Best tv shows like Totems
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set in 1965 in the midst of the Cold War, Totems follows a French scientist, Francis Mareuil, as he begins working as a spy. While working for the French Secret Service and the CIA, Mareuil meets Lyudmila Goloubeva, a pianist forced to work for the KGB. A romance blossoms between them but neither can be sure what is an expression of their true feelings, and what is the fruit of political shenanigans….
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 882
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Totems (2021):
Similar in 82%
Man to Man (2017)
Plot Summary:
From Kim Won Seok, the writer of Descendants of the Sun, a drama about a special bodyguard with a background in special investigations and the Hallyu star he is supposed to protect.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense
Similar in 83%
Code Name: Emperor (2022)
Plot Summary:
Juan, a secret service agent, approaches Wendy, a young Filipina who works as a maid for a suspicious couple.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense
Similar in 80%
Red Election (2021)
Plot Summary:
Danish secret service agent Katrine Poulson and British spy Beatrice Ogilvy are thrown together in a race against time. As a terrorist plot against the British PM unfolds, Poulson and Ogilvy are tangled up in a web of lies, murder and power struggles; they can't trust anyone, and they soon realise the deadly conspiracy could be part of a far-reaching geopolitical masterplan.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 78%
In From the Cold (2022)
Plot Summary:
Exposed as an ex-Russian spy, an American single mom must juggle family life and unique shape-shifting skills in a battle against an insidious enemy.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, surprise ending
Similar in 75%
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 90%
The Same Sky (2017)
Plot Summary:
Lars is a "Romeo agent" from East Germany in the 1970s. His task is to go West, first to seduce and then to spy on Western women who worked in government or defense institutions.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, suspenseful, political
Similar in 75%
Autumn Cicada (2020)
Plot Summary:
The story of the show sets in the war period of modern China and mainly focuses on a spy of CPC called Ye Chong who was using the spy code Cicada of Autumn.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 26
Genere: Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller, War
Country: China
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 83%
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 75%
Sniper: Ultimate Kill (2017)
Plot Summary:
A ruthless Columbian drug lord has been using a cold-blooded assassin nicknamed The Devil to wipe out his competition. Sensing a threat to the US, the DEA hires a Marine sniper to kill The Devil, and capture the kingpin.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, exciting, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, crime drama, perverse, action thriller
Similar in 88%
Ridley Road (2021)
Plot Summary:
During London's swinging sixties, young Jewish Vivien Epstein follows her lover into danger and when he is caught between life and death, she finds herself going undercover with the fascists, not only for him but for the sake of her country.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA, Ireland
Duration: 229 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, historical drama, political, period drama
Similar in 81%
The Informant (2022)
Plot Summary:
Behind the Iron Curtain, Geri leaves for college, looks forward to meeting girls and partying and joins a group of radicals led by the charismatic Száva. But Geri has a secret. He’s an informant of the totalitarian state and to save his brother, he’s been forced to spy on his new friends for State Security.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Hungary
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, disturbing, thrilling, political thriller
Similar in 75%
Mirage (2020)
Plot Summary:
Claire lost her husband Gabriel during the tsunami in 2004. His body was never found. 15 years later, Claire has a new life with Lukas and her son Zack. After a decade of mourning and professional purgatory, she has just landed a dream job in Abu Dhabi. One night, Claire is having dinner and sees Gabriel's reflection in a window.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 558
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Canada
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, suspense, political thriller, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
The Glorious Era (2019)
Plot Summary:
Set in the period before and after the founding of PRC, it is a story that follows the first generation of People's Public Security. CCP undercover agent, Zheng Chao Yang, engages in a battle of wits and will against KMT operatives. Before the battle of Liaoshen, Communist operative CCP undercover agent, Zheng Chao Yang (Zhang Yi), infiltrates and lurks in the Peiping police station. Zheng Chao Yang's identity is discovered by a traitor, forcing him to evacuate the police station immediately. In his escape, he is able to take with him a secret list of KMT spies that can deal a detrimental blow to the KMT. After the liberation of Peiping, Zheng Chao Yang returns to the city. However, waiting for him is a new battlefield. The KMT has dispatched a team of elite spies operating under the codename "Tao Yuan". Tao Yuan is led by the elite spy codenamed "Phoenix" and who is actually Chao Yang's older brother, Zheng Chao Shan (Huang Zhizhong), who is a famous doctor.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 9
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 78%
The Marked Heart (2022)
Plot Summary:
This new Colombian telenovela is about a man who has to watch his wife die and have her heart extracted to give to another woman. He’s out for revenge in the world of organ trafficking.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Colombia, Argentina, Mexico
