Secret Service (2026) – Superb
Genre: Spy Thriller
Platform: Amazon Prime – paid (thru BBC Player)
Time: 5 episodes x average 45 minutes
Cast: Gemma Arterton (Kate Henderson). Rafe Spall (Stuart Henderson). Alex Kingston (Rose Trewen). Galaxie Clear (Fiona Henderson). Avi Nash (Ravindra “Rav” Sangvhi). Mark Stanley (Ryan Walker, MP and Foreign Secretary). Alexander Terentyev (Sergei Malinski, SVR operative).
Plot: Kate Henderson is an SIS officer tasked with surveillance of a Russian Oligarch Mikhail Borodin who finances SVR operations. Kate persuades Lena, Borodin’s nanny to bug Borodin’s yatch in Malta, in exchange for political asylum for her and her brother. She and her colleague Avi hear Borodin and SVR officer Sergei. discuss the upcoming resignation of the Prime Minister due to health reasons. When the PM’s resignation resignation is announced, the duo are sure that there is a high level Mole in the Cabinet or somewhere in the higher offices of the Government…
Right from the word go, the series is superb and taut, with hardly any time wasted on establishing the characters. She is an MI6 officer and that means that half the time she cant talk about her job at home, except to her husband, who works with the Home Secretary and is aware what she is doing. The leak clearly points out that there is a high level mole and it is this high level mole hunt that takes up most of the time. The obvious candidate is the ambitious shit of a Foreign Secretary who is hardly modest and is clearly arrogant about his plan to move to No.10 Downing Street, health issues of the earlier PM be damned and uses every dirty trick in the book to foil the chances of the other incumbents for the PM’s post. So like anyone investigating the higher ups, Kate has to tread very carefully.
The mechanics of the investigation along with the “I don’t care a damn” behavior of the Foreign Secretary point him out as the obvious suspect. The inconclusive final shot shows he still may or may not be the SVR mole.
Unfortunately the Series has couple of cliched stereotypes and anyone who watches films or TV series with a female protagonist knows that the lead character will have “family problems” , usually meaning a rebellious teenaged daughter. I do not know why this stupid trope is being repeated in series after series so much that we can predict how the daughter will ‘go straight’ once she hears what her mother is doing for a living – in this case defending Queen and Country. Naturally the mother says “its not James Bond and I rarely carry a gun” and so on. Again, naturally, when we learn the identity of the Mole, we are really surprised how that turned out to be.
International locations add to the overall stylish look of the TV series . Hopefully Kate Henderson will return as she is based on a book trilogy written by writer Tom Bradby who has a cameo as a TV presenter , discussing the shenanigans of the Cabinet.
This is as taut as they come and even allowing for the cliched “family life’, couple of chases and one scene of gunplay, it is still a superb absorbing series and at 5 episodes , hardly takes up one’s time.
Highly recommended.
Script – 5 out of 5
Story – 4 out of 5
Direction – 5 out of 5
Photography – 4 out of 5
Total – 4.5 out of 5
Very entertaining series. The thinking man’s spy film, makes James Bond movies laughable. The fact that it’s only 5 episodes is the plus point, no unnecessary ‘watering down the milk’ but it’s also its negative point in that it keeps us wanting more. Maybe that’s a plus too.
Sanjay
Thanks. Since the Kate Henderson book is a trilogy. and this was only the first one, I am sure that two more series would be possible or in planning stages. There is lot of online speculation – exactly along the lines I have mentioned that since its a trilogy, two more seasons are possible.
KVR
To me, the absolute number one feature of this series is neither Gemma nor the very cerebral story (spycraft as it is), but the gorgeous locations in Malta. Makes you wish you were there. Add to that, glimpses of Finland and Geneva.
I have a BBC Player subscription. Adding this to my watchlist! Thank you for the detailed review. You have a knack for revealing just enough of the plot/story to interest people. Some reviewers give away the whole thing and others are so cagey and distances that you get nothing out of the review. :D
Hi
Thanks for the heads up. It is almost impossible to write a view of this series without giving away the main plot ingredient. Nice to know I have done that :)
I suspect Kate Henderson will be back for two more seasons as Tom Bradby wrote a trilogy with the same character which I read in reverse order – just for the heck of it ! I read Triple Cross (2021), then Double Agent (2020) and finally Secret Service (2019). In no way was the overall experience any less . Let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best with Mrs Henderson and her further adventures.
On which I am something of an Anglophile – meaning that while American Serials and Movies are huge because of huge budgets., the British don’t seem to have lost the art of making tightly written spy movies and serials . That in itself is an education in good writing.
Regards
KVR
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!