Best tv shows like The State Within
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Ambassador to Washington is the pinnacle of success in the Foreign Office and the position is offered to only the brightest and the best. But Ambassador Mark Brydon finds his skills tested to the limits when, following a major diplomatic incident, he is thrust into a web of tangled relationships and conflicting interests. In a world of high stakes, where manipulation of information means ultimate power, the question is: who can he trust?.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK
Duration: 360 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, political, tense, political thriller
Best tv shows and movies like The State Within (2006):
Similar in 78%
Varg Veum - Buried Dogs (2008)
Plot Summary:
Racial tension is running high in Bergen after a young black asylum seeker dies at the hands of the Police. Shortly afterwards, a right-wing politician is targeted by a gunman at a public rally and his wife is fatally wounded. Another member of the right-wing party, Marit Holm, approaches private investigator Varg Veum, insisting she is being stalked.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, realistic, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 75%
Windmills of the Gods (1988)
Plot Summary:
When Mary Ashley is approached to become ambassador of the United States of America in Romania she does not take the offer because her husband does not want to give up his well-going doctor's office. Shortly afterward Dr. Edward Ashley gets killed in a car accident. After this Mary Ashley reconsiders the offer and finally accepts. Arrived in Romania she is confronted with a complex plot in which the American President's current plans to improve relations between the US and communist countries shall be sabotaged.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 407
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 187 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 75%
Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy (2012)
Plot Summary:
A chronicle of the 1969 bombing at a major national bank in Milan and its aftermath.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, bleak, political, sincere, controversial
Similar in 76%
Informer (2018)
Plot Summary:
Raza, a young second-generation British-Pakistani man from London is coerced by Gabe, a counterterrorism officer, into informing.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, serious, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 83%
Blue Eyes (2014)
Plot Summary:
High adrenaline Swedish political thriller from the creative talent behind Humans – An extreme right-wing party is heading towards its best election result when the chief of staff at the Justice Department disappears without a trace. Racism, immigration and nationalism are explored in this series praised by New York Times.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, serious, suspenseful, political, detective, crime drama
Similar in 80%
The Grid (2004)
Plot Summary:
A team of American and British counter-terrorists are tasked with stopping a terrorist cell who's operating on a global level.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 817
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Duration: 266 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 86%
E-Ring (2005)
Plot Summary:
E-Ring is an American television military drama, created by Ken Robinson and David McKenna and executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, that premiered on NBC on September 21, 2005. The title of the show refers to the structure of The Pentagon, which is configured in five concentric rings, from "A" to "E", with E being the outermost ring. Before any military action can be taken anywhere in the world the mission must be planned and approved by the most important ring of the Pentagon, the E-ring. This is where the more high-profile work is done, all operations must be legally approved and the green light given by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The show starred Benjamin Bratt as Major James Tisnewski, a former Delta Force operator and Dennis Hopper as Colonel Eli McNulty, as officers working in the E-ring of the Pentagon in the Special Operations Division – planning and co-ordinating covert US special operations actions around the globe. The show struggled from the onset because it was up against ABC's Top 20 hit Lost, CBS's Top 30 hit Criminal Minds, FOX's Top 10 hit American Idol and the network's Top 30 hit Unan1mous. Although NBC gave it an earlier time slot which led to better ratings, the show was pulled from the lineup during the February sweeps and officially canceled at the NBC Upfront on May 15.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: rough, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing, serious, realistic
Similar in 89%
Homeland Security (2004)
Plot Summary:
Admiral McKee (Tom Skerritt) is retired, when following the events of 9/11 he receives a call from the White House informing him that his commander in chief requires him to serve his country once again. Shortly after this he is sworn into office as a senior member of the Office of Homeland Security under Tom Ridge. Once in office Admiral McKee faces the challenge of organising this new office so as to prevent further terrorist attacks against the United States. With this in mind Admiral McKee's wife, Elise Mckee, recommends he speaks to his friend, NSA Agent Sol Binder.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 449
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic
Similar in 80%
XIII: The Series (2011)
Plot Summary:
After a plot to kill the president of the USA an agent with lost memories tries to recover his life and memories. Others use him to cover up some dirty business involving high ranking officials from the CIA and the White House.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, France
