Based on a series of novels by Mick Herron, ‘Slow Horses’ follows a team of MI5 agents who have managed to professionally mess up their careers.
‘Slow Horses’ chronicles the lives of failed MI5 officers who desperately want another chance but are now forced to do dull paper-pushing work under the leadership of their miserable boss, Jackson Lamb.
Despite being considered nobodies, they have often gone above and beyond to stop high-profile crimes in the country. Lamb might not be the best boss, but he still has his wit and is quite loyal to the people he works with.
Over time, these officers have adapted to their boss’s nature and learned to work together.
As a show, ‘Slow Horses’ is a refreshing espionage thriller where these officers are not exactly the best or the heroes who save the day. They are confused and indulge in mishaps from time to time, thus allowing the show to have some humorous sequences.
At the same time, the show is more grounded in reality. Composed of similar themes, here are 8 shows like ‘Slow Horses’ you must watch:
1. The Americans
Available on: Hulu
Cast: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys
‘The Americans’ takes place during the Cold War. It follows two Russian spies, Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, who are married to each other and have a family of their own.
The couple poses as Americans and resides in Washington, D.C., in order to spy on the American government.
They manage to come off as a genuine family that has been running a travel agency for the past 20 years. They have two children, who have no idea about their parents’ real identities.
With every passing day, the relationship gets more real, but they are tested every time the Cold War escalates.
Things get more complicated when FBI agent Stan Beeman arrives to live in their neighborhood. He works for a new division of the agency that is tasked to fight foreign agents on U.S. soil, which worries the couple as their cover might get blown anytime soon.
2. Killing Eve
Available on: Hulu
Cast: Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer
Eve Polastri’s life as a spy is not as exciting as she had thought it would be. She is intelligent, but she spends most of her time at her desk. She soon finds an opportunity to satisfy herself when Villanelle, a talented assassin, starts killing prominent names.
Eve’s interesting theory about these murders gets her on a task force to hunt Villanelle down. A cat-and-mouse game begins as both women become obsessed with each other. Eve desperately wants to find her, while Villanelle also wants her to come for her.
3. Archer
Available on: Hulu, Netflix
At the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS), global crises are just an excuse for their highly-trained spies to sabotage each other’s missions.
Sterling Archer, the world’s deadliest spy, lives for espionage. He works with his mother, Malory, who is also his boss, his ex-girlfriend, Agent Lana Kane, and the rest of the employees of ISIS.
The show parodies espionage, culture, society, and the human condition as Archer and his colleagues embark on various high-profile missions, only to mess with each other.
4. Alias
Available on: Hulu
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Ron Rifkin, Victor Garber
Sydney Bristow, a young, athletic college graduate, gets recruited to work as a secret agent for SD-6, a top-secret branch of the CIA. The head of SD-6, Arvin Sloane, kills her boyfriend when she tells him about her secret life.
Her boyfriend’s death breaks her apart but also leads her to discover that SD-6 is actually a group of terrorists.
With that, Sydney turns toward the real CIA and starts working as a double agent to take down the group, which leads her on a path of betrayal, murder, lies, and a lot more.
5. Homeland
Available on: Hulu
Cast: Claire Danes, Damian Lewis
While in Iraq, Carrie Mathison, a CIA operations officer, learns that an American prisoner has been turned by Al-Qaeda. She suspects the prisoner to be Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody, who gets rescued after being held hostage since 2003.
Brody comes back home as a hero, but Carrie keeps a close eye on him, believing that he is a serious threat to the country and that he is planning a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
6. Chuck
Available on: HBO Max
Cast: Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin
Chuck Bartowski, an ordinary underachieving nerd, ends up reading vital government secrets he received through a mail from his college friend. From that point on, he becomes an important asset to the CIA and NSA.
Both organizations assign their top agents, Sarah Walker and John Casey, to protect Chuck, who has now found himself in the world of spies.
7. Deutschland 83
Available on: Hulu
Cast: Jonas Nay, Maria Schrader, Ulrich Noethen, Sylvester Groth, Sonja Gerhardt, Ludwig Trepte, Alexander Beyer, Lisa Tomaschewsky
‘Deutschland 83’ takes place in a divided Germany in 1983, at the height of the Cold War. Martin Rauch, a 24-year-old East German soldier, is sent undercover to work for a prominent West German official in order to retrieve information on NATO military strategy.
For Rauch, everything is new and an experience. As a rookie spy, he often makes questionable decisions that threaten his cover and his mission altogether.
8. Tehran
Available on: Apple TV+
Cast: Niv Sultan, Shaun Toub, Shervin Alenabi, Shila Ommi
‘Tehran’ follows Tamar Rabinyan, a Mossad computer hacker-agent who is on her very first mission in the city where she grew up. Tamar is tasked to disable a nuclear reactor.
She switches identities with Zhila Gorbanifar, a Muslim employee of the local electric company, to execute her mission. When it ultimately fails, she is forced to go into hiding. Time away from the mission leads her to rediscover her roots.
Also Read: Slow Horses season 2 review: Brings an intriguing and mythical mystery