The Americans

Philip and Elizabeth Jennings have children, neighbours and a travel business in suburban America. They also work undercover for the Soviet Union. The Americans gets enormous mileage from the difficulty of keeping those lives separate.

Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys make the marriage the centre of the drama. A disagreement about an assignment can also be an argument about loyalty, parenting or the person each of them has become. The disguises and operations matter, but so does what happens when they return home and have to sit at the same table.

This is patient espionage television, often more interested in the cost of a decision than in celebrating a clever escape. Its domestic scenes are not interruptions to the spy story; they are where much of its pressure accumulates. Viewers who enjoy the personal uncertainty in Homeland should find plenty to engage with here.