The 20 best TV spy dramas of all time – ranked

From Tehran, to suburban Washington, to the dustbin of outcast agents in London’s Slough House: here are the best small-screen spies

From James Bond to Jason Bourne, from Harry Palmer to Austin Powers, spies have long been a fixture on film. Yet since the 007-driven 1960s boom, espionage has also become a staple of the small screen. State secrets, surveillance and intelligence work make a fascinating backdrop for TV drama, too. It’s a messy job but somebody has to do it – and viewers love to watch it.
Our selection of the finest TV spy thrillers spans more than 60 years, taking in everything from Sixties special agent romps to Cold War classics and contemporary cyber-terrorism. Fittingly for a genre that’s often about international intrigue, our favourites travel from the US to the Middle East via mainland Europe – with several stop-offs in London, taking in Thames House, Slough House and, of course, Cambridge Circus.
The BBC’s 2018 adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl can consider itself unlucky to narrowly miss out but it can console itself with the knowledge that plenty of other John le Carré dramas do make the cut. Other homegrown series like London Spy, The Honourable Woman and ITV’s recent remake of The Ipcress File also would have featured if this were a top 30. So too would recent US streaming successes The Old Man and The Night Agent.
Enough about those that didn’t quite make the grade. Which TV spy dramas most reward revisiting or discovering for the first time? Here’s our countdown of the all-time top 20 – and where you can stream them tonight. Just remember to keep it a secret. You never know who might be listening in…
This le Carré-esque BBC Two thriller hit headlines earlier this year when it belatedly clocked up a 95% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Episode four scored so highly, in fact, it was hyped up online as “the best hour of TV ever”. That might be a stretch but it still rewards revisiting. Written by Toby Whithouse, it sees a Cold War-era spook (Tom Hughes) try to defect to the Soviet Union for love. When he fails, he’s forced to return to MI5 by his boss (Brian Cox), codenamed “Daddy”, to help sniff out other KGB moles. Atmospheric and twist-packed with an impressive supporting cast. Read our The Game review
Watch it on: BBC iPlayer or U
This pacy political thriller was created by Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, drawing on their own experiences in the the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Set against the backdrop of the Palestinian war, it tracks the cat-and-mouse relationships between undercover Israeli special operative Doron (Raz) and a rogue’s gallery of Hamas ringleaders. As Doron’s unit ruthlessly hunts down wanted terrorists on the West Bank, it’s unabashedly pro-Israeli but macho, moody and slickly compelling. Read our Fauda review
Watch it on: Netflix
“Mrs Peel, we’re needed.” Running for 161 episodes across almost an entire decade, this quintessentially British spin on the spy genre won fans worldwide. Suave, bowler-hatted agent John Steed (Patrick Macnee) was joined by kickass female sidekicks – most memorably Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman) and Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) – to travel the globe, catching dangerous foes and getting into mildly kitschy scrapes. Stylish clothes, Bentley cars and a jazzy soundtrack add up to a true cult classic.
Watch it on: Amazon Prime Video
This stylish thriller, with Fauda alumni among the writing team, was the first Israeli series to win an Emmy. It follows Tamar Rabinyan (Niv Sultan), a gifted computer hacker working for Mossad, whose first mission in the field sees her sent to Tehran to destabilise an Iranian nuclear reactor. It’s geopolitically panoramic, with dialogue in Hebrew, Persian and English. Expertly blending the global with the personal, it’s breathlessly tense at times. Star quality is injected by Glenn Close in series two and Hugh Laurie in series three. Read our Tehran review
Watch it on: Apple TV+
This hard-boiled Sixties series was the polar opposite of The Avengers. Introduced by a stark title sequence of a swinging lightbulb in a dingy cellar, it followed the work of a shady secret service branch called “Section”, which tackled internal security threats via government-sanctioned torture and extra-judicial killings. Our anti-hero was assassin David Callan (Edward Woodward), a crack shot and karate expert with hidden depths. Gritty, haunting and downbeat, it was the anti-Bond. Woodward later riffed on the role in The Equalizer.
Watch it on: Plex
Peter Egan was rarely better than in this le Carré adaptation, tracing the career of disgraced MI6 spook Magnus Pym from his school days to his eventual disappearance as a suspected Czech double agent. Scripted by Arthur Hopcraft, who’d done such a superb job on Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, it was gloomy but utterly gripping. Strong support came from Iain Cuthbertson, Peggy Ashcroft and especially Ray McAnally as Pym’s conman father.