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: serious, exciting, suspenseful, realistic, tense, fast
Similar in 83%
Death of a President (2006)
Plot Summary:
A fictional investigative documentary looks back on the "assassination" of George W. Bush and attempts to answer the question of who committed the murder. Perhaps less morbid and disturbing to watch now than during Bush's presidency, the film doesn't address Bush's policies at all, instead focusing on the way a nation assigns blame in a time of crisis.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: controversial, mockumentary, satirical, stylized, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, political, rough, bleak
Similar in 83%
State of Affairs (2014)
Plot Summary:
Each day the President is faced with dozens of life and death decisions, and to prioritize the biggest international crises facing the country, one top CIA analyst - Charleston Tucker - assembles the President's Daily Briefing. This list of the most vital security issues facing the nation brings with it moral and political judgment calls for Charleston and her trusted group of brilliant analysts at the agency. Aside from the political minefields she has to walk, Charlie has a close personal relationship with the President because she was once engaged to her son before a tragic terrorist attack took his life. Charlie survived that attack and is now determined to bring the perpetrators to justice. Navigating a complex personal life and a pressure-cooker profession is, of course, a challenge, and Charlie sometimes engages in boundary-pushing behavior to avoid facing her grief. But when the clock strikes 2 a.m., she is all about her job - protecting her nation, serving her president and still trying to get to the bottom of her fiancé's murder that will reveal itself as a shocking mystery.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, political, compassionate, tv series pilot
Similar in 77%
Fatwa (2006)
Plot Summary:
In the midst of a personal crisis, junior senator Maggie Davidson (Holly) ascertains that she's the subject of a terrorist plot.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 482
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, independent film, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
The Agency (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Agency is a CBS television drama that followed the inner-workings of the CIA. The series was created by Michael Frost Beckner and was executive produced by Michael Frost Beckner, Shaun Cassidy Productions and Radiant Productions in association with Universal Network Television and CBS Productions. It aired from September 27, 2001 until May 17, 2003, lasting two seasons. It featured unprecedented filming from the actual CIA headquarters. The show was controversial regarding its exploration of current international affairs and its treatment of the ethical conflicts inherent in intelligence work. Beckner's pilot script, written in March 2001, posited a re-invented CIA tasked with a "War on Terror" after Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist organization plots a lethal attack on the west. The pilot was to premiere at CIA Headquarters on September 18, 2001 and set to air on CBS September 21, 2001, however, the actual 9/11 attacks convinced the network to hold the pilot and instead air a later episode. That first episode was aired later as the third episode of the first season. The September 11, 2001 terrorist events changed the way Americans viewed topical entertainment and "The Agency", at the time, was one of the most topical offering on network television. The producers of the series quickly responded to this new American perspective on world affairs, but CBS chose to cancel the show shortly after the second season's final episode.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, cerebral, exciting, serious
Similar in 89%
Able Danger (2008)
Plot Summary:
Tom Flynn, the idealist owner of a left-leaning radical café/bookstore and the quixotic publisher of a hard hitting 911 conspiracy expose, finds himself entangled with a mysterious Eastern European beauty, Kasia, who is on the run from strong hand of a global 911 cover up. In this contemporary take on film noir. When Tom is implicated in the murder of his friend and employee, he is forced to unravel Kasia's complex web of lies. As it turns out, Kasia possesses the smoking gun that proves the identities and methods of the real architects of 911, and Tom Flynn is willing to die to expose the truth. Written by Dave Herman.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 129
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: neo noir, serious, realistic, suspenseful, black and white, independent film, political thriller
Similar in 90%
Sleeper Cell (2005)
Plot Summary:
A chilling and unflinching look at all sides of a complicated issue, focusing on an African-American Muslim who joins an Islamic sleeper terrorist cell in the United States while working undercover for the FBI.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, captivating, suspenseful, erotic, detective, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 89%
Closed Circuit (2013)
Plot Summary:
A terrorist attack in London results in the capture of suspect Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto). The attorney general appoints Claudia Simmons-Howe (Rebecca Hall) as special advocate on Erdogan's legal team. On the eve of the trial, Erdogan's lawyer dies, and a new defense attorney, Martin Rose (Eric Bana), steps in. Martin and Claudia are former lovers, a fact which must remain hidden. As Martin assembles his case, he uncovers a sinister conspiracy, placing him and Claudia in danger.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, serious, suspenseful, political, realistic, clever, exciting, surprise ending, bad ending
Similar in 82%
