Secret Service proves it – spy thrillers are dead ...Middle East

On the face of it, our deeply dangerous and divided geopolitical world would seem fertile terrain for spy dramas. And yet two recent glossy British productions, the BBC’s sequel to The Night Manager and now ITV’s Secret Service, have failed to hit the mark – paddling in the zeitgeist rather than surfing it in the manner of James Bond and George Smiley, or even Homeland’s Carrie Mathison. A tall order? But if you’re not going to reach for those heights, why bother making a spy drama at all?

Secret Service is co-adapted by ITV news anchor Tom Bradby from his own 2019 novel and tells the story of a hunt for a suspected Russian asset in the British government. It boasts a strong cast, led by Gemma Arterton as Kate Henderson, the head of M16’s Russia desk, who is trying to unearth a traitor before a party leadership race potentially sends the hostile asset to Downing Street.

Even with more recent potential Russian meddling in British politics – questions still remain over the 2016 Brexit vote, for example – this an old story. After all, in the 1960s, some believed (wrongly) that Prime Minister Harold Wilson was a KGB asset.

Another misstep is to pepper a cast that includes Rafe Spall and the ever-dependable Roger Allam with appearances by so many of Bradby’s ITV news colleagues, including Robert Peston, Romilly Weeks and Anushka Asthana. Instead of adding a lustre of realism, it feels more like a clunky ITV cross-promotion.

Having Ed Balls and Susanna Reid interview the show’s fictional Home Secretary on Good Morning Britain might also have offered an opportunity for light relief. But no. Indeed, the dialogue throughout the series is noticeably wooden. Why noticeably? Because any new spy drama now has to measure itself not only against real life stories of espionage, but with Apple TV’s bar-setting Slow Horses.

These adaptations of Mick Herron’s novels following the exploits of M16 dumping ground Slough House have proved a game-changer. Herron is probably the nearest author we have today to Raymond Chandler, while in Veep veteran Will Smith, Slow Horses has a showrunner who understands the importance of witty dialogue.

And having a bunch of misfits as your protagonists was a handbrake turn on the idea of the spy as a slick and seemingly invincible James Bond/Jason Bourne type. Gary Oldman’s belching and farting Jackson Lamb would rather scoff a kebab than engage in hand-to-hand combat, but he’s still not to be trifled with.

Arterton’s housewife/superspy (Kate still has to attend parent-teacher consultation between saving the nation) isn’t given one memorable line of dialogue. Yes, she – spoiler alert – eventually unearths the Russian asset, but it’s not as satisfying as when the Slough House misfits get one over on their supposed superiors in The Park.

I’m not saying any new spy drama has to copy Slow Horses, but Apple’s spy drama does show the power of fresh thinking to revitalise a tired genre. A greater problem than Jackson Lamb, however, might be another overweight boss with a dreadful diet: Donald Trump.

Geopolitics under America’s 47th President are chaotically fast-moving, and given the lengthy production process for a glossy TV drama, they might be too quicksilver for all but the most prescient writers.

There are plenty of people, by no means all of them in the tin-foil hat brigade, who look at Trump’s actions in relation to Putin and question whether the leader of the so-called “free world” might be in Moscow’s pocket. Whether or not this is simply another mad conspiracy theory, such a set-up would make a far more intriguing spy drama than Secret Service. Is Gary Oldman available, by any chance?

Secret Service continues tomorrow at 9pm on ITV1. The full series is streaming on ITVX

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