Best tv shows like Cambridge Spies
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In 1934, four brilliant Cambridge men are recruited to spy for Russia. Fueled by youthful idealism, a passion for social justice and a talent for lying, they take huge personal risks to pass Britain's biggest secrets to Moscow. Based on true events.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 235 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, contemplative, tense, suspense, political, political thriller, period piece, period drama
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Best tv shows and movies like Cambridge Spies (2003):
Similar in 83%
Summer of Rockets (2019)
Plot Summary:
Samuel, a Russian-born Jewish inventor who specialises in the development of hearing aids, is tasked with a secret mission by MI5 to use his technological expertise to contribute to western Cold War efforts. Following the tensions of the space race and the first hydrogen bomb test, Samuel's efforts factor in to the emergence of the modern world.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing, period drama
Similar in 85%
Sleepers (1991)
Plot Summary:
Amidst the thaw of glasnost, the Kremlin discovers that two Soviet agents, sent to England under deep cover in 1965, have been "lost." A beautiful and ambitious Russian agent, sent to London to track them down, becomes embroiled in a tangle of CIA, KGB and MI-5 plots and counter-plots as the two lost agents, now utterly assimilated, try to avoid detection.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 450
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: black comedy, exciting, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, intercultural, inter cultural
Similar in 81%
The Trial of Christine Keeler (2019)
Plot Summary:
The minister, his mistress, and her lover the spy. The story of the woman at the centre of one of the 20th century's biggest scandals – which changed Britain forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 352 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, political, period drama, beautiful
Similar in 86%
HaMidrasha (2015)
Plot Summary:
Cadets from every level of Israeli society undergo intense training to join their country's elite, highly classified intelligence service, the Mossad. The series revolves around a secret Mossad compound called 'HaMidrasha', which is surrounded by surveillance cameras and is equipped with technological devices. The compound operates a training course in which 13 trainees are sent to complicated missions in order to test their suitability for the occupation, and their improvisation, seduction and impersonation abilities. Yonna, the commander of the course, criticizes the mediocrity of Mossad's agents and demands from the new trainees a higher level of execution. He decides to create a new training program to test his trainees via unusual and radical situations, in which, apart from excellence, Yonna demands a creative "out of the box" thinking.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 705
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
The Hour (2011)
Plot Summary:
A behind-the-scenes drama and espionage thriller in Cold War-era England that centers on a journalist, a producer, and an anchorman for an investigative news programme.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, stylized, historical drama, tense, political thriller, period drama
Similar in 80%
The Arrow (1997)
Plot Summary:
This series tells the story of the world's fastest fighter plane ever built, in 1950's Canada, and how the project was dropped due to political pressure from the United States.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 865
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Canada
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing
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Similar in 80%
Family of Spies (1990)
Plot Summary:
Fact based story of John A. Walker, Jr., a Navy Chief Warrant Officer with access to top secret cryptographic communications. As a result of mounting debts, he sold secrets to the Soviets in 1967, a practice that he continued thereafter. He further sought to involve his four children into the espionage until his wife caught onto his activities.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 298
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful
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Similar in 78%
Triple Agent (2004)
Plot Summary:
The Popular Front wins elections, the Spanish Civil War begins, and Hitler and Stalin are manipulating and spying. The brilliant exile, Fiodor Voronin, a general at 20, is the deputy at the White Russian Military Union, probably slated to replace the aging Général Dobrinsky soon. Fiodor's Greek wife, Arsinoé, paints and stays away from politics, befriending Communist neighbors. Her health declines; the attentive Fiodor arranges care and, against the backdrop of Stalin's Great Purge, considers his options. He plays a chess game in which love of country, love of Arsinoé, ideology, petty jealousies, and the machinations of power roil in matters of life and death.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspense, enigmatic, psychological
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Similar in 89%
Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983)
Plot Summary:
A dramatization of the missions and adventures of the greatest spy in British history.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 720 min
Plot tags: political thriller, tense, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, vintage, period drama
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Similar in 80%
Pascali's Island (1988)
Plot Summary:
1908: Pascali, a spy for the Sultan, sends reports to Istanbul that nobody reads. His suspicions are roused when a British archaeologist appears, who may not be quite what he seems.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, independent film, period drama
Similar in 90%
Mata Hari (2016)
Plot Summary:
A sex icon becomes a spy during one of the most important wars of the 20th century.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 495
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Russia, Portugal, Ukraine
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, emotional, disturbing, costume drama, beautiful
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Similar in 87%
Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story (2002)
Plot Summary:
Drama. TV Movie.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 428
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative
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Similar in 79%
The Assets (2014)
Plot Summary:
1985 serves as the backdrop to the final showdown of the Cold War when Sandy and her partner Jeanne Vertefeuille vowed to find the mole that would turn out to be the most notorious traitor in US History, Aldrich Ames. Sandy is in a race against time to save the Soviet intelligence officers from being caught and killed. Living her own double life at home, this beautiful wife and mother vowed to stop at nothing until she uncovered the truth.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, political
Similar in 76%
Show Me a Hero (2015)
Plot Summary:
Mayor Nick Wasicsko took office in 1987 during Yonkers' worst crisis when federal courts ordered public housing built in the white, middle class side of town, dividing the city in a bitter battle fueled by fear, racism, murder and politics.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 358 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, rough, thought provoking, captivating, political, realistic, social, saga, clever
