginia Street after the alarm was raised at 6.20pm.

Fire crews were met with a “well developed” blaze on the fourth floor of a four-storey building, which houses the Revolver Hotel.

A spokesperson for the adjacent House of Gods Hotel confirmed its guests were also evacuated as emergency services managed the incident.

There have been no reports of any casualties.

Glassford Street has been closed to all traffic between Ingram Street and Trongate and motorists have been advised to avoid the area.

Glasgow Labour MP Paul Sweeney posted about the fire on X, saying: “Awful to see a fire break out in the roof of the Revolver Hotel and Polo Lounge.

“I hope no-one is hurt and the fire can be contained.

“The old Scottish Legal Life Building by Alexander Skirving dates from 1889 and is one of Glasgow’s earliest red sandstone commercial buildings.”

Homeless Project Scotland said its soup kitchen, which is in the area, was evacuated as a precaution.

In a post on social media, it said: “Everyone is safe. Emergency services attended.

“For safety reasons, the soup kitchen is now closed until further notice while the situation is assessed.”

Revolver Hotel has been contacted for comment.

This abominable ‘Battle of the Sexes’ is the sequel no one wanted

The tennis season may be over but silly season is in full swing, and the last match of 2025 is likely to be its worst. Sunday will stage the ‘Battle of the Sexes’, an exhibition – in all senses of the word – between the women’s world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and part-time tennis player, full-time attention seeker Nick Kyrgios.

In case you’ve been living under a rock – in which case, I envy you – here’s how it works. The pair will play a three-set match, with a 10-point deciding tiebreak if required, and only one serve per point, in Dubai (Yes, the irony of holding this event, a giant leap backwards for womankind, in the repressive state that is the UAE, is overwhelming).

It harks back to 1973’s original, now iconic, Battle of the Sexes, when the best women’s player in the world, Billie Jean King, saw off 55-year-old retiree Bobby Riggs in straight sets. But the basic format – brilliant woman vs mediocre man – is about all the two have in common.

Let’s start with the obvious. The original Battle of the Sexes had a point to prove. It pitted possibly the biggest trailblazer in women’s sport against an open misogynist, a man who self-identified as a “male chauvinist pig” and crowed about the women’s game being “inferior”.

It was about finally getting women’s tennis to be taken seriously, and came in the same year that King and the Original Nine founded the WTA. The battle for fair pay and fair treatment went hand in hand with the women’s rights movement.

King said later: “I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match. It would ruin the women’s tour and affect all women’s self-esteem.” She told the BBC this month she played Riggs for a shot at “societal change”.

Depressingly, perhaps it’s only fitting that we should end up with a twisted version of that in 2025, the era of the Trump administration, the ‘tradwife’, the reactionary forces pulling us back into the last century.

This week’s match has none of the same gravitas. It doesn’t aim to achieve anything. It isn’t even billed as a celebration of tennis. It doesn’t claim any higher purpose beyond naked profit-making, a lucrative knockabout for one player who really should know better and another who relies on being in the limelight for his sense of self-worth. It’s the sequel no one wanted.

Sabalenka’s side of the court will be nine per cent smaller than Kyrgios’s, because the boffins at Evolve – the agency that houses both players, and is organising the match – say that women move on average nine per cent slower than men. Does this serve any purpose other than further gamifying what is already a total gimmick, and providing Kyrgios with an early excuse should he lose? Of course not.

The unfortunate truth is that, regardless of the result, Kyrgios and others of his ilk will spin it as a success. A win on the court would inflate his already sizeable ego and provide further ammunition for trolls, misogynists and incels to argue that women’s tennis is inferior, and that women’s worth comes from how they measure up to men.

A loss would no doubt be shrugged off as a blip, while still keeping his name in the headlines, where he likes to be (King hit winners on 68 per cent of her shots against Riggs, and still had to endure suggestions he deliberately threw the match. A headline at the time read: ‘Women Ecstatic, Men Make Excuses’. Will history repeat itself?).

There is, surely, a way to do this concept well, perhaps as a tribute to King and her achievements. That would require different players. Sabalenka is a popular, entertaining personality, but calling her an ambassador for the women’s game would be an enormous stretch; she was forced to row back on comments saying men’s tennis was “more interesting” and that she preferred not to watch the women’s game.

