Taking a leaf out of the James Bond film series, several movies and TV shows have tried to ply viewers with secret agents who are more superheroes than actual spies. Slow Horses completely flips that narrative by giving us spies who are little more than stressed-out office workers. The show reveals the biggest twist about spy work: it’s just another badly run job, complete with petty bosses, pointless paperwork, and the constant fear of being the one to screw up. That makes it interesting to watch.
If you’re looking for shows that nail the same vibe, with the system as the real villain, and every win looks like a lucky accident, then this list is for you. It’s all about the grunt work associated with spying, the screw-ups who do that grunt work, and the tired pros just trying to survive another day on the world’s worst job.
1. The Americans (2013 – 2018)
It’s the 1980s. Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) seem like a normal D.C. couple with two kids and a travel business. But in reality, they’re a couple of deadly KGB spies whose real job involves stealing secrets, seducing targets, and occasional murder. The kicker is that neither their kids nor their new neighbor, who works for an FBI department tasked with hunting spies, has any idea they’re spies.
The beauty of The Americans mainly lies in how slowly it integrates the viewer into the messy minds of the Jennings. There are little to no elaborate chase scenes or fancy spy gadgets. You’re just watching two people get worn down by their own lies. You see it in the tiny moments where a veteran spy like Philip hesitates before carrying out a bad order. Just a pause. That’s it. The job is eating them alive from the inside, rotting their marriage and their souls. It’s the ultimate burnout story. The “Slow Horses” would see them and be like: “Yep, told you.”
2. The Night Manager (2016 – Present)
Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is a former soldier who now enjoys a relatively quiet life as a luxury hotel manager. His quiet life is disrupted when he’s recruited to go undercover to take down a dangerous arms dealer named Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). To achieve his objective, Pine has to ditch his old life, assume a criminal identity, and infiltrate Roper’s inner circle. There’s also the bit about the fact that he knows that one wrong move would mean his untimely demise.
Okay, this one looks a bit more glamorous when you compare it to the less glossy Slow Horses. But they share the same cold DNA. In one of the show’s most brutal scenes (Season 1, Episode 4), Pine watches Roper order a brutal act in a room full of rich guests. They all see it. And they all look away. Pine also can’t react. He just has to stand there and take it because the mission is the only thing that matters. His own handler would leave him hanging if it meant nabbing Roper. It’s the same harsh reality Jackson Lamb’s (Gary Oldman) crew has to deal with: you’re all expendable, the mission is all that matters.
3. Homeland (2011 – 2020)
Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) is a brilliant but unstable CIA officer with bipolar disorder. When a rescued Marine comes home a war hero, she’s convinced he’s been turned by terrorists. The problem? Nobody believes the “crazy” lady. So she goes rogue, sometimes doing illegal stuff to prove she’s right.
If you want to understand how spy agencies save face, this show’s for you. At the end of the first major crisis, which happens towards the end of the first season, guess what happens? Yeah, you called it. The politicians are safe. The real bad guy walks. And Carrie, the one person who actually figured out the fact that something was wrong, gets blamed for everything. The higher-ups call it a win and move on. It’s the same idea that Slow Horses makes fun of: in the spy world, not causing a total disaster gets you a promotion.
4. The Bureau (Le Bureau des Légendes) (2015 – 2020)
This is the real deal. It follows the daily grind of France’s external intelligence service, the DGSE. No gadgets, just paperwork and mind games. The focus is on “The Bureau of Legends,” where agents build fake lives and live them for years. The main character, Guillaume Debailly, code name Malotru (Mathieu Kassovitz), has just returned from a six-year undercover assignment in Syria. He’s so deep in his fake life, he’s forgotten who he really is.
This show reveals how little mistakes in the spy world can wreck everything. Malotru has only been home for two days, and what does he do? He texts a woman he loved while he was undercover. A huge, stupid, against-the-rules mistake. He didn’t do it for the mission, but just because he’s lonely and messed up. That one mistake blows his whole life apart. Slow Horses is built on the same idea: world-ending plots often start because someone was tired, sad, and had a bad idea.
