Television series
SS-GB
- Police procedural
- Drama
- Very dark
SS-GB imagines a world where Nazi Germany won the Battle of Britain and occupied Britain in 1941. It follows a detective navigating London's brutal new order, trying to survive and resist. A taut, grimy alternate-history thriller with real stakes and moral complexity. It's for anyone who likes intricate espionage and the particular horror of occupying forces.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like alternate-history thrillers built on a detective's moral compromise, where the period texture of occupied London does as much work as the plot.
Skip it if you want a fast, action-led war series; this is a slow, sombre piece where dread builds through conversation and compromise rather than set-piece battles.
What it asks of you: Five hour-long episodes that take their time, asking you to follow dense conversations, shifting loyalties and a case that unfolds quietly rather than in bursts.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Spy2019
Sacha Baron Cohen plays a Mossad agent infiltrating Arab states in the 1960s. Tense, meticulously detailed spy work with enormous emotional weight and a superb lead performance that'll surprise you.
But The political context is weighty and potentially divisive, and Cohen's trademark comedy is nowhere to be found here.

Slow Horses2022
Gary Oldman leads MI5 misfits in a cat-and-mouse game with Russian spies. Wickedly smart, darkly funny, with intricate plotting and characters you genuinely care about. Modern espionage at its best.
But Seven seasons means a real commitment, and some arcs stretch longer than they need to.

The Americans2013
Two KGB officers pose as an American couple during the Cold War. Suffocating tension, brilliant acting, and it asks whether you can love someone and still betray them. Absolutely gripping.
But It's relentlessly bleak and some plot decisions in later seasons divide viewers sharply.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from SS-GB
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
A Woman in Berlin2008
Both center on civilians in occupied territory navigating an incomprehensible new order. Where SS-GB is a thriller, this is a testament to endurance and the cost of survival.
A Berlin woman's diary during the Soviet occupation of Germany in 1945. Unflinching about sexual violence and survival, visually raw, and told from the perspective most war films ignore. Profound and necessary.
But The subject matter is explicitly traumatic; it doesn't soften anything for comfort.

More like this (8)
Okkupert2015
A timely Norwegian series: Russia occupies Norway. Brilliant political thriller that explores complicity, resistance and collaboration with real nuance and a brisk pace.
But It's subtitled, and the middle season loses some momentum.

Das Boot2018
A German submarine during WWII. Claustrophobic, violent, and morally complex—it humanizes the crew without excusing anything. Superb production and craft.
But Subtitled, and extremely dark; some found the later seasons less compelling than the first.

Foyle's War2002
A detective solves crimes on the British home front during WWII. Intelligent mysteries with strong character work, and it captures wartime Britain with real affection alongside the darkness.
But It can feel cosy at times, which might feel at odds with the subject matter.

The Man in the High Castle2015
Alternate history: the Axis won WWII and split America. Visually stunning, it captures the paranoia of occupation and the small acts of resistance with real power.
But Slow pacing and some narrative wheels spin without moving the story forward meaningfully.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy2011
Gary Oldman hunts a Soviet mole in the Cold War intelligence services. Glacially paced, gorgeously composed, and whisper-quiet—a thinking person's spy film.
But It demands focus and patience; there's no action and the plot unfolds almost invisibly.

The Lives of Others2006
East Germany, 1984: a Stasi agent surveils a playwright and slowly questions the regime. Morally intricate, quietly devastating, and one of the finest films about surveillance and conscience ever made.
But It moves at a measured pace and some find the political specificity too distant.

Love Me If You Dare2003
Both examine ordinary people compromising their principles under pressure—internal pressure here instead of external, but the same erosion of self.
Two children make a pact to hurt each other that spans decades. Visually inventive, darkly playful, and explores complicity and moral rot with a lightness that makes it sting more. A formally daring film.
But The tone is ornery and the central premise is cruel; it's not interested in making anyone feel good.

Le Trou1960
Like SS-GB, it's obsessed with how people navigate systems designed to control them, and whether escape—physical or moral—is actually possible.
Prisoners plan an escape from a French jail with documentary-like precision. Lean, tense, and filmed with near-silent intensity. An almost-forgotten masterpiece about loyalty and the will to survive.
But Subtitled, monochrome, and formally austere; it requires patience and offers no sentimentality.

People
Cast
Directing
- Annette Krutzik-KadelbachAssistant Director
Production
- Lee MorrisExecutive Producer
- Lucy RicherExecutive Producer
- Neal PurvisExecutive Producer
- Robert WadeExecutive Producer
- Sally Woodward GentleExecutive Producer
- Charlotte BloxhamLine Producer
- Patrick SchweitzerProducer