The best spy shows on TV: from Slow Horses to Black Doves

Keira Knightley as Helen Webb in Black Horses

(Image credit: Netflix)

last updated 11 June 2025

From James Bond to Austin Powers, espionage has long been a "staple" of the big screen, said Michael Hogan in The Telegraph. But state secrets and surveillance make a "fascinating backdrop" for television too. Here are some of the best spy TV shows to add to your watch list.

The Eastern Gate

This "fast-paced" Polish spy drama is "surprising" and "intense", said Margaret Lyons in The New York Times. The action follows Ewa (Lena Gora), a burnt- out intelligence officer who wants to leave her espionage days behind, but must rethink when her partner, also an agent, gets outed by Russian operatives. From "eyeball squishing" to "wrist-wrenching", there's plenty of violence. However, none of it feels "gratuitous"; instead the brutality adds to the show's "percussive insistence". A gripping watch, "The Eastern Gate" is "lean and mean in the best ways".
Apple TV+

This "flirty" French-language show stars a "seductive, single-earring-wearing spy who also happens to be a founding father of haute cuisine", said Alison Herman in Variety. Set in Napoleonic Paris, the series follows Marie-Antoine Carême (Benjamin Voisin), who is often hailed as the first celebrity chef. It's less clear whether the culinary master was involved in espionage, but that's the premise of this "frothy", fictionalised tale. While the show is "ahistorical" at times, the "twisty plot is endlessly entertaining" and, above all, it's a lot of "fun".
Amazon Prime

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Adapted from Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer prize-winning novel of the same name, this "stylish" mini series follows a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy (Hoa Xuande) who flees to the US following the Vietnam War, said Louis Chilton in The Independent. Much of the cast is Vietnamese, with the exception of Robert Downey Jr, who plays four roles. Between the Hollywood star's "character-juggling" and the show's "snappy, hair gel-slick aesthetic sensibility" it would be easy to dismiss "The Sympathizer" as style over substance. But, "make no mistake", the series gets to grips with its "expansive" subject matter with "clarity and verve", justifying its existence "emphatically".
Sky

Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane's take on "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" flips the "frothy" Hollywood movie on its head, said Olly Richards in Empire. In this "dark, smart" remake, the action follows two strangers (Donald Glover and Maya Erskine) who are hired by a "shadowy spy agency" and must take on new identities as a married couple to help them complete a series of dangerous missions. The leading pair are excellent, bringing "romcom charisma shot through with something verging on sinister". However much you start to warm to them, it's hard to shake the sense of unease. It's this blend of "mystery and madness" that makes these Smiths so "strangely seductive" to watch.
Amazon Prime

The "no-frills, unpretentious spy thriller" is back for a second season, said Forbes. Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso), a "dispatcher" for a top-secret team of US spies, spent the first season investigating corruption at the heart of government from his office at the White House. This time, we are treated to more "high-octane action" and "nefarious terrorist plots". Admittedly, it's "over the top a lot of the time" – don't expect it to be "super smart" – but it's entertaining from the off and "carries out its spycraft with workmanlike efficiency".
Netflix

This slick spy thriller from Netflix did not disappoint, said Stylist. Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) is the perfect wife-and-mother figure as proceedings kick off at magazine-worthy Christmas drinks receptions with her beautiful children and politician husband. But things, as always, are not as they seem: Webb is a spy and has been passing on secrets to a shady organisation, the Black Doves, for years. Sam Young (Ben Whishaw) is her long-standing friend and sidekick, a "suave, champagne-drinking assassin". This "sexy, action-packed and emotional thriller" of a series will have you inhaling it all in one binge-watching night.
Netflix

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's "darkly comic" spy thriller made an "instant splash" when it "blazed" onto our screens, said Michael Hogan in The Telegraph. It is a "deadly game of cat and mouse" between Jodie Comer's "psychopathic assassin" Villanelle and "bored" MI5 agent Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), which soon unfurls into a "mutual obsession". The series, which ran for four seasons before ending in 2022, is packed with "shock twists", "city-hopping locations" and a series of killer Comer outfits. It's a "stylishly subversive treat".
BBC iPlayer

The "faultlessly directed" spy thriller "Slow Horses" returned for a fourth series in September and has once again proved it "never lets itself go stale", said Jack Seale in The Guardian. The show follows a group of disgraced British intelligence agents who have been "consigned to the purgatory of Slough House" to carry out drudge work. Evoking the "intelligence" of "classic spy thrillers", it's carried by the "sheer quality" of Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb and Kristin Scott Thomas as the "wonderfully angular and withering" Diana Taverner. The latest instalment adds "new blood" to "what is already a luxuriously fine cast": James Callis plays "smooth weasel" MI5 boss Claude Whelan, while Ruth Bradley is "excellent" as "MI5's new attack dog", Emma Flyte.
Apple TV+

This modern and "sumptuously shot" John le Carré adaptation was a roaring success for the BBC in 2016, said Hogan in The Telegraph. And with two "long-awaited sequel series finally in production", now is the time to add it to your watchlist. The action follows Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston), a former British soldier turned Cairo hotel manager who is recruited by intelligence officer Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) to "infiltrate the inner circle" of dodgy international arms dealer Dicky Roper (Hugh Laurie). "The A-list cast, slow-burn storytelling and jet-set locations" make for "slick, superior drama".
BBC iPlayer

Eddie Redmayne's "innate slipperiness" makes him perfect for his latest role as an "unknowable and deadly assassin" in "The Day of the Jackal", said Esther Zuckerman in The New York Times. Based on Frederick Forsyth's 1971 novel of the same name, but set in the present day, the show follows MI6 officer Bianca (Lashana Lynch) as she "runs around trying to uncover the Jackal's identity". The two leads are the "twin engines propelling the plot": while Redmayne's portrayal of the Jackal is "fascinatingly coy", Lynch tackles the role of Bianca with a "stirring mix of impulsivity and cunning".
Sky

Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.