Television series

The Assassin

Other titles called The Assassin: the 2015 film.

A retired assassin on a Greek island is ambushed by her estranged son's arrival and questions about his paternity, only to have her violent past explode into their lives. They flee together, forced into an uneasy alliance while a darker conspiracy closes in. It's a high-stakes thriller that trades on family dysfunction and action beats, anchored by two characters who can't quite trust each other—or themselves.

TVMaze rating3.3

If you liked this

The Fall2013

Stella Gibson hunts a serial killer across Belfast in taut, character-driven procedural drama. Gillian Anderson is electric, and the cat-and-mouse game has genuine psychological weight beneath the crime-show structure.

But It's slower than you might expect, and the killer's perspective sometimes tips into uncomfortable territory. Not an action thriller in the traditional sense.

The Fall poster

Slow Horses2022

Misfits in a British intelligence unit untangle a kidnapping with razor-sharp writing and a cast playing well below their Hollywood ceilings. Each episode tightens the knot. Gary Oldman is worth the price alone.

But The first two episodes are setup-heavy, and if you're not into the procedural puzzle, the pacing will feel oblique.

Slow Horses poster

Killing Eve2018

A brilliant MI6 agent obsesses over a psychopathic assassin she's hunting. The show flips between them both, finding dark humour in their twisted connection. It's stylish, violent, and genuinely unpredictable for two seasons.

But Quality drops significantly after season two. Some viewers find the protagonist's attraction to the villain hard to swallow.

Killing Eve poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Assassin

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Fleabag2016

Both centre on a mother-child relationship fractured beyond easy repair, where violence (literal or emotional) lurks beneath every conversation and neither party knows how to bridge the gap.

A London mess of a woman breaks the fourth wall and tells you everything she's thinking while her family implodes around her. It's hilarious and then devastatingly human. Season two is about family estrangement and shame with the lightness of a touch that shouldn't work but does.

But The comedy registers first; if you're not laughing, the emotional core won't catch you. Also only six episodes per season, so it ends just as you're settled.

Fleabag poster
More like this (8)

Bodyguard2018

A trauma-haunted soldier assigned to protect a politician he despises. Six episodes of escalating tension, real stakes, and a twist that lands. British television at its most gripping and lean.

But It's relentlessly bleak and the ending divides people sharply. Some find it nihilistic rather than cathartic.

Bodyguard poster

Le Bureau des Légendes2015

French intelligence officers navigate espionage, double-crossing, and moral compromise. It's meticulous, atmospheric, and treats its spies as flawed people rather than action heroes. Absolutely absorbing.

But Subtitles and a non-American setting put some off. It's also slow-burn; if you need explosions every ten minutes, keep walking.

Le Bureau des Légendes poster

Damages2007

A morally gray lawyer and her protégé chase a con artist across decades and continents. Glenn Close is predatory, the plotting is intricate, and it understands that good people do terrible things.

But The fractured timeline can be confusing, and it gets increasingly convoluted. The final season loses the thread.

Damages poster

The Americans2013

Two Soviet KGB officers pose as an American couple during the Cold War. It's about performance, paranoia, and love under impossible pressure. Some of television's finest acting and moral complexity.

But The early episodes are slow, and if you need clarity or heroes, you'll be uncomfortable. Many find it relentlessly grim.

The Americans poster

Homeland2011

A bipolar CIA officer becomes convinced a freed POW is a sleeper agent. The first season is a masterclass in paranoia and tension, with twists that actually earn themselves. Addictive.

But It deteriorates sharply after season three. The premise can only sustain so much repetition before it exhausts itself.

Homeland poster

The China Syndrome1979

A journalist and a whistleblower uncover corruption at a nuclear power plant. It's a tight, intelligent thriller with real stakes and a cast—Michael Douglas, Jane Fonda—doing their best work.

But It's a 1970s procedural, so pacing is deliberate. If you need constant momentum, it will feel slow.

The China Syndrome poster

The Long Good Friday1980

Like The Assassin, it's about a powerful figure whose past catches up with them in a single compressed timeframe, forcing them to move and adapt while losing control of the narrative.

A London crime boss's Easter weekend unravels as his empire faces an unknown threat he can't see. Bob Hoskins is magnetic and terrifying by turns. It's a masterpiece of escalating paranoia and atmosphere, shot in mist and rain.

But It's very British, very 1980, and the ending is ambiguous in a way that infuriates some viewers. Slow-burn doesn't begin to describe it.

The Long Good Friday poster

Orphans1987

Both are about fractured families forced into proximity by circumstance, where violence is the only language they know and tenderness keeps breaking through in uncomfortable moments.

Liam Neeson, Alan Cumming, and Stephen Rea are three damaged Glasgow brothers who kidnap an old man on a whim. A pitch-black dark comedy that spirals into something genuinely tragic. It's unsparing and alive in ways mainstream thrillers never are.

But It's ugly, strange, and deliberately unglamorous. No heroes, no redemption arc. Some find it gratuitously bleak and Scottish kitchen-sink realism isn't for everyone.

Orphans poster

People

Cast

Writing

Production