What TV show is as good as Slow Horses?

November 23, 2024 2:01 PM

I just finished Slow Horses and am in mourning because I loved it so much and there were four seasons! What thriller/spy/mystery shows would I like?

I have also enjoyed:
Scott and Bailey
Shetland
Succession (very much!)
My Brilliant Friend
The Bodyguard

Didn’t care for:
The Americans
House of Cards

posted by Ollie to Media & Arts (24 answers total)

You might like Person of Interest.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 2:20 PM on November 23

You'll enjoy Vera and Happy Valley!
Maybe also Line of Duty.
MI-5 is an oldie but goodie.
posted by quacks like a duck at 2:22 PM on November 23

Patriot if you have Amazon Prime. It goes a bit downhill in the second season, but still worth a watch to the end. I think it didn't get enough press/attention in part because the title sounds like it will be right-wing or something...but it's not.
posted by coffeecat at 2:34 PM on November 23

Slow Horses will be as good as Slow Horses for at least two more seasons. Not long after the season 5 renewal, Apple announced a planned sixth season.
posted by emelenjr at 2:47 PM on November 23

The Night Manager on Netflix
posted by unknowncommand at 3:00 PM on November 23

The Sandbaggers, an ITV show that did 3 series starting in '78. It's a terrific drama about the inner workings of the Special Intelligence Service, SIS, known to the world as MI-6 and run out of an office not terribly unlike Slough House, except it's not a dumping ground for disgraced spies. It's not an action show; roughly 15% action by my estimate; it's much more about the domestic and foreign political conflict of the cold war as seen through the world of a spymaster and his Sandbaggers, that is, secret operators. Absolutely terrific show.

It's currently streaming on Prime; 20 episodes, give or take.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:30 PM on November 23

I adore Slow Horses!

A couple of Australian shows you might like:

The Tourist (with Jamie Dornan and Danielle MacDonald): a man wakes up in a hospital in the Australian outback but has lost his memory and doesn’t know why someone was trying to kill him. A local policewoman becomes interested in his case and helps him find out about his past.

Wanted (with Rebecca Gibney and Geraldine Hakewell): two women intervene in a carjacking and then end up in a cross-country chase with authorities pursuing them across Australia because they think they’re involved in a crime.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 3:36 PM on November 23

I also asked a similar question two years ago while waiting for the next season of Slow Horses; some of the answers in there might help you. Some weren’t available to me for streaming in Canada, but if you’re in a different country you may be able to access them.

TV series like Slow Horses?
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 3:41 PM on November 23

I absolutely loved The Capture, which is a British show that's streaming on Peacock. It's two seasons.
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 3:47 PM on November 23

The Diplomat (the one with Keri Russell) on Netflix

(Also Sandbaggers)
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:32 PM on November 23

Slow Horses is amazing. Shows that to me had a similar vibe:
Travelers
12 Monkeys (the tv show, not the film)

If you like Shetland (SO good) I think you will also love:
Broadchurch
Hinterland
The Killing
The Bay
Line of Duty
Inspector George Gently
CB Strike (written by JK Rowling)
Missing
Hidden
Cardinal
Endeavour
posted by the webmistress at 6:28 PM on November 23

Killing Eve
The Little Drummer Girl
The Night Manager
Orphan Black
Utopia (original UK version, haven’t seen the US remake)

Seconding The Diplomat unless Keri Russell was specifically the reason you didn’t like The Americans

I had mixed feelings about The Old Man (2 seasons on Hulu, unclear if there will be a third) but the acting is good and it’s definitely got spies!

Industry has some Succession vibes (also Mad Men vibes)
posted by staggernation at 7:31 PM on November 23

Line of Duty I think I suggested in the last Ask on this, and I'd probably suggest it again. It's pretty slick and fun, there's even some spying even though they're cops (they're anti-corruption cops, so they sometimes go undercover in other police departments). Not quite as smart as Slow Horses but still entertaining.
posted by BungaDunga at 7:53 PM on November 23

We really enjoyed Ludwig, a recent BBC show with David Mitchell as an introvert/ autistic-coded puzzle setter who accidentally becomes a police detective. There is also a broader mystery with spy elements. It's just been renewed for a second season which is fab!
posted by goo at 1:19 AM on November 24

Unforgotten and Annika, both with Nicola Walker. Nicola Walker just makes these shows. She was also in River and Spooks.

Collateral isn't bad either.
posted by BibiRose at 1:38 AM on November 24

French show The Bureau, for sure.
posted by SomethinsWrong at 2:01 AM on November 24

The twenty-seven seasons of Silent Witness will keep you busy for a good while.
posted by flabdablet at 3:23 AM on November 24

The closest thing for me, which means “spy” thriller with impeccable writing, great cast and acting, unpredictable, and fun is ANDOR.
posted by degoao at 4:31 AM on November 24

I think the Cormoran Strike TV show is a good match, but note that, like the books, Rowling (writing under the name of "Robert Galbraith") shoe-horned her anti-trans nonsense into the later books and some of it in diluted form shows up in the TV series. Made me have to drop the series, although I liked the main actors.
posted by Mo Nickels at 9:38 AM on November 24

Touching evil, both the original and the US remake, were outstanding but left me deeply unsettled.
posted by evilmonk at 5:24 PM on November 24

Ludwig is definitely a keeper.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 6:20 PM on November 24

Babylon Berlin. It’s a German neo-noir series, set in Berlin during the latter years of the Weimar Republic. It follows police detectives and investigators, not spies. Turn on subtitles. The dubbing is…not good. I watched it on Netflix but now it’s apparently streaming on MHz Choice.
posted by LiverOdor at 9:15 PM on November 24

There are about 12 seasons of New Tricks, which is similar in tone, woman head of unit, unlikely grouping of semi-retired/retired former police detectives. Not spy oriented, just procedural police stuff, but well-acted and entertaining story lines.
posted by drossdragon at 11:32 AM on November 25

The Slow Horses book series has 10 volumes (plus some ancillary ones in the same world), and Mick Herron is still writing. Each season is one book, and they follow closely, so if all goes well, we can expect 10 seasons. If you enjoy reading, or listening to audiobooks, I highly recommend - the show captures his sense of humor quite well, but there is a bit more of it in the books.
posted by Petekachu at 8:02 PM on November 25