Where to Stream ‘A Spy Among Friends’ Online
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From the James Bond and Austin Powers franchises to Killing Eve, Black Widow, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, there’s every kind of spy movie or TV show for every kind of spy enthusiast.
Although not everyone enjoys the slow-burn, contemplative spy narrative, the subgenre does have its fans: any John LeCarre adaptation, for instance, or A Spy Among Friends, the little-seen British miniseries that came out in 2022 and is based on a LeCarre-esque Ben Macintyre book from 2014.
Both the book and the limited series are based on the real-life story of Kim Philby, a British intelligence officer and a spy for the Society Union. (Macintyre’s book, and therefore the TV show, draw from personal papers and British intelligence files). Accordingly, it’s a series for people who like talky, intellectual spy dramas with more intrigue and atmosphere than, say, car chases.
The TV show’s casting is also spot-on, with Guy Pearce and Damian Lewis in the lead roles. When you rein in Pearce (Emmy-winner for HBO’s 2011 take on Mildred Pierce) and Lewis (of Homeland fame), you’re gunning for an audience that likes tense dialogue, period attire, and cheekbone acting.
The show also stars Anna Maxwell Martin, Adrian Edmondson, Stephen Kunken, Nicholas Rowe, Thomas Arnold, Monika Gossmann, Karel Roden, and Anastasia Hille.
Where to Stream A Spy Among Friends Online
A Spy Among Friends premiered in the United Kingdom on ITV’s streaming service, ITX, in late 2022. In February 2023, it began migrating to other services, including Prime Video in Canada and MGM+ in the United States. You can still stream it through MGM+ (plans start at $6.99 a month) or through MGM+ plugins on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Sling TV.
Critics raved about the series, which has an 88% “Certified Fresh” rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes from 25 reviewers.
“It’s Lewis — this time playing the spy who has to crack a double agent’s exterior, in a satisfying reversal of the Homeland formula — who’s at the heart of things,” Variety critic Daniel D’Addario wrote last year. “And his journey to understand why he missed what he missed, and what his relationship with a man operating against their shared nation could possibly have meant in retrospect, is an elegantly told one.”