I'm watching "London Spy" and realize I've never seen anything like this before

Mmmm...Ben Whishaw.

Yeah Ben is a good actor, had only ever seen him in bond before this.

He got to grope all over Alex's hot ass in their sex scene, that must have been a fun day at work.

Where are you watching it? netflix? hulu?

Loved it. Was hoping there would be a second series (season). Whishaw, wonderful. Charlotte Rampling, Jim Broadbent...superb.

Cool squishy plot twists.

No reason

For a second season

It was very good, watching it on BBC2 last year. There were complaints over it being too slow but that seemed to be because some viewers expected more of a spy story/action thriller. Taking the love story/mystery as the central part and just enjoying the developments and characters, it was very rewarding

I am streaming it on Amazon Prime r2, the series was 8.99. I was originally going to illegally stream it as I often do things but decided to support this wirh my money.

Could only find it on Amazon Prime where I had to pay to watch it. I loved the first episode so much I binged the whole thing.

r3*

What has the non-Whishaw actor been doing?

I found the acting and the art direction outstanding. The story itself devolved into schlock as it progressed.

R7 R8 I can watch it on Amazon, but not Amazon Prime, to which I subscribe. And it's $13.99 to watch the whole season.

Are you both in the US? Are you Prime members?

I live in the US and I am a Prime member r12

It aired on BBC America, I believe. Or Maybe Sundance. But it was (free) and available on demand to cable subscribers for some time.

Did you have to pay, R13? How much?

I bought the first three episdoes but it just didn't hang together.

It doesn't get better, R16.

Just finished episode 4. I never said it was perfect but it's an enjoyable ride. I'm willing to cut it some slack because like I said before I honestly have never watched another series that stars gay characters but the plot of the series isnt revolving around them being gay.

It's apparently now streaming on American Netflix

Don't get your hopes up, OP. It kind of fizzles out long before it ends. I was left disappointed by the time it was finally over.

As you watch it, you can imagine Holcroft as the next Bond, and Whishaw as Q.

Yeah the plot definitely fell off the rails at the end r20. Pity

Will there be a second season?

No second season.

I loved the acting, the writing, the direction, the cinematography of it all but I was disappointed with the resolution. It made not a lick of sense. If only Tom Rob Smith hadn't mucked up some of the plotting it would've been perfect.

It's very good until the crappy ending where nothing is resolved.

It's great until the last two episodes when it super accelerates and dumps a bunch of information. I think if they'd spread the main story out a bit more it would have been much better. Still, Ben Whishaw is fantastic in it.

I was stunned that Charlotte Rampling received a Golden Globe nomination for her role in this but not Ben Whishaw or that Ben lost out to Mark Rylance for the BAFTA. I thought Whishaw was tremendous throughout.

Yes, Charlotte just had to do icy and cunty, whereas Ben had to run the full gamut.

Rylance was great, too, but much more understated.

The best part of London Spy was Ben Whishaw grabbing all over Edward Holcroft's muscular ass.

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I hope Netflix plays the uncensored British version.

[quote] The best part of London Spy was Ben Whishaw grabbing all over Edward Holcroft's muscular ass. Edward didn't mind.

[quote]FILMING London Spy took Edward Holcroft into uncharted professional territory. The drama, based loosely on the case of Gareth Williams, the MI6 agent found dead in a sports bag, demanded Holcroft’s first ever sex scene - and it was to be with Bond star Ben Whishaw. His approach? “Just jump into it. So I literally jumped on to the bed and was like, ‘Let’s go!”’ recalls Holcroft, who made his name in projects such as Wolf Hall and Kingsman: The Secret Service. “We had become quite close by that point, so it was quite special. Of all the people I could have dreamed of having a gay sex scene with, Ben would be my number one.”

[quote]Edward didn't mind.

Wasn't trying to paint Whishaw as a creep or anything, obviously it would have been discussed with both Holcroft and their director about where his hands should go in the sex scene.

Just saying that it was hot to watch, and had to be Whishaw's favorite day of filming lol.

Wasn't implying anything by posting Holcroft's interview other than to show his take on working with Whishaw.

SPOILER ALERT:

I just finished watching it. It was great to have such a strong gay story about being in the closet (like a spy), but the main plot points were ridiculous!

Alex's invention would have made him a superstar at the agency! It was crazy to pretend that they wanted to suppress something that would be so amazingly useful to them.

And the stuff with the mother was just larding on plot twists without necessity.

[quote] Alex's invention would have made him a superstar at the agency! It was crazy to pretend that they wanted to suppress something that would be so amazingly useful to them.

Add to it that all of the spy communities joined together like the Justice League (according to the man at the private club Scottie took Danny) to stop Alex from finishing it or whatever is extra ridiculous. No one courted him to sway him to their side? Then I could see needing to get rid of him if they feared Alex was going to sell it off.

The entire plot about Frances not being his biological mother was unnecessary and took up prime storytelling time. But the biggest WTF to me was why would this shadow entity screw up Danny's life so completely, waste time and resources going after him when they could've just killed him and made it look like a suicide like Scottie?

That's a good point r36, he was essentially a nobody club kid that no one would likely have missed. I am sure there was some plot reason for it but I can't remember what it was.

