Eddie Redmayne in The Day of the Jackal

Tough women take on the bad guys

When it comes to spy dramas and domestic angst, less is very definitely more

On Television

This article is taken from the December-January 2025 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issues for just £10.


It’s a brave writer that re-imagines The Day of the Jackal. Written by Frederick Forsyth and first published in 1971, the global bestseller remains in print in multiple languages. Its enduring success is especially impressive as the storyline revolves around a real-life attempt to assassinate Charles de Gaulle in 1962.

De Gaulle was not assassinated then or at any other time, so readers knew, from the first page, that the protagonist fails. Forsyth’s skill was to make the would-be assassin a sufficiently complex, engaging character, and to deploy plenty of military detail and spycraft — including a now legendary explanation of how to supposedly obtain a passport in the name of a dead person.

Ronan Bennett, creator of the eponymous blockbuster television series, available on Sky Atlantic and NOW, has produced a top class drama with style and verve. From the sublimely Bondian opening sequence, the first episode is instantly gripping.

The Jackal, posing as an elderly, decrepit cleaner, complete with latex face mask, suddenly rampages through an office block in Munich, leaving death and destruction in his wake. Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch deliver bravura performances as the Jackal and Bianca Pullman, the sassy, courageous MI6 officer on his trail.

The Jackal is now a gun-for-hire prowling the shadowy intersections between big business, crime and international power-politics, earning millions each time he emerges to pull the trigger.

He lives in a spectacular Spanish villa, with, of course, a gorgeous wife and baby son. Out on mission he is a ruthless assassin with remarkable skill as a sniper, killing his prey more than two miles away. And snipers, as Pullman boasts, are her specialisation. She quickly sets up an elaborate intelligence operation to try and track him down — one with terrible consequences for those it entangles.

There are occasional duff notes. One, shared with Special Ops: Lioness, I discuss below. Another is that Pullman, a middle-ranking intelligence officer, lives with her university lecturer husband in an enormous, gorgeous house straight out of a design and interiors magazine.

As she and her team pursue the Jackal’s gunsmith across the Latvian border into Belarus, a colleague informs her that Belarus, unlike Latvia, is a very dangerous place for a British spy. This is hardly news, especially for an MI6 officer.

Budapest’s Keleti station and its gritty surrounds deliver a mostly believable version of Paris and Munich. The soundtrack is superb. The simplest, toughest test is does Bennett’s new creation enthral the viewer? Overall, yes — this one is right on target.

I was quite impressed with the first season of Special Ops: Lioness, the international spy thriller series showing on Paramount+. The Lionesses are an elite American female special operations unit, charged with infiltrating global terrorist organisations and swiftly disposing of bad guys.

Zoe Saldaña in Special Ops: Lioness

There was plenty of action, a strong storyline and some lush glamorous locations. Zoe Saldaña is back in season two, giving another hardcore performance as Joe, the unit commander as she drives her comrades — and every episode — forward. Whether in a meeting with male military officers trying to belittle her, or on the front line doing battle, Joe swiftly chews up or shoots up anyone in her way.

Taylor Sheridan, the show’s creator, has upped the pace. The series opens with some spectacular gunplay along the Mexican border as Joe leads her team in a rescue operation, saving a kidnapped female senator from a drugs cartel. Joe’s new recruit must infiltrate the cartel and kill its leader.

Like Bianca Pullman in The Day of the Jackal, Joe is juggling her responsibilities as a mother — and occasionally as a wife — with the demands of leading a high pressure international anti-terrorist operation. Joe too has a sulky teenage daughter. I’m never sure about these domestic diversions, especially when, as in both shows, they are explored at length.

Joe and Bianca have, of course, long-suffering, handsome, caring, supportive husbands, ready to take care of domestic drudgery and keep the family together whilst their wives race around wiping out the bad guys.

There is a lot of this in both shows, including some especially cringy sex scenes in Lioness as Joe rediscovers the joys of marital bliss. When it comes to spy dramas and domestic angst — whether in the bedroom or teenage tantrums at the kitchen table — less is very definitely more.

Paris Has Fallen has a more modern take on its heroine’s love-life. This fast-paced show, now showing on Prime Video, enjoys smart casting, a topical storyline and some sharp gunplay.

Ritu Arya plays Zara Taylor, an MI6 officer who teams up with Vincent, a bodyguard for the French defence minister, portrayed by Tewfik Jallab.

Both deliver convincing performances. So does Sean Harris as Jacob, the evil mastermind behind a highly organised terrorist attack on a glitzy reception at the British embassy in Paris.

As a former captain in the foreign Legion, Jacob is not short of military skills. It’s all very personal for him — whilst serving in Afghanistan, he was sent to kill a Taliban commander but walked into an ambush. Now he wants revenge, a dish here served very hot indeed.

Jacob kidnaps the minister of defence’s daughter and demands a terrible sacrifice for her freedom. This time — mild spoiler alert — Vincent the bodyguard is too late. Don’t expect the subtlety or characterisation of Fauda or The Bureau, but Paris Has Fallen is enjoyably topical entertainment. And there are no demanding teenagers or soppy supportive husbands. Zara is unmarried and has a girlfriend.

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