FanFare

Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service. Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn. Now the administration that created Monochrome has been ousted, the investigation is a total bust—and Griselda and Malcolm are stuck watching as their career prospects are washed away by the pounding London rain. Until the eve of Monochrome’s shuttering, when an MI5 case file appears without explanation. It is the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Berlin—an operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose cover-up has rewritten thirty years of Service history. [more inside]
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol on Sep 15, 2023 - 3 comments

In 1960 the French intelligence service hires 23-year-old André Merlaux, a handsome and intelligent, but impressionable man with much to learn. Au Service de la France is like a cocktail of James Bond, The Office and Mad Men if all three were transported to a French context and imbued with contemporary New Wave influences. First season appeared in 2014 and the second 2016. [more inside]
posted by rongorongo on Aug 29, 2023 - 8 comments

An unfulfilled suburban housewife is shocked to discover that her bland and unremarkable computer consultant husband is a skilled international spy.
posted by porpoise on Mar 9, 2023 - 14 comments

Kleo is a young, idealistic East German assassin who is burned and sent to prison by her own people. After the Berlin Wall falls she is released from prison along with all political prisoners. She sets out to get revenge (and maybe some answers) from the people who burned her. [more inside]
posted by under_petticoat_rule on Sep 2, 2022 - 17 comments

A governmental think-tank, whose remit is to curb the independence of the intelligence service, has lost one of its key members, and Claude Whelan—one-time head of MI5's Regent’s Park—is tasked with tracking her down. But the trail leads straight back to the Park itself, with Diana Taverner as chief suspect. Has Diana overplayed her hand at last? What’s her counterpart, Moscow’s First Desk, doing in London? And does Jackson Lamb know more than he’s telling? Over at Slough House, with Shirley Dander in rehab, Roddy Ho in dress rehearsal, and new recruit Ashley Khan turning up the heat, the slow horses are doing what they do best, and adding a little bit of chaos to an already unstable situation… [more inside]
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol on May 14, 2022 - 2 comments

Rewatch! A spy tries to stop the release of a dangerous flesh-eating bacterium. I don't think this was intended to be a spoof, although the title makes it seem like it must be one. This is the episode where Mike is taken to Space Court for blowing up all those planets. Notably, Patrick Brantseg takes over performing the big purple robot with this episode. It's also the first episode Mike directed! Previously.
posted by JHarris on Mar 31, 2022 - 2 comments

At Slough House, Brexit has taken a toll. The slow horses have been pushed further into the cold, Slough House has been erased from official records, and its members are dying in unusual circumstances, at an unusual clip. No wonder Jackson Lamb’s crew is feeling paranoid. But are they actually targets? With a new populist movement taking hold of London’s streets and the old order ensuring that everything’s for sale to the highest bidder, the world’s a dangerous place for those deemed surplus. Jackson Lamb and the slow horses are in a fight for their lives as they navigate dizzying layers of lies, power, and death.
posted by The corpse in the library on Feb 14, 2021 - 5 comments

John Bachelor is the saddest kind of spy: not a joe in the field, not even a desk jockey, but a milkman—a part-time pension administrator whose main job is to check in on aging retired spies. Late in his career and having lost his wife, his house, and his savings after a series of unlucky choices, John's been living in a dead man's London apartment, hoping the bureaucracy isn't going to catch up with him and leave him homeless. But keeping a secret among spies is a fool's errand, and now John has made himself eminently blackmailable.
posted by The corpse in the library on Jan 30, 2020 - 1 comment

London, England: Slough House is where the washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what's left of their failed careers. The "slow horses," as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated here. Maybe they messed up an op badly and can't be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they all have in common, though, is they all want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there─even if it means having to collaborate with one another. [more inside]
posted by The corpse in the library on Dec 6, 2019 - 11 comments

Based on John le Carré’s best-selling literary masterpiece of the same name and directed by visionary filmmaker Park Chan-wook, The Little Drummer Girl weaves a suspenseful and explosive story of espionage and high-stakes international intrigue. Set in the late 1970s, the pulsating thriller follows Charlie, a fiery actress and idealist whose resolve is tested after she meets the mysterious Becker while on holiday in Greece. It quickly becomes apparent that his intentions are not what they seem, and her encounter with him entangles her in a complex plot devised by the spy mastermind Kurtz. Charlie takes on the role of a lifetime as a double agent while remaining uncertain of her own loyalties. AMC [more inside]
posted by myotahapea on Jan 28, 2019 - 14 comments

This question refers specifically to the recent miniseries adaptation of the 1983 John le Carré novel of the same name. [more inside]
posted by myotahapea on Dec 19, 2018 - 5 comments

Stan, Renee, Philip, and Elizabeth have dinner, Brad and Alexei have kvass, Tatiana has a chat with Evgheniya, Oleg talks to his co-worker and does not talk to his parents, Sofia tells Aderholt and Beeman about her boyfriend, Pasha is dealing with a shitty situation at school, Philip and Elizabeth tie the knot, and there are new developments arising from Paige's relationship with Pastor Tim. [more inside]
posted by orange swan on May 9, 2017 - 32 comments

Thomas the Intern reveals his true allegiance.
posted by Small Dollar on Nov 21, 2014 - 1 comment

This BBC/Sundance production by Hugo Blick, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Andrew Buchan, Stephen Rea, and Lubna Azabal, is a critically-lauded eight episode series that's certain to appear prominently in next year's Emmy nominations. Reminiscent of le Carré, this is a story of duplicity, of familial and personal tragedy, and is set within the context of the Palestinian occupation and the diplomacy, politics, and espionage of the British, Israelis, and Americans. "It is a wonder we trust anyone at all." [more inside]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich on Sep 18, 2014 - 14 comments