The Night Manager has once again wrapped up its latest chapter, closing the door (for now) on Tom Hiddleston’s Jonathan Pine, a former British soldier turned luxury hotel night manager who is quietly pulled into the shadowy world of international arms dealing and espionage.
A glossy, slow-burning British spy thriller, The Night Manager is based on the 1993 novel by John le Carré, taking Le Carré’s razor-sharp prose and adapted for Prime with an unmistakable modern polish. It was an instant hit when it first landed on our screens in 2016 and was nominated for thirty-six awards, winning eleven, including three Golden Globes for Hiddleston, Olivia Colman, and Hugh Laurie, in addition to two Emmys for its director and music composer.
It’s been ten years since Night Manager fans were introduced to the dark and, at times, disturbing world that Pine is forced to navigate, with the second season finishing up this month on streaming.
And, if you’re like me, and you’re struggling to fill that void left in your weekday rotation, of a sophisticated spy drama, a British intelligence thriller, or a series that managed to capture the unpredictable and addictive narrative that inherently covers this covert world of espionage, then the following list of Shows like The Night Manager is your next guide that will keep you ticking over until season 3 finds its way back onto our screens. Let’s just hope it’s not another decade between shoots.
Shows Like The Night Manager:
Bodyguard
For fans of The Night Manager, Homeland, and modern political thrillers, Bodyguard is a tightly-wound Netflix series that sheds a unique light on personal protection and power at the highest levels of the British government.
Richard Madden stars as David Budd, a war veteran and police protection officer assigned to guard the UK Home Secretary during an era of surveillance and the looming threat of domestic terrorism in Westminster and throughout the English capital.
It’s only had one season, and can easily be binged in a couple of sittings. At least, that’s what I did. Madden excels in what feels like his first big role after leaving the world of Westeros and Game of Thrones in 2013, grappling with the war-scarred Budd’s enduring PTSD and corruption in modern Britain.
The Day of the Jackal
For fans of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and classic espionage thrillers, The Day of the Jackal is a methodical cat-and-mouse story built for the modern audience. The series follows a highly disciplined assassin, played by Oscar-winning actor (and perennial James Bond hopeful) Eddie Redmayne, and the intelligence officer, played by Lashana Lynch (Bond alumni), who is forced to travel around the world to relentlessly track him.
The show’s strength is in its constant, and unnerving rhythm, as it delves into themes of identity, a killer’s anonymity, and the personal cost of living undercover with, let’s face it, a relatively difficult job.
Viewers are pulled through sleek European filming locations, including London and Paris, which give the series a timeless espionage atmosphere – glossy, cold, and far-reaching. Also spot Redmayne’s Omega Railmaster, another revived classic that’s a real scene-stealer.
Slow Horses
Where every other show on this list could be considered classy takes on British dramas, Slow Horses offers something else entirely: a sharp, darkly comic take on British intelligence that champions Gary Oldman’s (another Oscar winner) incredibly cynical but surprisingly warm Jackson Lamb, who heads up a group of disgraced MI5 agents relegated to administrative exile.
The group repeatedly find themselves drawn into real national threats, even though they’ve largely been told to keep out of it, delivering a highly impressive series that balances biting humour with the kind of prestige storytelling that has come to define Apple TV+’s expanding catalogue.
With a robust and gritty character-driven tone, Slow Horses effortlessly dissects the bureaucracy within British surveillance and espionage against a grimy London backdrop, embracing a grounded, unglamorous vision of spy work that audiences haven’t ever really seen before.
Homeland
Before Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Succession, Better Call Saul, The White Lotus, Mad Men, Fargo, True Detective, and any other American all-timer drama series that I’ve invariably forgotten from this list (The Wire or The Sopranos), there was Homeland.
Premiering in 2011, the CIA thriller proved that mainstream television could become an event in the same way that audiences would queue around the block for a cinematic release. One where it felt like you had to make it into the office to talk about it the next day.
With international filming locations across the US, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, Homeland, for me, felt like a world permanently on edge, with global terrorism threats and shifting political landscapes accentuating the otherwise covert world of American counterterrorism. If you fancy a break from the British accent, then Homeland is one for you.
McMafia
Back to Blighty and we’re catching up with another James Bond hopeful, James Norton, who leads McMafia as a London-based banker drawn into the murky world of international organised crime.
It’s a slight departure from espionage, but that’s not to say this series offers anything less than slick, high-stakes drama unfolding through London and beyond.
Elegant but I would say slightly ominous in tone, McMafia looks at corruption and greed within an increasingly globalised world, where our protagonist’s moral compass is tested as personal loyalty collides with the brutal logic of international crime. With just one season to get into, this 2018 drama is a must-watch.
The Gentlemen
For fans of stylish British crime dramas with sharp dialogue, The Gentlemen takes Guy Ritchie’s cinematic world into the medium of television for the first time in his revered career. He always said he’d never do it, but later admitted that the process of making the TV adaptation was “worth exploring” 5 years after the release of his highly acclaimed movie of the same name.
While not a traditional spy thriller, Netflix’s series shares The Night Manager’s fascination with elite façades and a dirty criminal underbelly, all under a slick tone that is both irreverent and fast-talking, framed by Ritchie’s signature lens.
Special mention should also go to Mobland, another Ritchie TV tale that premiered last year with an all-star cast of Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren and Tom Hardy. It certainly makes for unbelievable viewing.
Black Doves
It’s nods all the way for Netflix in this list, apparently. Not by design, I should add, but the streaming service has been quietly killing it with original thriller series in recent years, with 2024’s Black Doves bringing a sense of emotional depth to our rankings.
Starring Keira Knightley in a rare television role, alongside Ben Whishaw, the series, set in contemporary London, follows covert operatives with divided loyalties who work against the British government in favour of the highest bidder. This unique approach is a revelation, blurring the lines of what audiences have come to expect from this well-trodden genre with devastating effect.
I remember watching this series in an entire weekend, and it’s well-worth your undivided attention.
Spooks
Now, I wouldn’t be able to publish this list without including the show that started this all for me. Spooks is without a doubt the single most important foundational British intelligence series and one of the storied genre’s most influential shows.
First premiering on the BBC in 2002, Spooks chronicles the professional and personal sacrifices of MI5 officers operating out of London, presenting espionage as a grinding, morally compromising line of work rather than a glamorous adventure that has since taken over the genre.
Its legacy can be felt in everything from Bodyguard to Slow Horses, establishing the template for the modern British spy drama that has since become one of the more defining genres of contemporary television series. For a nostalgic throwback and a chance to see Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen before he became a household name, sit down and binge the entire catalogue. You won’t regret it.
If you enjoyed this wrap-up of the best alternatives to The Night Manager, you might enjoy some of Boss Hunting’s other entertainment guides below:
- This Classic Spy Thriller Is Being Turned Into An All-Star BBC Drama Series
- ‘The White Lotus’ Season 4 Will Be Set In This Palatial Saint-Tropez Chateau
- ‘F1’ Director Joseph Kosinski On The Upside Of Streaming & Sequels Starring Tom Cruise
- ‘Landman’ Already Renewed For Season 3 At Paramount+
- Are You Still Watching? Soon You Won’t Have A Choice