As for her opponent, Kyrgios hasn’t played a competitive match since March and has slipped to 673rd in the world, with his run to the Wimbledon final in 2022 now a distant memory. He is more notorious for poor behaviour than famous for his tennis prowess; he admitted assaulting an ex-girlfriend in 2021 but avoided a conviction for it, and liked a post by Andrew Tate last year before being forced to distance himself from the far-right influencer.

He has since told the BBC he is a “different person” now, but his protestations are unlikely to hold back the tide of misogynistic abuse that his winning would generate online. Nor is he what you’d describe as a brilliant advert for newcomers to the sport, the people this match is hoping to attract.

And now the BBC is broadcasting this tripe, getting themselves involved in the cesspit that is modern-day gender politics and the battle for clicks over an actual spectacle of sport. This feels like yet another misstep which could, and should, have been avoided. It’s another disappointment in a story where no one comes out well.

The event organisers are encouraging viewers to “pick a side”, bastardising the original concept – when anyone with a moral compass would have rooted for King – into an explicitly gendered battle of personalities. Poor Clare Balding and Andrew Cotter have been enlisted to try to give this a sheen of respectability, but it’s a waste of their talents.

You might say it’s just a game, something to fill the five minutes that is the tennis off-season; yet more content for the already overloaded attention economy. But it represents something much bigger and much darker than just a tennis match.

King vs Riggs wasn’t the only time this concept has been played out. The Wimbledon men’s and women’s singles champions have faced off several times, as far back as 1888. Ilie Nastase – another notorious for his conduct towards women – faced Evonne Goolagong wearing a dress, yet again affirming that these matches are, if not explicitly designed to, always hijacked to diminish women’s sport. Over the years, the wins have been fairly evenly shared between the sexes, with some matches featuring handicaps for the men.

But the reason King’s Battle of the Sexes has had the staying power, the grip on sporting culture that it has, is because the stakes were so high. There was a higher purpose to it. This one will fade into obscurity over time, probably almost as soon as it happens. But the damage will have been done.

It’s about experience: Further Education teachers share what it takes

In the modern world, many of us are working longer than ever. Research based on ONS Labour Market data found that there are almost one million more workers aged 65 and above since the millennium and the state pension is set to rise to 67 by 2028 and 68 by the late 2030s. Subsequently, having multiple careers is becoming increasingly popular. And after decades working in a specific industry, sharing the work-based knowledge you have gained via teaching in further education is one of the most rewarding career shifts you can make.

Further Education teaching (defined as any education for people aged 16 and over who aren’t studying for a degree) allows you to switch up your working days and harness the skills and experience you have developed, all while helping shape the next generation of workers in your field.

To find out more about the role, from what it takes to the best parts of the job, we spoke to Further Education teachers who have switched from doing their day job to teaching it…

John Ryan, 51, from Weston Super Mare, worked for more than a decade on site in the construction industry, mainly in bricklaying and supervising roles, before an opportunity to become a Further Education assessor changed his path in his thirties. Travelling nationally to assess the work of new bricklayers in order to sign off their NVQs (National Vocational Qualification), the college John was associated with then started offering him some teaching work.

With no prior teaching qualifications, John completed these alongside his assessing and teaching roles with the fees picked up by the teaching college. “I liked the idea of passing on my knowledge and giving young people the skills and confidence to progress in a trade,” he says. “Teaching in Further Education felt like a natural next step because it would allow me to combine my practical background with coaching and mentoring.” There were practical draws too. “On site in the construction industry you are self-employed so you do not get holidays or sick pay. The stability of income and regular paid holidays was a big draw of Further Education teaching,” he adds.

Since his first assessing role 18 years ago, John has worked between assessing, teaching and jobs back on the construction site and now, he currently teaches bricklaying and groundwork full-time at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.

John’s extensive site and supervisory experience has proved to be hugely valuable when it comes to teaching his students there. “I can explain not just the ‘how’ but also the ‘why’ behind industry standards,” he explains. “Learners often respond well to hearing about real jobs, site challenges, and the professional behaviours that employers expect. It makes the lessons more relatable and credible,” he shares.