Similar in 80%
The Politician's Husband (2013)
Plot Summary:
Aiden Hoynes is a senior cabinet minister who has always put his career before family, with the support of Freya, his devoted wife and mother to their two young children. But when Freya's own political career takes off and threatens to overshadow his, Aiden's life is thrown into chaos. As his political career comes to a standstill, and with his marriage turned upset down, Aiden takes increasing risks in his quest for power.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, tense, serious, political, psychological, clever, talky
Similar in 87%
Garrow's Law (2009)
Plot Summary:
The true tale of pioneering 18th century barrister William Garrow, who acted as counsel for the accused, introducing the concept of 'innocent until proved guilty' at London's Old Bailey.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, period piece, intellectual, dark, period drama
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Similar in 77%
Aristocrats (1999)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, Aristocrats draws back the curtain on an 18th century English family near the summit of society, revealing a tapestry of romance, prejudice, infidelity, and revolution.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK, Ireland, USA
Duration: 300 min
Plot tags: period piece, captivating, serious, historical drama, realistic, stylized, costume drama, romantic drama, historical romance, period drama
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Similar in 88%
The Hollow Crown (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Hollow Crown is a series of British television films featuring William Shakespeare's History Plays. The first Season is an adaptation of Shakespeare's second historical tetralogy, the Henriad: Richard II, Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II (treated as one film in two parts in the series) and Henry V. The Second Season is subtitled "The Wars of the Roses" as a reference to its scope. It is based on Shakespeare's first tetralogy: Henry VI: Part I, Henry VI: Part II, Henry VI: Part III (treated as two films in the series) and Richard III.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, historical drama, epic, stylized, harsh, costume drama, funny, political, anthology
Similar in 88%
TURN: Washington's Spies (2014)
Plot Summary:
The story of New York farmer, Abe Woodhull, who bands together with a group of childhood friends to form The Culper Ring, an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America’s fight for independence.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: period piece, serious, captivating, suspenseful, realistic, historical drama, tension, tense, political, costume drama
Similar in 75%
Sons of Liberty (2015)
Plot Summary:
The story of a group of very different men fighting in the American Colonies for freedom, and how they will shape the future for the United States of America.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 270 min
Plot tags: captivating, historical drama, exciting, serious, realistic, tense, suspenseful, political, period drama
Similar in 80%
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%
Endgame (2009)
Plot Summary:
The time is the late '80s, a crucial period in the history of South Africa. President P.W. Botha is hanging on to power by a thread as the African National Congress (ANC) takes up arms against apartheid and the country tumbles toward insurrection. A British mining concern is convinced that their interests would be better served in a stable South Africa and they quietly dispatch Michael Young, their head of public affairs, to open an unofficial dialogue between the bitter rivals. Assembling a reluctant yet brilliant team to pave the way to reconciliation by confronting obstacles that initially seem insurmountable, Young places his trust in ANC leader Thabo Mbeki and Afrikaner philosophy professor Willie Esterhuyse. It is their empathy that will ultimately serve as the catalyst for change by proving more powerful than the terrorist bombs that threaten to disrupt the peaceful dialogue.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK, South Africa
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: tense, sincere, serious, captivating, exciting, thought provoking, epic, realistic, political, contemplative
Similar in 79%
The Company (2007)
Plot Summary:
Real-life figures from the Cold War era mix with a fictional story based on a group of CIA operatives and their counterparts in the KGB, MI6, and the Mossad.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 286 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, epic, captivating, suspenseful, serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
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 79%
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
Similar in 82%
Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973)
Plot Summary:
The series is based on a true story of a Russian spy Colonel Isaev (Stirlitz) in Fascist Germany during 17 days in very end of WWII. Stirlitz has worked his way to the very top of the Fascist hierarchy without being caught. However, his "colleagues", top Hitler's officers Borman, Mueller, Schellenberg are beginning to suspect him. Stirlits is constantly walking on the edge between his two identities, sending information to Russia, while skillfully maintaining the appearance of loyalty to fascist regime.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 830 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, realistic, semi documentary
Similar in 76%
Wolf Hall (2015)
Plot Summary:
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the King dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope and most of Europe oppose him. Into this impass steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer, and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 360 min
Plot tags: historical drama, serious, captivating, period piece, costume drama, stylized, suspense, factual, political, educational
Similar in 83%
Colonel Redl (1985)
Plot Summary:
Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of the rise and fall of Alfred Redl, an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to become head of the Secret Police only to become ensnared in political deception.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, West Germany
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: political, clever, serious, realistic, witty, cynical, biting, suspense, period drama, queer cinema
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Similar in 88%
The Good Shepherd (2006)
Plot Summary:
Edward Wilson, the only witness to his father's suicide and member of the Skull and Bones Society while a student at Yale, is a morally upright young man who values honor and discretion, qualities that help him to be recruited for a career in the newly founded OSS. His dedication to his work does not come without a price though, leading him to sacrifice his ideals and eventually his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 107000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 167 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, suspense, political, factual, serious, suspenseful, rough, political thriller, emotional