London Spy

Unique crime thriller, a 'page-turner'. Far above the average bland counterparts that often dominate the genre. Made for, and enjoyed by an adult audience.

The first three episodes are amazing. Gripping, romantic, thrilling, deep, sexy... it trojan horses a spy story inside a drama/romance/thriller thing and it does it in a wonderful way. Episode four is where it collapses by letting the uninteresting sci-fi/spy element take control. Episode five doesn't particularly get better. Still, the amazing start and the great cast deserve a view.

complicated show, not a really good plot or ending but i guess its worth the shot. extra marks for ben wishaw being a wonderful actor as ever

I had high hopes for this series. A stellar cast: Legendary veterans actors Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, and Harriet Walters, with a rising star, Ben Whishaw, who is considered by many to be one of the best of his generation, a brilliant actor, and the writing was so veiled that it lead you to believe it was working its way to a complex but highly intelligent ending, In that anticipation, I was giving episodes 8s (good) and 9s (great), but then the resolution came, and it was all so farfetched that it toppled the series to a 6 (fair). What a shame, and what a waste of talent and time.

Great performances and direction but the material just isn't there. It starts off so strong but then just meanders on, not really making any sense for 4 more hours. A shame. More time in the writers room next time please.

If you’re coming to this for a spy drama, or indeed ANY kind of drama at all, you’l likely be severely disappointed.

The dull dialogue, dreary musical score, boring (often monotone) dialogue, waaaaaaay overly-long and drawn out scenes (presumably designed to add to the tension and suspense but merely add to the tedium), overly long pointless gay sex scenes (that do nothing except add to the plodding monotony), countless, and again, overly long flash-backs and the under-lit washed out scenes of an eternally grey and dismal London make this a series to endure rather than enjoy. You spend the entire series waiting for any kind of story to develop and by the time it does, you're past caring. The characters are such a mind-numbinlgy dull and boring bunch it’s hard to tell the difference from the dead ones to the living, or indeed care about them at all! A 1-2 hour (at most) series stretched out ‘beyond wafer-thin’ to painful and tedious 5 hours with nothing by way of highlights.

The problem with the vast majority of conspiracy movies and TV shows is the reveal. It seems to be a pretty easy and common thing to create mystery, especially mystery involving secret plots. It’s another thing altogether, apparently, to create a satisfactory resolution to a mystery, especially a mystery where “the powers the be” are the villain, rather than an individual.


London Spy has a unique and original take on the conspiracy format and its deliberate pacing is a refreshing change from many modern conspiracy/spy films and shows, which throw twists at us every few minutes (it feels like). There are weird inconsistencies and some of the characterizations appeared off to me – stop going in water with your clothes on!!! – but, for the most part, it’s a compelling and well told conspiracy thriller for over 3 of its 5 episodes.

Things go to shit with the first of the big reveals in the 4th episode, and continue going to shit throughout the concluding episode, where we are given more ridiculousness, to explain the show’s various mysteries. None of these explanations are satisfactory because, as usual, they don’t make a whole lot of sense. Nobody would do these things.

To cap it off is the ending, which is a maddening and impossible about face for a fairly major character.

A wasted opportunity.

just a little boring, but finally finish.

Very unusual drama struggling to follow it