A reviewer of the show said of Whishaw: "the most powerful actor ever made out of thistledown and magic."

MARY!

I remember the long threads here when LS first aired in the UK. So much about it was so very good that the veering into silly implausibility was a big disappointment.

Said at the time I thought the script needed another toughly-edited final draft to satisfy the suspense built up. Doubtless scheduling and budgeting wouldn't permit that. Goes to show that the best cast, locations and set dressing in the world won't finally satisfy if the script isn't right.

Whishaw is indeed an excellent actor, as well as being an appealing presence. If he had to lose the BAFTA to anyone, it might as well have been the great Rylance. Whishaw's day will certainly come. Indeed, I'll be disappointed if a canny producer or director doesn't one day think to use those fine actors in the same work, maybe as father and son. Dream cast.

I will be contrarian in that I think the later episodes are stronger than the beginning... the series' biggest flaw is that we are not shown why Danny loves Alex, Alex is dispatched so quickly and the character is so uncharismatic that the love element never really takes flight... this could have been remedied with more flashbacks throughout the series to show the relationship. But I think the strongest element is Whishaw as the Hitchcockian hero.

SPOILER BELOW:

Frankly, I found Rylance's performance in WOLF HALL to be too dry, like the series. Both the stage and TV versions of those books suffered by having the lead actors playing Cromwell focus too much on being deadpan inscrutable all the time and losing so much of the more robust humor of the character from Mantell's books. The Cromwell of the books is a far richer and varied character than the dramatic versions ever presented. Rylance has been far better elsewhere.

I felt LONDON SPY was really sadistic toward the characters - infecting Danny with HIV struck me as particularly and unnecessarily cruel. It's like the writer really wanted to pile it on.

[quote]the series' biggest flaw is that we are not shown why Danny loves Alex, Alex is dispatched so quickly and the character is so uncharismatic that the love element never really takes flight... this could have been remedied with more flashbacks throughout the series to show the relationship.

I can understand why they both loved each other. Alex is an innocent, something anomalous to Danny's life. Danny is unlike anyone Alex has ever met: someone free of deception. I would've loved more scenes between them but I see how their relationship had to be sparsely told because to me, the ultimate mystery wasn't the why or how Alex was killed but the mystery of if what they had was real. Danny was filled with doubt about that and he got his answer with the number to the codex being "1" and what Frances told him about his final moments.

See to me the only appeal I saw Alex had for Danny was that he was straight-acting with an incredible body. I just didn't see why he loved him.

I am with you R41 on Rylance's performance in Wolf Hall. Half the time, the deadpan delivery made Cromwell seem befuddled.

The plot made no sense, even allowing for the implausible uber-competence of the British secret service. Danny is infected with HIV, says 'But it doesn't show up so quickly...but they did it', which I assumed would be followed up but wasn't; the bizarre pink pill stuff and so on. Having assumed Alex was dead all the way through, I changed by mind by the end, on the logic that the way they treated Danny only made any sense at all as a way to control Alex - 'see what we can do to him'.

Many of these Hitchockian thrillers make absolutely no sense when exposed to logic. Vertigo's plot makes so sense, North by Northwest makes no sense... it's all about execution.

The ending was absolutely awful, though.

[quote]See to me the only appeal I saw Alex had for Danny was that he was straight-acting with an incredible body.

Lol, like that's not enough.

What gay man wouldn't go crazy when a hot piece of ass that is into them is taken away...

I was with the show until the last episode when it totally went off the rails. Still, I wanted the car Ben and Charlotte drove away in.

[quote]Still, I wanted Ben.

Fixed.

[quote] Having assumed Alex was dead all the way through, I changed by mind by the end, on the logic that the way they treated Danny only made any sense at all as a way to control Alex -

I followed what people were saying on Twitter as the series aired and was surprised at how many thought Alex was alive. The finale had me second guessing as well because of the revelation that they were giving him an out--go to the states and give it all up. Why give him an out at all unless he was too valuable for them to kill? I know he was killed but that ending did seem to invoke the possibility that he was still alive. The spy organization was so powerful they could have faked Alex's death using another decomposing body as a double.

Bah! At least we were given Holcroft's firm ass.

[quote]The ending was absolutely awful, though.

Agree--it reminded me an awful lot of the ending to the British Queer as Folk.

I'm late to the party. Just watched all episodes on Netflix. I'm very disappointed by the ending. But, still liked the gay love story.

Alex's ass deserves its own TV show.

More pics

They make a cute couple.

Cute!

London Spy was great, the ending was bizarre.

I binge-watched the whole series last weekend.

Love it even though the ending was a bit weak. I was hoping that Alex/Alistair had faked his demise.

Was Taron Egerton in London Spy? I missed him.

London Spy, yes

Controversy entraps us

Still, pretty good, right?

[quote] Was Taron Egerton in London Spy? I missed him.

No. Taron and Edward were in Kingsman: The Secret Service together. Edward's also in the sequel.

I like Holcroft with a beard.

I found Ben Whishaw's helmet hairdo totally off-putting. Made me hate the character.

See ya, r63. Wouldn't want to be ya.

That looks like Douglas Booth at R62.

That ending was STINKO!

sooo good

hope is a sequel