Desperately seeking more thrilling spy drama whilst you wait for episode 2 of Slow Horses season 4 to be released on Wednesday, September 11? Look no further than our six suggestions below, each offering a tale of mystery, star-studded casts, and positively British refinement.
No doubt you’ve found yourself here because you’ve indulged in the first episode of Apple TV Plus’ returning spy drama, Slow Horses, season 4 of which has already got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing. If you’re yet to watch it or want to rewatch past episodes from previous seasons, here’s a handy guide on how to watch Slow Horses online.
Based on Mick Herron’s Slough House novels, Slow Horses is the first book in the series focusing on a group of dysfunctional MI5 agents dumped in a small office in London hoping to restore their names by defending Britain. The team of misfits is led by Jackson Lamb, played by the award-winning Gary Oldman, who continues to make sure his recruits know they’ve not found themselves in his office for good reasons.
Soon after River Cartwright, played by Jack Lowden, joins the competent crew at Slough House as their latest recruit, the team find themselves intertwined in the middle of a dangerous hostage situation that forces them to step out from behind the paperwork and back into a sinister mission of espionage – with such a compelling story, it's no wonder why it's one of the best Apple TV Plus shows.
The show has been confirmed for season 5 after the hit spy series set a new record for Apple TV Plus, but while we wait, here are six shows to watch if you like Slow Horses and want to indulge in more tales of British spies.
London Spy
A crime drama made by the BBC, London Spy stars James Bond veteran Ben Whishaw as Danny Holt, a young man entangled in mystery after his MI6 code genius and spy lover is murdered. Plunged into a thrilling tale of espionage, London Spy, much like Slow Horses, is a contemporary tale set to the dark, gritty backdrop of England’s capital city whilst also staying true to some of the platitudes of the traditional spy drama genre.
Danny himself is an ordinary man with no knowledge of what it takes to work in the Secret Intelligence Service, yet he’s navigated by mentor, Scottie, played by Jim Broadbent, to help him find some truth from the tragic loss of his partner. Intricate, cloaked in mystery, but super gripping.
Available to stream on Xumo Play in the US. The series is only available to buy on Apple TV in the UK and Australia.
Killing Eve
When it comes to iconic spy dramas, Killing Eve has been ticking all the boxes for viewers around the world. Based on the Villanelle novel series by Luke Jennings, Killing Eve's showrunners have included Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Emerald Fennell.
The show brings together two uniquely intelligent and strong women in a cat-and-mouse chase of impressive proportions. Eve Polastri, played by Sandra Oh, is a British intelligence operative tasked with finding and capturing trained assassin, Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer, of which nothing about the mission is simple.
Killing Eve spans four seasons – the show ended with Killing Eve season 4 but enjoyed a renaissance on Netflix when it was released on the platform in April – of gory, complex, and inexplicable attraction in a world where the lines between good and bad lay continually blurred.
Available to stream on Netflix, AMC Plus and The Roku Channel in the US, Disney Plus, Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Sky in the UK, and Stan in Australia.
The Undeclared War
From NBC’s streaming service Peacock TV comes another spy drama from 2022, The Undeclared War. This time in the heart of the UK’s security and intelligence organisation, GCHQ, a team of analysts work secretly to fight off a potentially devastating foreign cyber-attack targeting the country’s electoral system.
In order to prevent a war in the near-future of 2024, the team including star-studded actors Simon Pegg and Mark Rylance, respectively as GCHQ’s Head of Operations and a retired Cold War veteran reenlisted to the team. It’s perfectly British, set deep in the fairly unknown world of secret intelligence, with a unique spin on cyber technology that’s worth a watch if you enjoyed Slow Horses.
Available to stream on Peacock in the US, Channel 4 in the UK and Stan in Australia.
The Little Drummer Girl
Mick Herron's novels are often compared to the work of iconic spy-thriller novelist, John Le Carré, and as such we’ve two entries on our list that are adaptations of some of Le Carré’s most famous books. The Little Drummer Girl comes from his 1983 novel of the same name where an aspiring English actress is brought in by Mossad to infiltrate a dangerous terrorist cell plotting crimes across Europe.
Florence Pugh plays double agent Charlie aka Charmian is recruited by Gadi Becker, played by Alexander Skarsgård, to impersonate a suspected bomber’s girlfriend in order to investigate the true criminals. The Little Drummer Girl, unsurprisingly, has another stellar cast member in Michael Shannon who played Martin Kurtz, an Israeli spymaster, assembling the team of spies to take down the terrorist network.
Available to stream on Prime Video, AMC Plus or The Roku Channel in the US, Sky or the BBC iPlayer in the UK, and to buy on Apple TV in Australia.
The Night Manager
Another Le Carré novel turned BBC TV adaptation is 2016’s The Night Manager starring Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman, Hugh Laurie, and Tom Hollander. Ex-British soldier and night manager of a luxurious Cairo hotel, Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston), is recruited as a secret operative to infiltrate a secret arms dealer’s inner circle.
A great tale of espionage with similar dark nature and British prowess of Slow Horses, The Night Manager sees Pine embark on a mission that requires him to harness all the skills he’s ever learnt in his years of service to successfully complete an incredibly dangerous mission in order to protect the world as we know it.
Available to stream on Prime Video in the US and UK.
Spooks
Back in London for our final show like Slow Horses for classic British spy drama series, Spooks. Also focused on MI5, Spooks ran for ten incredible seasons from 2002-2011 and led the way for espionage thrillers to follow. Unlike Slow Horses, the crack team of Spooks are highly-skilled and well-versed in protecting the nation as each episode plays out case after case of explosive challenges to be solved.
Spooks, a stalwart name of British spy shows, is also full of cast names that have continued in great success from Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen to Bodyguard’s Keeley Hawes to award-winning Selma and Nightingale’s David Oyelowo.
Available to stream on Prime Video, The Roku Channel and Tubi in the US, ITV X, BBC iPlayer and Sky in the UK, and Prime Video in Australia.