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, telenovela
Similar in 85%
Queen Sono (2020)
Plot Summary:
A highly trained South African spy must face changing relationships in her personal life while taking on her most dangerous mission yet.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Africa
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Different Dreams (2019)
Plot Summary:
During the Japanese colonial rule of Korea, a Korean surgeon who was raised by a Japanese family becomes a spy for the Korean government.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 79
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration:
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 78%
The Undeclared War (2022)
Plot Summary:
In the post-pandemic world of 2024 during an upcoming British general election involving the UK’s first Black Conservative prime minister, a leading team of analysts at the heart of the UK’s NSA-style spy agency GCHQ attempt to ward off a cyber-attack on the country’s electoral system.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 47 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, political, thrilling, political drama
Similar in 88%
The Enemy Within (2019)
Plot Summary:
Erica Shepherd is a brilliant former CIA operative, now known as the most notorious traitor in American history serving life in a Supermax prison. Against every fiber of his being but with nowhere else to turn, FBI Agent Will Keaton enlists Shepherd to help track down a fiercely dangerous and elusive criminal she knows all too well. While Shepherd and Keaton have different motivations for bringing the enemy to justice, they both know that to catch a spy… they must think like one.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: tense, exciting, disturbing, suspense, captivating, detective, action adventure, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
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 89%
Yosi, The Regretful Spy (2022)
Plot Summary:
An Argentinean intelligence agent infiltrates the Jewish community to gather information that is then allegedly used to perpetrate two of the worst terrorist attacks in Latin American history, leaving over 100 dead.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: Argentina
Duration: 367 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, realistic, disturbing, non-linear
Similar in 77%
Slow Horses (2022)
Plot Summary:
This quick-witted spy drama follows a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents—and their obnoxious boss, the notorious Jackson Lamb—as they navigate the espionage world’s smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 52000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration:
Plot tags: captivating, tense, disturbing, funny, crime thriller, thrilling
Similar in 81%
The Little Drummer Girl (2018)
Plot Summary:
Brilliant young actress Charlie strikes up an acquaintance with an intriguing stranger while on holiday in Greece, but it rapidly becomes apparent that his intentions are far from romantic.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 342 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, captivating, suspense, stylized, anthology, detective, anime
Similar in 84%
Berlin Station (2016)
Plot Summary:
A contemporary spy series that follows Daniel Miller, an undercover agent at the CIA station in Berlin, Germany.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, exciting, action adventure, mind blowing, interesting
Similar in 79%
Allegiance (2015)
Plot Summary:
Alex O'Connor, a young idealistic CIA analyst specializing in Russian affairs, learns a shocking secret and his close-knit, affluent family is about to be split apart when it's revealed that his parents, Mark and Katya, are covert Russian spies deactivated decades ago. But today the Kremlin has re-enlisted them into service as they plan a terrorist operation inside the U.S. border that will bring America to its knees.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, suspense, interesting
Similar in 76%
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 86%
Farewell (2009)
Plot Summary:
Engaging, emotional and riveting, FAREWELL is an intricate and highly intelligent thriller pulled from the pages of history— about an ordinary man thrust into the biggest theft of Soviet information of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan called this piece of history - largely unknown until now - “one of the most important espionage cases of the 20th century.” FAREWELL begins in 1981, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. A French businessman based in Moscow, Pierre Froment, (Guillaume Canet) makes an unlikely connection with Grigoriev (Emir Kusturica), a senior KGB officer disenchanted with what the Communist ideal has become under Brezhnev. Grigoriev begins passing Froment highly sensitive information about the Soviet spy network in the US.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, political, sincere
Similar in 76%
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 85%
La querida del Centauro (2016)
Plot Summary:
"La querida del Centauro" chronicles the life of Yolanda, an attractive and intelligent prisoner, that becomes the mistress of one of the most important drug traffickers of Mexico, Benedictino García, alias "El Centauro". This relationship, which inside the prison will give much power to Yolanda, will end up becoming her worst nightmare when she manages to be released thanks to Gerardo, a shrewd detective whose last years have been dedicated to the fight against drug trafficking. With El Centauro in hiding, Gerardo decides to use Yolanda as bait in an operation that will take them to the hiding place of El Centauro.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 127
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Mexico, Colombia
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 84%
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 89%
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