“For example, I can share stories of accidents when teaching site safety, or explain how a mistake of a few millimetres on a construction site can cost you time to rectify, which in turn will cost you money,” he says. “These hands-on, real world experiences make the theory relatable and show learners the real value of getting it right.”

Coral Aspinall, 52, who became a full-time Further Education teacher 12 years ago, agrees. “My experience allows me to put my teaching into context,” she says. Coral started out her engineering career at 16 as an apprentice in a local engineering company. Following a BSc in Engineering and Business Management, she worked for many years in the engineering industry before enrolling on a part-time PGDE (Professional Graduate Diploma in Education) course for teaching. She’s now the Engineering Programme Leader at the Stockport campus of the Trafford and Stockport College Group. Here, they offer qualifications such as Level 2 Performing Engineering Operations as well as engineering-focused Level 3 T Levels and Level 3 Btec Awards. They also offer Level 3 apprenticeships across engineering including Technical Support, Engineering Fitter and Maintenance Management.

“Because I’ve been an engineering apprentice myself, I understand what the student needs to be successful in terms of skills, knowledge and behaviour,” she explains. “I also have contacts in the wider engineering community and understand what an employer is looking for in an apprentice, and can also share insights in terms of how the sector is shifting and evolving to help support their progress.”

Working for an extensive period of time in a field before passing on that knowledge gives teachers maturity and empathy which can be hugely helpful for students, especially those facing complex life situations.

Beyond the practical techniques, a big part of John’s role is helping learners build confidence, teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills that employers look for. “Many of my learners have different challenges, so they value teachers who are approachable, who believe in them, and who prepare them for real opportunities in work or further study,” he says. For John, his previous work experience has allowed him to do this. “On site, I worked with people facing all sorts of pressures, from work to life issues, which taught me to be patient and supportive,” he explains.

Coral has had a similar experience. “I see my role as more than imparting knowledge; it is about preparing the young person for the next stage of their journey. The students trust me to have their best interests at heart; they come to me for advice on their next steps and how they can achieve their aspirations, and I’ll support them with both practical advice and words of encouragement.”

For Coral, teaching later in life allows her to draw from a mature perspective, and teach her students positive workplace behaviours alongside skills and knowledge. “Students thrive when they have clear unambiguous boundaries, so I’m firm around expectations in terms of timekeeping, attendance and attitude. This is particularly important to succeeding in the workplace as employers value these behaviours as much as, or even more than having specific expertise or know-how (which can generally be developed).”

If you’re looking for a fresh career option, and keen to share your skills with the next generation, Further Education teaching could be a really enriching new phase. Further Education covers a huge range of career sectors including construction, law, engineering, digital, hospitality, tourism, beauty and more. This includes BTECs (Business and Technology Education Council qualifications), T Levels, NVQs (National Vocational Qualifications) or City & Guilds Qualifications.

Teaching in a mixture of colleges (often General Further Education Colleges or Sixth Form Colleges) and Adult and Community Learning Centres as well as workplace and apprenticeship settings, further education teachers share their years of real world industry skills with a diverse mix of people from those straight out of school aged sixteen to those making career switches later in life.

You don’t always need an academic degree or prior teaching qualifications to start teaching in further education. You can undertake teacher training on the job, often funded by your employer, so you can start earning straight away.. Furthermore, it doesn’t mean you have to stop working in your chosen field. Further education offers hybrid opportunities – so you could teach part time alongside your other commitments. This means you could have the best of both worlds, where you are still working in your chosen industry and teaching alongside it at a time that suits your schedule. Find out if it’s the right move for you here.

If, like John and Coral, you see the appeal in sharing the knowledge and skills you’ve developed with the next generation, exploring the option of becoming a Further Education teacher can be a great next step. As John shares, the reward is always worth it: “It never gets old passing on my knowledge to people starting on their journey, knowing I have made a difference and getting a smile and thanks in return!”

Looking for a new role that’s rewarding, flexible and draws on your current career? Why not consider sharing your experience where it matters most – helping inspire the next generation of workers in the field you love? Visit Further Education to find out more

How a joyful Christmas swim on Devon’s Jurassic coast ended in tragedy

Bounding into the sea to cheering crowds, dozens of swimmers at Budleigh Salterton hoped to enjoy a bracing cold dip before their Christmas lunch.