Watch it on: Apple TV+
Like a spy remix of The Sweeney, this adrenalised LWT action series chronicled the exploits of the fictional CI5 (a cross between MI5 and CID). The agents with an abrasive relationship were Ray Doyle (Martin Shaw) and William Bodie (Lewis Collins). Their handler was Major George Cowley (Gordon Jackson). Whizzing around in a Ford Capri, they fought terrorists and suspected spies by any means necessary (“Fight fire with fire!” barked Cowley). Pacy and politically incorrect, it was spoofed by The Comic Strip as Bonehead and Foyle, aka The Bullshitters. In Ashes To Ashes, DCI Gene Hunt tells DI Alex Drake: “We’re a team: Bodie and Doyle. I’m the one in the SAS and you can be the one with the girl’s hair.”
Watch it on: ITVX
The first German-language series to air on a US network, this Cold War drama became an international sleeper hit and built a large fanbase on Channel 4. It follows a young East German border guard (Jonas Nay), who is sent to West Germany in 1983 as an undercover spy for the Stasi. His job is to unearth military secrets. He soon finds himself heading off a war between East and West. Filmed in Berlin and pulsating to a period pop soundtrack, it blended tense thrills with a cool coming-of-age story. Sequels Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89 followed. Read our Deutschland 83 review
Watch it on: channel4.com
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s spy versus spy thriller, adapted from Luke Jennings’s novellas, blazed onto BBC America in 2018 and made an instant splash. The darkly comic dialogue and choreographed action were as chic as the city-hopping locations and Jodie Comer’s designer wardrobe. A deadly game of cat and mouse between Comer’s psychopathic assassin Villanelle and bored MI5 agent Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) soon escalated into mutual obsession, leading to all manner of shock twists. Quality declined when Waller-Bridge handed over the reins but it’s still a stylishly subversive treat. After all, “Sometimes when you love someone, you will do crazy things.” Read our Killing Eve review
Watch it on: BBC iPlayer, Netflix or Disney+
British secret services were infamously caught out when one of their own, MI6 high flier Kim Philby, turned out to be a KGB double agent. Based on Ben Macintyre’s book, this handsomely produced, satisfyingly cerebral series depicts the most embarrassing chapter in UK espionage history by focusing on the decades-long friendship between Philby (Guy Pearce) and fellow spook Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis), tracking Philby’s eventual escape to Beirut. Anna Maxwell Martin makes a marvellous third wheel as their MI5 interrogator. A masterclass in sustained intrigue. Read our A Spy Among Friends review
Watch it on: ITVX
“Dammit, Jack!” At its Noughties peak, there was nothing like 24. Structured in white-knuckle real-time, each season documented a day in the life of maverick counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). With cinematic production values and ambitious stunts, it was heart-thumpingly tense as that beeping clock counted down on Jack racing to save the world. Cunning terrorists, corrupt politicians and treacherous colleagues faced off against him – and were usually defeated. Launching two months after 9/11, it presciently tapped into America’s trauma and paranoia. Its tricks grew tired towards the end but this dizzying thrill ride was a game-changer for small-screen spy drama.
Watch it on: Disney+
This sumptuously shot le Carré adaptation was a huge hit for the BBC – and not one but two long-awaited sequel series are finally in production. Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston) was the ex-soldier turned Cairo hotel manager, recruited by intelligence officer Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) to infiltrate the inner circle of amoral arms dealer Richard “Dicky” Roper (Hugh Laurie), aka “the worst man in the world”. Tom Hollander stole scenes as Dicky’s sidekick Major Lance “Corky” Corkoran. A pre-Diana Elizabeth Debicki was the willowy love interest. The A-list cast, slow-burn storytelling and jet set locations made for slick, superior drama. Look out for a cameo from le Carré himself in episode four. Read our The Night Manager review
Watch it on: BBC iPlayer or Amazon Prime Video
“I am not a number! I am a free man!” This surreal cult classic followed a British intelligence agent codenamed Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) who quits his highly classified government position but is gassed, abducted and wakes up imprisoned in an idyllic coastal ­village ­controlled by mysterious forces. The primary location of Portmeirion took second billing only to the show’s creator, director and star McGoohan. Kafka-esque, Orwellian and tapping into the concerns of 1960s counter-culture, it cast a hypnotic spell across just 17 episodes. As unforgettable and influential as it was baffling.
