# Top 21 Spy TV Series of All Time

> Cold War tradecraft, modern surveillance paranoia and a few comedies that laugh at the whole business. Which one would you binge first?

*By YPB Team · Published October 25, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-21-spy-tv-series-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **The Americans** — score 1000/1000
   FX drama about two KGB agents posing as a suburban American couple in the 1980s.
2. **Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy** — score 927/1000
   1979 BBC adaptation of le Carré with Alec Guinness as George Smiley.
3. **The Man from U.N.C.L.E.** — score 877/1000
   1964 NBC series about two agents of a secret international organization.
4. **Archer** — score 799/1000
   FX animated spy comedy about a vain secret agent.
5. **Fauda** — score 709/1000
   Israeli thriller following an undercover counter-terrorism unit.
6. **24** — score 709/1000
   Real-time Fox thriller following counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer.
7. **Homeland** — score 709/1000
   Showtime thriller about CIA officer Carrie Mathison and a possibly turned US Marine.
8. **I Spy** — score 709/1000
   1965 NBC series that made Bill Cosby the first Black lead in a US drama.
9. **Killing Eve** — score 600/1000
   BBC America cat-and-mouse thriller between an MI5 officer and an assassin.
10. **The Night Manager** — score 600/1000
   Le Carré adaptation with Tom Hiddleston infiltrating an arms dealer's circle.
11. **Spooks** — score 600/1000
   BBC drama about MI5's counter-terrorism section, known as MI-5 in the US.
12. **Burn Notice** — score 466/1000
   USA Network series about a blacklisted spy stuck in Miami.
13. **The Prisoner** — score 466/1000
   Surreal 1967 British series about a former agent trapped in The Village.
14. **Slow Horses** — score 466/1000
   Apple TV+ series about MI5's washed-up agents led by Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb.
15. **The Avengers** — score 466/1000
   1960s British series with John Steed and Emma Peel.
16. **Chuck** — score 0/1000
   NBC action comedy about a computer nerd with government secrets in his head.
17. **Mission: Impossible** — score 0/1000
   Classic 1966 CBS series about the Impossible Missions Force.
18. **The Bureau** — score 0/1000
   French series about the DGSE's undercover agents, known as Le Bureau des Légendes.
19. **Alias** — score 0/1000
   J.J. Abrams series starring Jennifer Garner as double agent Sydney Bristow.
20. **Get Smart** — score 0/1000
   1965 spy spoof created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.
21. **The Agency** — score 0/1000
   2024 Paramount+ remake of The Bureau starring Michael Fassbender.

Tags: tv shows, thriller, spy