Hungry for more espionage? Debut writer DAVID GOODMAN highlights five more favourite TV spy shows

THE GAME

Set in grimy 1970s London, this underrated mini-series features Brian Cox as a senior spook and Tom Hughes as his star agent Joe Lambe. Together they deal with defectors, ambitious politicians and a hitman codenamed “Odin”. Divided loyalties, second-guesses and double-crossing are the order of the day as Joe questions who he’s serving.

BERLIN STATION

With Richard Armitage (of Spooks fame) as CIA counter-mole Daniel Miller, this high-octane, gritty spy thriller ran for three seasons from 2016 to 2019. Sent to find a whistleblower inside the CIA station in Berlin, Miller spends much of the first season chasing ghosts through the city’s underbelly, uncovering a multi-layered plot involving kidnappings, illegal renditions and assassination.

THE AMERICANS

This six-season drama, which ran from 2013 to 2019, is equal parts spy story and long-term character study of Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys). As Soviet sleeper agents forced into marriage, they gradually fall in love, then become entangled in a complex deception with neighbour, FBI agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich). There’s drama with their American-as-apple-pie kids, tradecraft and a devastating finale.

KLEO

At the goofier end of the spy spectrum, an East German assassin trained from childhood to murder enemies of the state finds herself adrift after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Seeking a briefcase linked to her past and unlikely allies in a West German detective, ecstasychomping 90s ravers and CIA agents with their own agenda, Jella Haase is magnetic in the title role.

A SPY AMONG FRIENDS

Based on Ben McIntyre’s non-fiction book of the same title, this phenomenal mini-series dramatises a pivotal 1963 Beirut meeting between Soviet mole Kim Philby (Guy Pearce) and one of his oldest friends, Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis). A scenestealing Anna Maxwell Martin tries to discover how the traitor escaped to Moscow. The tension of who knew

what and when is palpable.

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to change. But, without any plot spoilers, he’s happy to confirm Ho will be returning for season five, despite Herron’s propensity for killing off key characters.

“If you’re a hardcore fan, you can read ahead in the books and see who goes,” he adds with a smile. “One of the only things we’re not allowed to do is kill anyone off without Mick’s approval. He’s brutal though. Every time he brings out a book, we’re all like, ‘Is it me? Will I be able to pay my mortgage next month?’”

●Slow Horses season four is streaming on Apple TV+ now