5. The Little Drummer Girl (2018)
Based on John le Carré’s novel, The Little Drummer Girl follows Charlie (Florence Pugh), a young actress full of big ideas. That makes her the perfect spy for an Israeli spymaster who taps her for a wild scheme. She’s used as bait to infiltrate a Palestinian terror group. But to do it, she has to live an elaborate lie, pretending to be in love with a man who isn’t who he says he is, either. Everyone’s acting, and Charlie has no idea what’s really going on.
The whole thing is a con. Charlie’s bosses tell her just enough to make her useful. They use her passion and anger like tools. She thinks she’s a player, but she’s just a pawn on their board. This is the spy game displayed on Slow Horses from the bottom: the people at the top always know more. They always do. And your loyalty? That’s just another thing for them to use up.
6. MI-5 (Spooks) (2002 – 2011)
This show is a British classic. It follows the teams at MI5, Britain’s domestic security service, as they tackle terrorists, rogue states, and wild political plots. Everything and everyone moves fast. And if you’re a fan of main characters being killed off in sudden, unpredictable ways, then you’ll love this show. In fact, that singular fact is what made it so famous.
Like Slow Horses, this show is all brutal professionalism. No posturing or elaborate farewell speeches before the offing of a major character. Tragic stuff happens, and everyone moves on to the next big case. The mission doesn’t stop because every agent is expendable, and they all know it.
7. The Night Agent (2023 – Present)
Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) has the world’s most boring government job. His job is to sit in a basement and literally watch a phone that never rings. Rinse and repeat. Then one night, the phone rings. On the other end of the line is a scared young woman who says her relatives (both of whom were spies) were just murdered. That one call throws Peter into a huge government conspiracy, all the way to the top of the U.S. government.
All the mess in this show starts with bureaucracy. Peter tells his bosses about the threat, but they refuse to listen and blow him off. That moment of pure institutional indifference is the real reason for the chaos, not the villains. It’s the entire reason the Slough House exists. The “Slow Horses” are in the basement mainly because the arrogant suits upstairs can’t be bothered to hear a warning.
8. Killing Eve (2018 – 2022)
Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) is a bored, desk-bound MI5 analyst who becomes obsessed with hunting Villanelle (Jodie Comer), a funny, fashionable, and totally bonkers assassin. When their cat-and-mouse game turns into a weird, mutual obsession, all the professional rules go out the window.
You won’t hear an argument against the fact that Killing Eve is certainly… flashier than Slow Horses. But they have one thing in common: they both love chaos. In fact, by the end of season 1, the whole spy structure is a complete circus. Eve’s bosses have lost control. The mission is pretty much a joke. And all that remains is the weird personal feud between Eve and Villanelle. Just like in Slow Horses, the people in charge have no real clue what’s going on, and the “problem” employees are running the show.
9. The Asset (2025)
This Danish crime thriller follows Tea Lind (Clara Dessau), a police cadet who is sent deep undercover to befriend Ashley (Maria Cordsen), the girlfriend of a powerful drug lord. Tea has to build a real friendship with her target, which includes going shopping, having coffee, you know the drill. She must do all this, knowing she will one day have to betray the woman who trusts her.
The tension in this show is brutal and totally personal. It’s about that damage that comes when spies break the trust of their targets and the lonely hole they leave behind. Case in point, when the mission ends, and Tea has to reveal she’s a cop, Ashley’s face doesn’t show that she’s afraid of going to jail. Rather, it shows the heartbreak she feels as a result of the betrayal by someone she calls a friend. It’s the hidden cost the spies in Slow Horses carry. The job breaks things inside you that can’t be fixed.
10. Black Doves (2024 – Present)
Black Doves is about modern spies whose work and personal lives are totally entangled. Kiera Knightley plays Helen Webb, an agent who has to navigate a world where her friendships and love life keep crashing into her secret missions. It’s all messy but interesting.
One of the show’s biggest moments comes in season 1, episode 3, when Helen is forced to betray someone she really cares about just to protect her cover. But the show doesn’t make it a big twist. It’s just another Tuesday on the job. The real story is in the fallout: the guilt and the awkward silence that followed. Slow Horses lives in this space too. The job makes you do awful things, and when the bill for it comes later, you pay it in private and with regret.
So grab your snacks, pick a show, and hit play. But just remember: in this world, there’s no cool car or fancy gadgets for the hero. Instead, they just hope they can find a clean mug in the breakroom.