But the joyful annual tradition rapidly turned into a frantic rescue mission as people got into difficulty in rough seas, which one resident described as the worst conditions he had ever seen at the popular swimming spot on Devon’s idyllic Jurassic coast.

Two men, including local antiques dealer Matthew Upham, who is said to be an experienced sea swimmer, are still missing despite widespread searches by the coastguard and the RNLI.

Mr Upham’s heartbroken family have paid tribute to the 63-year-old, who they said was “deeply loved and will be forever missed”.

They added: “We would like to express our sincere and heartfelt thanks to the emergency services who responded, particularly the RNLI and coastguard, for their dedication, professionalism and tireless efforts during this extremely difficult time.

“We are profoundly grateful for their compassion and support.”

A single yellow rose was left on the doorstep of his antiques business on Boxing Day, according to reports.

A man in his 40s, who is thought to have tried to help Mr Upham, also remains unaccounted for after swimmers entered the water just before 10.25am on Thursday.

Several people had to be pulled to safety after strong winds created huge swells, which dragged people underwater.

Friends, who said Mr Upham had tried to get out of the water but was washed back down the beach by a huge wave, were yesterday still clinging on to hope he could be sheltering somewhere on the coast.

Describing him as “exceptionally kind” and well-liked in the seaside town, they told the Daily Mail: “He goes swimming practically every day, he’s very fit and knows the waters locally well.

“Lots of people went yesterday because of the Christmas Day swim, but Matthew would have been there regardless.

“He’d never intend to spark such a big rescue effort, in fact he’d be horrified at putting anyone at risk to look for him.”

Another added: “It looks as though Matthew was trying to come out of the water, but was pulled back out and drifted further down the beach.

“We don’t know who the man in his 40s is. We believe he is someone who’d gone to try and help Matthew.”

Mike Brown, 60, who does the Christmas Day swim most years, said that he was “unable to get out” after entering the sea but was helped by “two very brave men” who waded into the water and pulled him to safety.

“It was much worse conditions than normal and some of the worst conditions I’ve ever tried to swim in,” he told the BBC. “With hindsight it was clearly a mistake to try and get in.”

He added: “They took an arm each and dragged me to safety and as quickly as it had started, it was over, I was on the beach and I was safe.”

A number of people were brought to shore and checked either by paramedics at the scene or taken to hospital as a precaution, police said.

Although the swim is an annual tradition which is replicated by wild swimmers at beaches across the country over Christmas, it is an unofficial event and is not supported by lifeguards.

A passing RNLI lifeboat, which was out on a training exercise, was able to quickly respond after swimmers got into trouble, according to reports.

HM Coastguard joined a major multi-agency search and rescue operation as they repeatedly scoured the coastline in the face of large waves and strong winds.

Search efforts were halted at 5pm on Christmas Day after “extensive shoreline and offshore searches”. In a statement, they paid tribute to RNLI volunteers “who put to sea without hesitation in an atrocious sea state”.

In a post on Facebook, RNLI Exmouth said conditions “were extremely difficult and cold for the crew involved in the search who were out all day”, adding that many organised swims have been cancelled as a result.

Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed both men remain missing on Saturday and a police presence remains at the scene.

The force had urged people not to swim on Boxing Day, with Detective Superintendent Hayley Costar warning: “There have been weather warnings in place this week and a number of official and unofficial swims have already been cancelled.

“While there are no official warnings in place for tomorrow [Friday], we urge anyone with plans to go swimming in the sea on Boxing Day not to.”

Following the tragedy, East Devon District Council urged locals to “think twice before taking the plunge this festive season”.

The local authority said that cold water shock, strong current and unpredictable weather can turn a “quick dip into a serious emergency”.

Babylon’s Diego Calva on playing a villain in The Night Manager

It’s a crisp December afternoon in north London, and Diego Calva is thinking back to the night his mum threw shapes with Leonardo DiCaprio at the 2023 Golden Globes. The 33-year-old Mexican actor – wearing a white T-shirt, silver chain, hooped earrings – was up for Best Actor (Musical/Comedy) for Babylon, Damien Chazelle’s sprawling epic about Hollywood’s transition from silent films to talkies. He was the sole newcomer in the category, alongside Daniel Craig, Adam Driver, Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes. What stuck with him, though, was how surreal it was to see his mother not only “dancing with Leonardo” but also “sharing a conversation with Quentin Tarantino”.

