Best tv shows like Callan
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Callan is the title of a British television series set in the murky world of espionage. Originally produced by ABC Weekend Television and later Thames Television, it was aired on the ITV network over four seasons spread out between 1967 and 1972. The series starred Edward Woodward as David Callan, a reluctant professional killer for a shadowy branch of the British Government's intelligence services known as 'the Section'.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 835
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: neo noir
Best tv shows and movies like Callan (1967):
Similar in 90%
The New Avengers (1976)
Plot Summary:
The New Avengers is a British secret agent fantasy adventure television series produced during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s series, The Avengers and was developed by original series producers Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens. The series was produced by The Avengers Enterprises Ltd for the ITV network, cost £125,000 per episode to produce at Pinewood Studios in England and was seen in 120 countries. A joint United Kingdom-France-Canada production, the series picks up the adventures of John Steed as he and his team of "Avengers" fight evil plots and world domination. Whereas in the original series Steed had almost always been partnered with a woman, in the new series he had two partners: Mike Gambit, a top agent, crack marksman and trained martial artist, and Purdey, a former trainee with The Royal Ballet who was an amalgam of many of the best talents from Steed's female partners in The Avengers.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, UK, Canada
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: hilarious, parody, spoof, vintage, eurospy
Similar in 88%
Department S (1969)
Plot Summary:
Department S is a United Kingdom spy-fi adventure series produced by ITC Entertainment. The series consists of 28 episodes which originally aired in 1969–1970. It starred Peter Wyngarde as author Jason King, Joel Fabiani as Stewart Sullivan, and Rosemary Nicols as computer expert Annabelle Hurst. The trio were agents for a fictional special department of Interpol. The head of Department S was Sir Curtis Seretse.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 566
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective
Similar in 81%
Kleo (2022)
Plot Summary:
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a former spy killer is set free and embarks on a revenge spree against the people who conspired to betray her.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Germany
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: mysterious, historical drama
Similar in 88%
The Endless Game (1989)
Plot Summary:
A British agent comes back from retirement after several of his former colleagues, including his former lover, are murdered. He must examine events from his own past to determine who killed them and why.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 210
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Shadow Lines (2019)
Plot Summary:
During the 1950s, Helsinki was the focal point of the Cold War, as global powers and their intelligence agencies coalesced in the small neutral country that stood between the East and the West. Shadow Lines is an international spy thriller that follows a secret intelligence team whose mission is to defend the independence of Finland no matter the cost.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 687
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Finland
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: political, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, political thriller, historical drama
Similar in 81%
It Takes a Thief (1968)
Plot Summary:
It Takes a Thief is an American action-adventure television series that aired on ABC for two and a half seasons between January 9, 1968, and March 24, 1970. It starred veteran movie actor Robert Wagner in his television debut as sophisticated thief Alexander Mundy, who works for the U.S. government in return for his release from prison. For most of the series, Malachi Throne played Noah Bain, Mundy's boss. It was among the last of the 1960s spy television genre, although Mission: Impossible continued for several years. It Takes A Thief was inspired by, though not based upon, the 1955 Cary Grant motion picture To Catch a Thief, directed by Alfred Hitchcock; both of their titles stem from the English proverb "It takes a thief to catch a thief.".
