Slow Horses and 4 Other Addictive TV Series About Spies
The most gripping and tense stories about people with multiple names.
Spy stories aren't just endless shootouts. A real agent is someone who pretends to be someone else for decades, only to wake up in a cold sweat because he forgot his real name.
1. Slow Horses, 2022-...
In a world where spies wear tuxedos and save the world over cocktails, the characters of Slow Horses are more like office clerks who got caught up in a bad detective story by accident.
Slough House is an MI5 department for failed agents. Here, River missed a terrorist on the Tube, and Sid's career was destroyed by a drunken scandal. Their boss, Jackson Lamb, is a misanthropic genius who wears rumpled shirts and hides a sharp mind behind cynical jokes and a bottle of whiskey.
2. The Night Manager, 2016-2025
Jonathan, a former soldier, works as a night manager at a luxury hotel. Suddenly, he is drawn into a dangerous game when he is recruited to infiltrate the inner circle of Richard Roper, a charismatic arms dealer whose deals threaten global security.
The series combines slow tension with stunning visuals, ranging from snowy Alpine resorts to Middle Eastern deserts.
3. Killing Eve, 2018-2022
Villanelle is a sophisticated assassin who wears velvet dresses and can turn a fork into a bladed weapon. Eve is a bored MI6 analyst obsessed with catching her.
The two are fatally intertwined, and every encounter between them becomes a duel of instincts and skills, whether it's an assassination attempt in a Parisian pastry shop or a psychological game in the meat department of a supermarket.
4. Jack Ryan, 2018-2023
CIA analyst Jack Ryan evolves from an office clerk into an agent investigating terrorist threats from Middle Eastern groups and conspiracies by the Venezuelan government.
The series strikes a balance between political thriller and action, demonstrating the impact of impulsive decisions and analytical blindness on intelligence agencies.
John Krasinski, known for The Office, portrays a character who is both humane and flawed, panicking and making mistakes but never giving up.
5. The Bureau, 2015-2020
Guillaume Debailly, a foreign intelligence agent, has lived under a false name in Syria for six years. His return to Paris turns into a nightmare when he falls in love with the woman he was supposed to recruit. Now, he is torn between duty and his feelings.
The series portrays espionage as a routine job involving months of surveillance, psychological manipulation, and betrayal of colleagues, rather than shootouts.