He pauses. “She’s been having a great time, and I hope she feels the same way that I do – like I want to be awake more than sleep, you know?” That last bit isn’t a throwaway. It’s a callback to something he said upon Babylon’s release: that for the first time in his life, he preferred his waking life to the blank expanse of night. Before Hollywood, there had been darker days. Depression lingered. Now, sitting in a film studio promoting The Night Manager, he fizzes with enthusiasm, his hazel eyes gleaming. When he speaks, his accent is lilting and mellifluous, each word given its own rhythm and weight.

The BBC series returns nearly a decade after it first appeared, all sun-soaked Mediterranean villas and serpentine plotting. Tom Hiddleston was Jonathan Pine, the former soldier turned luxury hotel night manager turned reluctant spy navigating a world of oligarchs and arms dealers – a performance so debonair that it had everyone convinced he’d be the next James Bond. Adapted by David Farr from a John le Carré novel, it was sleek and sexy: event TV of the highest calibre. It won Baftas, Golden Globes, Emmys. In the new series, Farr expands the story beyond the original book into a plot that takes in betrayals, conspiracy theories, and guerrilla warfare in Colombia. Starring opposite the returning Hiddleston and Olivia Colman, Calva is Teddy Dos Santos, the enigmatic heir apparent to Hugh Laurie’s arms dealer Richard Roper.

Calva locked himself in his house in Mexico for two days to nail down the audition, working through scenes with an actress friend. One exchange had to plumb emotion. “And the other one I had to look dangerous and mysterious,” he says. They recorded 30 or 40 tapes. His performance is exceptional: an impeccably tailored study in stillness and sleepy-eyed sophistication, with menace pooling just beneath the surface. “Sometimes that kind of silence is way more threatening,” says Calva.

His assurance in the role sometimes deserts him in real life. “I’m afraid in a lot of situations – press, doing this interview, a dinner later – but when I’m shooting, when I’m acting, I’m free.” That freedom, he says, depends entirely on the right conditions being cultivated on set. His collaboration with I Hate Suzie director Georgi Banks-Davies, who took over from Susanne Bier for the sequel, was key. “As an actor, it’s really important to feel safe… to play, to explore, to be curious,” Calva says. “Teddy is Georgi’s and Diego’s creation. We created all the layers on the character, but that only came from trust. I will work with her every single day of my life with no problem. This doesn’t happen with every director.”

The same trust developed with Hiddleston. “I’m the rookie,” he says. “Tom’s career is amazing. He’s been doing this for a long time.” Calva describes himself as “a thief” – picking up techniques by watching how others work. But Hiddleston didn’t just let the younger actor observe from the sidelines. They went to dinners, hung out between takes, built genuine rapport. “There’s a captain in every team,” Calva explains, using a football metaphor. “The technical director was Georgi, but on the field, the captain was Tom. If you’re selfish, the team is not going to win.”

In Mexico, as a teenager, Calva was first exposed to the BBC not through television, but through Radio 1’s Essential Mix. A big fan of electronic music, he namechecks the programme’s host, the veteran superstar DJ Pete Tong – not exactly the most obvious introduction to the broadcaster whose flagship New Year’s Day drama he’s leading.

The Night Manager continues a pattern in Calva’s career: morally complex characters operating in shadowy worlds. He was a drug lord in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico; now he’s an arms dealer. Is he concerned about being typecast? “No,” he says, “because when people see this show, they’ll see the writing is so layered. We always focus on the human side of the story. It’s a spy story. Everybody’s lying. You don’t know what’s going to happen. So the only way you can believe a lie is if it’s actually kind of true. We tried to find that human side of every character.”

The industry is changing, he adds, pointing to his breakthrough role. “I don’t think that 25 years ago you could name a movie the size of Babylon, that kind of scale, with a Latino actor being the lead.”

