We begin in a pub, with Fairytale of New York playing. But soon, three brisk, businesslike killings puncture the mood: this espionage thriller won’t be observing festive niceties. Keira Knightley is enigmatic as Helen, a member of shady information-traders Black Doves.
Helen has mixed business with pleasure to a dangerous degree and Ben Whishaw ’s troubled assassin Sam has been sent to dig her out of a hole. However, Helen is married to a high-flying politician and, perhaps inevitably, is stealing state secrets – and it soon becomes clear that an apparently localised story has geopolitical ramifications. Never exactly shy of genre cliches but pacy, slick and nasty all the same.
Netflix, from Thursday 5 December The shadow of Slow Horses lingers over all new spy dramas. But this is a very different beast – earnest and serious. It’s not without its merits, though, offering a new angle on a well-mined seam.
The Agency of the title specialises in recruiting and training spies before deployment. Michael Fassbender is “Martian”, a jaded but expert operative, back in London and struggling to leave a tricky personal situation behind in Khartoum. Meanwhile, the cold war is back with Belarus proving a particular troublesome spot.
There’s plenty of exposition to get through initially, but it’s just about worth it. Paramount+, from Saturday 30 November Jacqueline Wilson’s novel – itself inspired by E Nesbit’s children’s classic – gets another adaptation. And n.
