Television series

Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler

Name: Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler
Genre: Drama, Action, Crime
Released: 2019
Cast: Jack Bannon, Ryan Fletcher, Dorothy Atkinson, Ben Aldridge, Emma Paetz

Gangster

A propulsive 1960s spy thriller that strips away Batman mythology to ask what made Alfred who he is. Jack Bannon's former SAS soldier reinvents himself as a fixer navigating Cold War intrigue, crime syndicates, and the fractured psyche of post-war Britain. It's *Mad Men* meets *The Man from U.N.C.L.E.*, less interested in comic-book canon than in character forging.

TVMaze rating

4.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like your period crime drama with a streak of blunt violence, a dry working-class wit, and a hero who is more competent than he lets on.

Skip it if you want a tidy, self-contained caper, because this is a sprawling, bloody story that leans on 1960s swagger and takes its time finding footing.

What it asks of you: Plan for roughly 55 minutes an episode across three seasons, with a slow-building plot that pays off patience more than constant attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.2015

Slick 1960s spy craft with style to burn, a similar aesthetic obsession with period detail, and the same pleasure in watching professionals outthink adversaries. Cavill and Armie Hammer have the charm Pennyworth brings to its leads.

But It prioritises cool surfaces over emotional depth. If you need character work first and espionage second, this might feel superficial.

The Americans2013

A Cold War thriller that treats spycraft as soul-destroying work. It shares Pennyworth's willingness to show how the job corrodes the people doing it, with performances that crack open the facade of professionalism.

But Slower burn than Pennyworth and genuinely bleak. No relief valve here—it's all pressure.

MINDHUNTER2017

FBI procedural that finds moral complexity in fractured men building new institutions. Like Pennyworth, it's about the cost of seeing things clearly, with writing that respects both the work and its human cost.

But Two seasons and incomplete. Structurally unsatisfying if you need closure, and deliberately understated in a way that can feel slow.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Prophet2009

Both track a young man's metamorphosis from relative innocence into someone capable of operating in a world of violence and deception. The engine is identical; the landscape is completely different.

A Corsican's rise through prison hierarchy in France—it's a *forging in fire* narrative where a man discovers capacity for violence and cunning he didn't know he possessed. Like Pennyworth, it's about transformation through necessity, but in an utterly different milieu and with the weight of European social realism.

But Subtitled, brutal in ways that feel real rather than cinematic, and morally ambiguous about its protagonist's rise. No moment of redemption softens the trajectory.

Kingsman: The Secret Service2015

A British spy film that luxuriates in tailoring, manners, and the idea that breeding matters. It has Pennyworth's visual stylishness and its fascination with how the British class system constructs identity.

But Shifts tone wildly—bounces between comedy, ultraviolence, and sincerity. If tonal consistency matters to you, it's a mess.

Broadchurch2013

British crime drama that excavates a small community's rot. It shares Pennyworth's interest in character psychology and the slow reveal that upstanding people harbour dark things. Brilliantly acted.

But Deeply depressing. No redemption arc, only ruin. And the third season undoes what made the first two essential.

Killing Eve2018

A cat-and-mouse game between a disaffected MI6 agent and a psychopath. Pennyworth fans will recognize the obsession with professional identity and the question of whether predators are made or born.

But The later seasons lose focus. Starts surgical, becomes scattered. And the protagonist's arc fractures the show's entire premise.

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold1965

A Cold War spy film from the exact era Pennyworth inhabits, grounded in tradecraft rather than heroics. It shows you where the aesthetic comes from and proves the period still stings.

But Dated in ways that feel dated rather than vintage. The pacing is glacial for modern tastes.

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold poster

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy2011

Gary Oldman's glacial mole-hunt through Cold War intelligence services, all quiet rooms and betrayal. Shares Pennyworth's conviction that spycraft is about reading people, not explosions.

But Deliberately obscure plotting. You will need subtitles and probably a chart. Not a film for passive watching.

Our Kind of Traitor2016

A contemporary spy thriller that touches the same themes of complicity and the grey zones between sides. Shows what happens when civilians brush against professional tradecraft.

But Competent but unmemorable. It doesn't stick because it doesn't trust its own material enough to go darker.

Godless2017

Like Pennyworth, it's interested in institution-building by outsiders, and in how people remake themselves when the old world has no place for them. Both are about sideways entry into power.

A Western miniseries where a town run by women hires a reluctant gunslinger. It's all about people building new systems in the margins of power, with the same visual precision and attention to how broken people create community.

But A Western, which will alienate people not interested in the genre. And it commits to the period aesthetic in ways that can feel precious.

The Newsroom2012

Both are built on the premise that watching smart, principled people do difficult work *is* entertainment. Character emerges through professional crisis, not domestic melodrama.

Aaron Sorkin's drama about running a cable news division in crisis. It shares Pennyworth's fascination with competent people under pressure, with beautiful dialogue as a form of characterization, and with the question of whether doing the right thing is possible inside a broken system.

But Deeply earnest and didactic. Sorkin's voice is everywhere, and if his rhythms annoy you, there's no escape. Also, his gender politics are dated in ways that sting.