Babylon was Chazelle’s three-hour paean to Golden Age Hollywood. Sucked into a gilded bacchanal of sex, drugs and duplicity is Calva’s Manny Torres, the wide-eyed Mexican immigrant clawing his way from elephant-wrangling dogsbody to studio executive. It’s a wonderful performance. Finding genuine pathos beneath the glamorous excess, he’s the film’s warm, watchful centre, his eyes registering every triumph and indignity in turn.

The role changed everything. Chazelle had spotted Calva’s headshot when searching for an unknown to anchor the film. The audition process stretched across 2019 and into the pandemic. Chazelle asked for more tapes and told him to work on his English. “My English was really bad, but like, really, really, really bad,” he tells me. “Past tense? It was just impossible, like the word ‘went’. I just used to say, ‘I go yesterday to the restaurant.’”

When he arrived on set, the education began. Like Manny, he suddenly found himself in the orbit of some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, in this case Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. It was hard to not feel intimidated. “You’re thinking that you’re dealing with Pokémon, you know, with gods,” says Calva. “But when you realise you’re dealing with people, right? And they share their stories with you, and you realise that they, at some moment, were in a very similar spot…” The stories helped: “Brad Pitt was working dressed as a chicken for a restaurant,” he notes.

Robbie and her husband Tom Ackerley noticed Calva heading back to his hotel alone, and invited him to move in. They spent evenings cooking, playing cards, going to the beach; Pitt, meanwhile, quietly helped refine Calva’s pronunciation.

Before landing Babylon, Calva had worked across every department on Mexican film sets – sound, editing, production assistance, whatever would get him close to the craft. “Between Manny and me, we kind of share the same path, working as a copy guy, trying so many different jobs, so many different disciplines in movie-making, and then – boom, we made it, right?”

When Babylon opened, it divided critics and died at the box office. The response to it doesn’t faze him. “In my opinion, I won,” he says. “Apocalypse Now, Fight Club, just to name two… even Goodfellas… they were flops. I hope, right, there’s this dream, of course, that in 20 years there’s a change of view about Babylon.”

If Babylon didn’t exactly conquer the box office, it did turbo-boost Calva’s self-belief. “With time,” he says, “I realised that there’s no imposter syndrome any more.” His most prominent role since came in the unabashed queer romance On Swift Horses, where he played a Las Vegas hustler who becomes the secret lover of Jacob Elordi’s drifter. Calva is no minnow at a smidge over 6ft, but kissing the 6ft 5in Elordi in matching tighty whities gave him neck pain.

There’s one aspect of Manny’s journey in Babylon that he’s determined not to repeat: the way he lies about his Mexican identity. Calva has been careful to maintain his roots. He came from the independent film scene in Mexico, and has made a point of returning. “I’ve been able to work on Mexican productions,” he says. “And now there’s a new value on my name, and I love to use it – for example, when a new filmmaker is going to do their first movie, and to finance the movie, it helps to have a Diego Calva. I’ll sign it. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to make it, because of scheduling or whatever, but I think it’s really important to go back to your country, in my opinion, to act there. If I direct someday, I will definitely pursue going back and doing it in Mexico, with a Mexican production, with Mexican money, with Mexican actors, and a Mexican movie.”

Directing was the original goal. As far back as he can remember, Calva always wanted to be a filmmaker – at least since watching Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. “That was just like, ‘OK, I want to change my life,’” he recalls.

Calva was born in Mexico City and raised as an only child by his mother, who worked in publishing, in their book-filled apartment. For much of his childhood it was just the two of them; the man he considers his father – whose profession he describes as “a thinker… it’s hard to describe” – is not his biological parent. They were a very cultured family, he says. “So maybe if I was a lawyer, that would be weird, but I’m the obvious consequence of my parents.” As well as writing poetry, the young Diego Calva developed an obsession with movies – first Disney, then, after his first girlfriend broke up with him, Pedro Almodóvar’s entire filmography. But it was Goodfellas that proved revelatory.

Calva has just finished working on Her Private Hell from Nicolas Winding Refn, the Danish director behind the neon-drenched thriller Drive. The work keeps coming. As our conversation winds down, Calva still can’t believe his luck. “Since Babylon, I want every day to be 48 hours long because I’m enjoying it so much.” He breaks into a wide smile. “Life is beautiful, man.”

‘The Night Manager’ airs on BBC One on New Year’s Day