Why is British espionage drama so in vogue?

If you’re a Paramount+ or Showtime subscriber, there’s a decent chance that you spent at least some of the Thanksgiving break watching the first two episodes of The Agency, the Michael Fassbender-fronted espionage drama that the company has invested a huge amount of money in. Based on the cult French series The Bureau, starring Matthieu Kassovitz, it’s a grim and self-consciously serious piece of drama, low on explosive shootouts and one-liners and high on tortured scenes of introspection, as Fassbender’s deep-cover operative, codename Martian, is brought in from the cold by his CIA superiors to their London outpost, only to realize that he has not been entirely honest as to a tortured romantic liaison that he went through in Africa.

Early indications (despite some lukewarm reviews) suggest that this will be another fascinating, rather than thrilling, study of what lying for a living does to one’s soul and psyche. Fassbender, who made a triumphant if under-heralded return to cinema last year in David Fincher’s The Killer, is one of the most magnetic actors working today and proves a compelling lead, just as the starry likes of Richard Gere, Jeffrey Wright and Katherine Waterston in support demonstrate that television, not cinema, is offering the best opportunities for the talented right now. Behind the scenes lurk the likes of George Clooney, Atonement director Joe Wright and the playwright-turned-screenwriter Jez Butterworth. In other words, this is serious, prestige television. But why is everyone so obsessed by spies at the moment?

Not only has Slow Horses, for my money the best thing on television since Succession, firmly established itself in the annals of the genre with four flawless seasons that effortlessly marry black comedy, tortuous (but blessedly comprehensible) plotting and explosive thrills, but we’re awash with the goings-on of spies at the moment. The Eddie Redmayne vehicle The Day of the Jackal is coming to its conclusion in two weeks, and the fact that a second series has been commissioned suggests that the show may well have changed the ending of the Frederick Forsyth novel that it’s based on. And this week, Netflix is launching its new series Black Doves, in which Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw leave classical drama behind in favor of a silly, explosive show that’s heavier on jokes than genuine spy craft.

The main reason why we’re getting all this British (or in the case of The Agency, London-set) shows is obvious. During last year’s SAG strike, projects that could be classed as non-US could carry on filming without the same restrictions, meaning that shows were fast-tracked into production and are suddenly all hitting screens at the same time. Some will do better than others; The Agency could run to several seasons if it emulates the success of its French counterpart, or could be orphaned after a single run, while Knightley’s recent absence from high-profile projects might mean that the novelty value of the one-time Lizzie Bennett engaging in balletic shootouts has been considerably reduced of late.

But why spies? Well, with the absence of James Bond from cinemas, and no clue as to when he’ll be returning — there’s a good chance that no new film will be out before 2026 at the earliest, making it a five-year absence from our screens — we’re clearly still just as in thrall to well-mannered — OK, not Slow Horses’s Jackson Lamb — and well-spoken British (or, in Fassbender’s case, Irish) operatives, licensed to kill or otherwise, as we’ve ever been. Redmayne’s Jackal may be an invincible murderous machine, able to drop politicians from thousands of meters away, but he’s also suave, elegantly dressed and, you concur, would know the best wine to serve with the perfect cut of meat or wish, right before he kills his target.

These A-list actors, whether they’re playing tortured, murderous, comic or all three at once, all manage to convey an ineffable sense of escapism for a few hours, and we can’t help be diverted by their espionage antics. We may not want to be on the receiving end of their attentions, but it’s hard not to be seduced, all the same.