The Honourable Woman (2014)
Plot Summary:
Nessa Stein, the daughter of a Zionist arms procurer who as a child witnessed his assassination. Now an adult, Nessa inherits her father's company and changes course from supplying arms to laying data cabling networks between Israel and the West Bank. Her efforts to reconcile the Israelis and Palestinians lands her an appointment to the House of Lords and creates an international political maelstrom.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, tense, suspenseful, realistic, political, entertaining, dramatic, stylized, masterpiece
Similar in 89%
The Bureau (2015)
Plot Summary:
Within the DGSE (General Directorate for External Security), a department called the Office Of Legends (BDL) forms and remote pilot the most important agents of the French intelligence services: Clandestine. Immersion in hostile country, their mission is to identify individuals who may be recruited as sources of information. Operating "under caption", that is to say in a fabricated identity from scratch, they live for many years in a permanent duplicity. Our hero just returned from a clandestine mission six years in Damascus. But contrary to what is required by safety rules, he does not abandon his legend and the identity under which he lived in Syria, thus putting in danger the whole system.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, political thriller, serious, suspenseful, intelligent, interesting, french noir, political drama
Similar in 87%
The Secret Agent (1996)
Plot Summary:
London of the late 19th century is a haven for political exiles of all sorts - refugees, partisans, anarchists. Verloc has made his living spying for the Russian goverment, an agent provacateur of sorts, while simultaneously providing information to the London police, specifically Chief Inspector Heat. When the new Russian ambassador demands he prove his worth or lose his salary, Verloc sets off a tragic chain of events that involves his pretty young wife Winnie, her retarded brother Stevie, and a figure called the Professor, whose fascination with explosives and destruction makes him the person to call on when Verloc needs a bomb.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, harsh, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, political thriller, bleak, light, romantic
Similar in 84%
The Enemy Within (1994)
Plot Summary:
Colonel Casey discovers what appears to be plans by General Lloyd to use fake military excercises to assist Jack Giddings in his plans to remove President Foster from office. Colonel Casey, and President Foster must find evidence that there is a coup planned and stop it, before it takes place. Unfortunately, there isn't much time.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, political thriller
Similar in 78%
Madam Secretary (2014)
Plot Summary:
Former CIA agent Elizabeth Faulkner McCord is suddenly thrust into the position of US Secretary of State where she must quickly learn to drive international diplomacy, wrangle office politics and balance a complex family life.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, political, intelligent, political drama
Similar in 75%
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 86%
The Code (2014)
Plot Summary:
The Code is a drama series which tells tells the story of two brothers who discover some information that those at the highest levels of political power are determined to keep secret.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 54 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, bleak, detective
Similar in 83%
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 88%
Hidden (2011)
Plot Summary:
When a mysterious lawyer Gina Hawkes turns up asking Harry to find a missing alibi witness for her client he agrees to take on the job but is unwittingly drawn into investigating the death of his brother 20 years ago. Harry quickly finds himself caught up in a much bigger and more complex conspiracy that reaches deep into the heart of the British political system.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, clever, serious, stylized
Similar in 75%
Bodyguard (2018)
Plot Summary:
A troubled war veteran is assigned to protect a controversial politician who may be the target of a terror plot.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 142000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: political, detective, exciting, suspense, disturbing, romantic, philosophical, atmospheric, feel good, serious
Similar in 77%
Homeland (2011)
Plot Summary:
CIA officer Carrie Mathison is tops in her field despite being bipolar, which makes her volatile and unpredictable. With the help of her long-time mentor Saul Berenson, Carrie fearlessly risks everything, including her personal well-being and even sanity, at every turn.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 357000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, captivating, political, detective, psychological thriller, political thriller, dramatic, thrilling
Similar in 90%
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 78%
Seven Days in May (1964)
Plot Summary:
A U.S. Army general alerts the president of a planned military coup against him.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: political thriller, tense, political, black and white, suspense, suspenseful, atmospheric, intense, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Green Zone (2010)
Plot Summary:
During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his team of Army inspectors were dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that threatens to invert the purpose of their mission.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 142000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK, France, Spain, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: political thriller, suspense, tense, exciting, political, serious, suspenseful, intense, entertaining, factual