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 51 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, vintage
Similar in 80%
Callan (1974)
Plot Summary:
David Callan, secret agent, is called back to the service after his retirement, to handle the assasination of a german businessman, but Callan refuses to co-operate until he finds out why this man is marked for death.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 826
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: political thriller, surprise ending, neo noir, suspense, ambiguous ending, independent film, black comedy, freeze frame, dark comedy, poliziottesco
Similar in 79%
Edge of Darkness (1985)
Plot Summary:
The mysterious murder of an environmental activist leads her straight-laced father, an Inspector of the local police force, through a haunting revelation of the murkiness of the British Nuclear Policy of the eighties.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 307 min
Plot tags: detective, political, political thriller, cult classic, tense, mind bending, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 79%
The Avengers (1961)
Plot Summary:
The Avengers is a British television series created in the 1960s. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed. Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants. Steed's most famous assistants were intelligent, stylish and assertive women: Cathy Gale, Emma Peel, and later Tara King. Later episodes increasingly incorporated elements of science fiction and fantasy, parody and British eccentricity.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sitcom, retro, exciting, offbeat, humorous, witty, semi serious, fast, black comedy, vintage
Similar in 90%
Man in a Suitcase (1967)
Plot Summary:
Man in a Suitcase is a 1967–1968 British television series produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. It originally aired in the United Kingdom on ITV from 27 September 1967, to 17 April 1968. ABC broadcast episodes of Man in a Suitcase in the United States from 3 May 1968, to 20 September 1968.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 445
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, neo noir, eurospy, cult film
Similar in 78%
Stingray (1986)
Plot Summary:
Stingray is an NBC television series produced by Stephen J. Cannell that ran from 1985 to 1987. It stars Nick Mancuso, who plays the mysterious character known only as Ray, whose trademark is a black 1965 Corvette Sting Ray.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 882
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: detective, neo noir
Similar in 82%
Collateral (2018)
Plot Summary:
When a pizza delivery driver is shot dead in south London, a tenacious detective goes after the people traffickers behind his murder and unravels a conspiracy that goes to the top.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 230 min
Plot tags: detective, tense, captivating, suspenseful, enigmatic, melancholic, avant garde, political, crime drama, action adventure
Similar in 85%
Spy City (2020)
Plot Summary:
After a defector is murdered, British agent Fielding Scott is assigned to track down a mole in his own ranks in 1961 Berlin. His investigation leads him into a deadly web of crime, betrayal and paranoia. Who can Scott trust in the city of spies?.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, thrilling
Similar in 88%
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1996)
Plot Summary:
Two globetrotting private eyes with diferente styles team up, guarding their true identities at all costs from the bad guys‒and from each other.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 696
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime, Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious
Similar in 89%
The Liquidator (1965)
Plot Summary:
Spy spoof about Boysie Oakes, a British secret agent who specialises in Liquidating. In actual fact he contracts out the work and pretends it is was himself. This leads to complications.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: eurospy
Similar in 85%
The Saint (1962)
Plot Summary:
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character Simon Templar, played by Roger Moore as a suave and sophisticated Robin Hood-like adventurer. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the initial letters of his name are also an abbreviation for the word saint. When taking on an American persona, he would often use the name Sebastian Tombs. As a result of the strong performance in the US of the first two black-and-white series in first-run syndication, NBC picked up the show as a summer replacement in its evening schedule in 1966. The programme therefore ended its run with both trans-Atlantic prime time scheduling and colour episodes. It also proved popular beyond the UK and US, eventually airing in over 60 countries, and made a profit in excess of £350m for ITC. With almost 120 episodes, the programme is exceeded only by The Avengers as the most productive show of its genre produced in the UK.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: detective, serious, realistic, vintage, cult film
Similar in 90%
London Spy (2015)
Plot Summary:
A romance between an MI6 code genius and an ordinary man promises happiness. But tragedy strikes when the spy dies in suspicious circumstances, forcing his lover to pursue the truth behind his death.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, tense, serious, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, psychological thriller, cute, spooky, gay cinema
Similar in 79%
The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
Plot Summary:
Two British agents are murdered by a mysterious Neonazi organization in West Berlin. The British Secret Service sends agent Quiller to investigate. Soon Quiller is confronted with Neonazi chief "Oktober" and involved in a dangerous game where each side tries to find out the enemy's headquarters at any price.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: neo noir, political thriller, independent film, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, eurospy
Similar in 84%
State of Play (2003)
Plot Summary:
A thriller set in London, in which a politician's life becomes increasingly complex as his research assistant is found dead on the London Underground and, in a seemingly unrelated incident, a teenage pickpocket is shot dead.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 312 min
Plot tags: political thriller, political, realistic, tense, suspense, atmospheric, talky, serious, clever, twist ending
Similar in 90%
Secret State (2012)
Plot Summary:
A four-part conspiracy theory drama inspired by Chris Mullen's novel "A Very British Coup". When a devastating industrial accident results in deaths and raises safety questions about the US petrochemical company involved, PM Tom Dawkins becomes aware of an establishment cover up.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, clever, realistic, political, political thriller, political drama
Similar in 77%
The Veil (2021)
Plot Summary:
Han Ji-hyuk, an NIS agent gone MIA, returns after one year to join a new team as he searches for his lost past.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 84%
The Equalizer (1985)
Plot Summary:
The Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It stars Edward Woodward as a middle aged retired intelligence officer with a mysterious past who helps people in trouble. The show mixes ingredients from popular spy films and private investigator shows with violent realism. A film adaptation starring Denzel Washington was released in 2014.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, detective, neo noir
Similar in 85%
The Shadow Line (2011)
Plot Summary:
A noir thriller with diverse individuals whose worlds become interwoven after the murder of drug baron Harvey Wratten. From the cop with a bullet in his brain, whose amnesia leaves him doubtful of his own moral compass; to the drug-lord driven by a profound personal tragedy, risking it all on one last deal; to the brilliantly lethal puppet-master who gradually emerges from the shadows to bring the story to its shocking climax The Shadow Line explores the morality of these characters as they negotiate the repercussions of Wratten's death and attempt to navigate the fine line between right and wrong. As the thread around Wratten's operation begins to unravel, the web of intrigue becomes more complex and the question of which side of the line they stand on becomes increasingly blurred. An intelligent and gripping conspiracy thriller that delves to the heart of human morality, The Shadow Line will have audiences enthralled over six taut and thrilling episodes. Faced with similar dilemmas, on which side of the line would you stand?.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, atmospheric, detective, rough, suspenseful, stylized, tense, captivating, realistic, crime drama
Similar in 75%
The Blacklist (2013)
Plot Summary:
Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 274000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, serious, captivating, clever, detective, disturbing, realistic, intellectual, political
Similar in 80%
Rubicon (2010)
Plot Summary:
Rubicon is an American television series that centers on an intelligence analyst at a national think tank in New York City called the American Policy Institute, who discovers that he may be working with members of a secret society that manipulates world events on a grand scale.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, atmospheric, suspenseful, political, cliffhanger, mysterious, dramatic, intelligent, spooky
Similar in 88%
Smiley's People (1982)
Plot Summary:
Called out of retirement to settle the affairs of a friend, Smiley finds his old organization, the Circus, so overwhelmed by political considerations that it doesn't want to know what happened. He begins to follow up the clues of his friends past days, discovering that the clues lead to a high person in the Russian Secret service, and a secret important enough to kill for. Smiley continues to put together the pieces a step ahead or a step behind the Russian killers.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychological, tense, road movie, atmospheric, sexy, thought provoking, clever
Similar in 89%
The Game (2014)
Plot Summary:
London 1972. When a defecting KGB officer, Arkady Malinov, reveals Operation Glass, a devastating Soviet plot that could change the course of the Cold War, Daddy, the head of MI5, assembles a secret team to investigate. As the Soviets awaken a list of sleeper agents all over Britain, Daddy's team must move swiftly to gain information about the plot.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 59 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, suspenseful, tense, clever, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 83%
The Night Manager (2016)
Plot Summary:
Former British soldier Jonathan Pine navigates the shadowy recesses of Whitehall and Washington where an unholy alliance operates between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade. To infiltrate the inner circle of lethal arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper, Pine must himself become a criminal.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 100000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 358 min
Plot tags: serious, suspense, tense, tricky, realistic, suspenseful, political, neo noir, atmospheric, intellectual
Similar in 85%
The Americans (2013)
Plot Summary:
Set during the Cold War period in the 1980s, The Americans is the story of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two Soviet KGB officers posing as an American married couple in the suburbs of Washington D.C. and their neighbor, Stan Beeman, an FBI Counterintelligence agent.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 109000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, captivating, atmospheric, suspenseful, dramatic, sexy, neo noir, political, dark
Similar in 87%
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)
Plot Summary:
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6's echelons.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 290 min
Plot tags: clever, talky, serious, political thriller, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative, tense, atmospheric, thought provoking