7 Spy Shows Like ‘Slow Horses’ to Watch While You Wait for Season 5

MI5 (2002 – 2011)

Long before Matthew Macfadyen was jockeying for power and glory on “Succession,” he was MI5 agent Tom Quinn, who tackled terrorists of all stripes with his colleagues Zoe Reynolds (Keeley Hawes) and Danny Hunter (played by future “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” star David Oyelowo). The stellar cast includes Richard Armitage, Nicolas Walker, Peter Firth and Jenny Agutter. The series was known as “Spooks” in the UK, but retitled for American audiences.

Stream on BritBox and BritBox on Amazon

Bodyguard (2018)

Richard Madden (Robb Stark on “Game of Thrones”) plays a heroic war veteran who’s drafted to become the bodyguard of a politician (Keeley Hawes of “Orphan Black: Echoes”) whose policies he despises. The two grow closer when there’s an attempt on her life, but he must decide where his loyalties lie.

Stream on Netflix

The Night Manager (2016)

Tom Hiddleston plays Jonathan Pine, an ex-soldier and manager of a hotel in Cairo who is recruited by British Intelligence to go undercover with a notorious arms dealer Richard Onslow (Hugh Laurie). He gets in deeper than he’d planned, however, when he falls for Onslow’s wife Jed Marshall (Elizabeth Debicki). The series — and star Hiddleston — returns for a long-awaited Season 2 in 2025.

Stream on Prime Video

The Night Agent (2023 – )

Gabriel Basso stars as junior FBI agent Peter Sutherland, who’s given the seemingly dead-end task of monitoring a hotline that never rings… until it does. It sweeps the inexperienced Peter into a deadly case that involves a possible mole in the White House. He has to survive by his wits and figure out who —if anyone — he can trust. The series returns for Season 2 in 2025 and just received a surprise renewal through Season 3.

Stream on Netflix

Strike Back (2010 – 2020)

Sort of an even more action-packed British version of “The A-Team,” the series originally starred Richard Armitage, who dropped out to join Peter Jackson’s “Hobbit” trilogy, and future “Walking Dead”star Andrew Lincoln as military men who took on life-saving operations around the globe.

They were followed with the lineup of Sullivan Stapleton (“The Blacklist”) as former US Delta Force Sgt Damian Scott and Philip Winchester (“Law & Order: SVU”) as British naval officer Sgt. Michael Stonebridge.

Notable cast members in this franchise include Jamie Bamber, Robson Green and Rhona Mitra.

Stream on Cinemax

Deutschland 83 (2015)

This compelling German series, which uses ’80s tune “Major Tom (Coming Home)” as its theme song, plunges its lead character Martin (Jonas Nay) into unwanted service as a spy for East Germany. He’s given a new identity as a West German and must quickly master spycraft skills if he wants to stay alive. Even worse, it’s his own aunt (Maria Schrader) who’s tapped him for the unwanted job as she’s a member of the Stasi, the Staatssicherheit, who were the secret police of East Germany. This Cold War drama was followed by two sequel series: “Deutschland 86” and “Deutschland 89.”

Stream on Prime Video.

Foyle’s War (2003 – 2015)

Michael Kitchen stars as Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle, who — when the series begins — is tasked with investigating ordinary crimes like murder while England is in the midst of World War II. Early on, the series featured featured several future British stars, including Emily Blunt, Rosamund Pike and Andrew Scott.

Stream on Acorn TV