Watch it on: ITVX or Amazon Prime Video
Claire Danes and Damian Lewis made for the ultimate cat-and-mouse adversaries in this espionage saga. Carrie Mathison, an obsessive CIA operative with bipolar disorder, became convinced that US Marine Sgt Nicholas Brody had been “turned” while held captive in Afghanistan by al-Qaeda. Was she deluded or had the homecoming hero really been reprogrammed as a jihadist sleeper agent? Inspired by Israeli series Hatufim/Prisoners of War, it soon spiralled off in directions of its own, becoming a sprawling study of US spycraft during the “war on terror”. Rarely for a US drama, it refused to offer easy answers in the knotty post-9/11 world. Read our Homeland review
Watch it on: Disney+
The six-part sequel to the BBC’s previous John le Carré adaptation – the mighty Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – saw MI6 maestro George Smiley (Alec Guinness) called out of retirement to investigate the murder of one of his old assets and take on his nemesis: the elusive Soviet spymaster codenamed “Karla”. Viewers are flung into a morally murky world where everyone is a double or even triple agent, usually with at least two names and a tendency to spout espionage jargon. Unremittingly dark, tense and complex, the labyrinthine thriller masterfully captured the atmosphere of Cold War mistrust – and Guinness was mesmerising.
Watch it on: ITVX 
British drama proved it could compete with its US counterparts with this slick, pacy procedural. Taglined: “MI5, not 9 to 5”, it followed Thames House operatives working in the highly secure “The Grid” office suite by day and living duplicitous private lives by night. It was timely enough to reflect the 21st century challenges facing the security services and the latest tactics deployed to foil terror threats on UK shores. The original trio of Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes and David Oyelowo soon went stellar. The likes of Nicola Walker, Richard Armitage and Hermione Norris took over for later series – all under the ever-watchful gaze of Section D chief Harry Pearce (Peter Firth), the sole constant across 86 episodes. Read our Spooks review
Watch it on: BBC iPlayer, U or NOW
This captivating Canal+ series, aka Le Bureau des Légendes, lifts a lid on the nitty-gritty of espionage with textbook French flair. Set at the Directorate-General for External Security – the Gallic equivalent of MI6 – it follows deep cover agents as they embark on and return from long-term missions. It’s based on real accounts by former spies, hence its credible plots, convincing characters and subtle cynicism. Brilliantly blending a workplace drama with a suspense thriller and hailed as “le Carré meets The Wire”, The Bureau has been hailed as some of the best TV that France has ever produced. You will hear no argument here. An English language remake, produced by George Clooney and starring Michael Fassbender, is coming soon. This is the original and best.
Watch it on: Paramount+
The ultimate underdog spy story – and arguably the all-time funniest. The “slow horses” exiled to the grotty London outpost of Slough House are disgraced outcasts from the shiny MI5 HQ across the capital – yet time and again, they prove themselves more capable. These bungling agents are supposed to waste their careers pushing paper and completing menial tasks yet somehow get involved in uncovering conspiracies and keeping Britain safe. Gary Oldman has a ball as slobbish Jackson Lamb, the rude, crude but brilliant veteran spook who leads the motley crew with gallows humour. Don’t be fooled by the title. Adapted from Mick Herron’s much-loved novels, this is pacy, suspenseful drama which builds to action-packed finales. Catch up in time for the fourth series, which arrives this autumn. Read our Slow Horses review
Watch it on: Apple TV+
Perhaps the most underrated series of the prestige TV era. Taglined “All’s fair in love and Cold War”, writer Joe Weisberg’s saga of suburban subterfuge follows two Soviet sleeper agents in 1980s Washington. By day, Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) play a happy picket-fence couple. By night, they complete covert KGB missions which often involve cold-blooded murder. Over six slow-burn seasons, their double life leaves them increasingly torn between patriotism for Mother Russia and their growing fondness for their adopted home, let alone the two children they’ve raised together as cover. Just when life couldn’t get more complicated, an FBI counter-intelligence agent (Noah Emmerich) moves in next door. It contrasts the geopolitical backdrop with everyday domesticity and tense spy intrigue with devastating relationship drama. An action-packed and ultimately poignant period piece – with a finale for the ages. Read our The Americans review
Watch it on: channel4.com or Disney+
TV proved the perfect medium to do justice to John le Carré’s landmark espionage novel. This seven-part BBC adaptation had the confidence to capture every nuance, pregnant pause and inscrutable silence. Alec Guinness delivered his best late-career performance as retired MI6 operative George Smiley, brought back to “The Circus” to covertly root out a Soviet mole. 
Intricately structured as a set of interconnecting flashbacks, it unfolds like a game of chess. There are bluffs and double bluffs, twists and turns as Smiley unmasks the traitor at the heart of the secret service. It captured the mood of post-imperial decline and Cold War paranoia. Geoffrey Burgon’s evocative score was peerless. The ensemble cast was impeccable. At the centre of it all sits BAFTA-winning Guinness, understated yet magnetic as the world-weary but relentless spy. Le Carré approved, citing the series as his favourite screen adaptation of his work. High praise indeed.
Watch it on: Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV+
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