Joe's Top-5 List: Limited Run Spy/Espionage TV Shows

Each month I will post Top-5 Lists covering a variety of topics: books, movies, foods, etc. If you have a topic you want me to provide a list for, contact me.

Last month I listed my top 5 espionage-related television shows. I appreciate the feedback and also suggestions for future topics. This month, I list limited-run espionage/spy shows. Perhaps you will see a theme in the ones I selected? 

You can watch several of these on YouTube.

Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy

George Smiley is recalled from retirement to hunt for a suspected mole in British intelligence.

Based on the novel by John Le Carre’

Aire date: 1979

Episodes: 7

Smiley’s People

Alec Guinness returns as George Smiley who is called out of retirement when one of his former assets, an émigré general, is found murdered. In tidying up loose ends for the "Circus", his former employer, he discovers a clandestine operation run by his nemesis, Karla, for his own personal benefit. 

Based on the novel by John Le Carre’

Aire date: 1982

Episodes: 6

The Night Manager

Jonathan Pine, night manager of a luxury hotel in Cairo and former British soldier, is recruited by Angela Burr, the manager of a Foreign Office task force investigating illegal arms sales, to infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper.

Based on the novel by John Le Carre’

Aire date: 2016

Episodes: 6

The Little Drummer Girl

In 1979, an aspiring English actress is recruited by Mossad to infiltrate a Palestinian group plotting terrorism in Europe.

Based on the book by John Le Carre’

Aire date: 2018

Episodes: 6

The Spy

This drama tells the astonishing true story of Israel's most prominent spy, Eli Cohen, who infiltrated the Syrian government in the 1960s.

Netflix

Aire date: 2019

Episodes: 6