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

Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb in Slow Horses

(Image credit: Alamy / Landmark Media)

last updated 16 May 2025

"Heart-pounding intrigue" and "twisting narratives" are key ingredients of any great espionage show, said Ryan Heffernan in Collider. It's little wonder the genre has "excelled" on both the big and small screen for decades.

While Hollywood tends to portray spies as "indomitable alpha heroes", it's safe to say TV shows have a "less rosy view of what goes on in the shadows", making space for flawed – but fascinating – protagonists, said James Jackson in The Times. Here are some of the best spy TV shows to add to your watch list.

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

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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

Cambridge University postgraduate Edward Brooks is devoting his work to a theorem involving prime numbers that could pick any digital lock anywhere. Realism is not "the strong suit" of this spy drama, said Esther Zuckerman in The New York Times. The star, Leo Woodall, who has form for playing "charming cads" wouldn't be first on your list to "play a shy, conflict-avoidant mathematician". And yet, "Prime Target" has the "juicy vibe of a novel you might pick up at an airport and rip through in a single flight". It has it all: "an outlandish premise, beautiful people, and it ends on a cliffhanger every episode".
Apple TV+

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 seven-part 1979 adaptation of John le Carré's 1974 novel remains a "true classic among spy shows", said Tim Glanfield in The Times. Set at the height of the Cold War, the BBC show follows "master of espionage" George Smiley (Alec Guinness), who is called out of retirement to track down a Soviet mole hidden within MI6. Taking "bluffs, double bluffs, twists and turns to new levels", it's a must-watch.
Amazon Prime

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.