Shows Like
Shows Like Killing Eve: Cat-and-Mouse Thrillers
By Jordan A. · · Updated · 5 min read
If you finished Killing Eve and went looking for the next one, you already know what you are actually chasing. It is not the spy plot. It is two people who should be trying to destroy each other spending four seasons circling instead, with the power flipping every few episodes. Killing Eve ran on BBC America and AMC from 2018 to 2022, four seasons, thirty-two episodes, and it never really had a stable villain, because Villanelle kept becoming the reason to keep watching.
So the shortlist below is built on that specific thing: a pursuer and a pursued who are more interested in each other than in the case. Some of these are funnier, some are much bleaker, and a couple are barely thrillers at all. Every one of them has been checked for title, network and run.
The closest matches
The Fall is the obvious first stop and the one Killing Eve owes the most to. Gillian Anderson's detective superintendent Stella Gibson hunts Jamie Dornan's Paul Spector across Belfast, and the show is honest about how much of her interest is not professional. What it shares: the obsession runs both ways. What is different: no comedy at all, and Spector's crimes are shown with a coldness some viewers find hard to sit through. Choose it if you wanted Killing Eve darker and slower. BBC Two, 2013 to 2016, three series, seventeen episodes.
Hannibal is the other half of the answer. Hugh Dancy's Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal Lecter spend three seasons in a courtship dressed up as a criminal investigation, and the show is far stranger and more beautiful than a network procedural has any right to be. What it shares: the mutual fascination is the plot. What is different: it is stylised to the point of dream logic, and the food photography will do things to you. Choose it if the Villanelle scenes were the ones you rewound. NBC, 2013 to 2015, three seasons.
The Sinner gives you Bill Pullman as a detective who cannot leave a case alone once he has decided the confession does not explain anything. Each season is a fresh crime with a new suspect, and the tension comes from him getting too close to the person he is supposed to be assessing. What it shares: an investigator whose empathy is a professional liability. What is different: it is a mystery-of-the-season anthology, so there is no long-running duo. Choose it if you want the psychology without the body count escalating. USA Network, 2017 to 2021, four seasons.
When you want the wit back
Barry follows a hitman who takes an acting class and decides he would rather be a person. Bill Hader plays him with a flatness that becomes genuinely frightening by season three, and the show keeps finding jokes right up against something awful. What it shares: you are asked to like a murderer and then punished for it. What is different: the central relationship is between Barry and his own self-image, not between two rivals. Choose it if Killing Eve's tonal whiplash was the appeal. HBO, 2018 to 2023, four seasons, thirty-two episodes.
You inverts the setup by putting you inside the head of the stalker. Penn Badgley's narration is charming, reasonable and monstrous in the same sentence, which is a trick Killing Eve also pulled. What it shares: a lead who explains their behavior so well you catch yourself agreeing. What is different: it is broader and pulpier, closer to soap than to spy fiction. Choose it if you want something that goes down easily. Netflix, 2018 to 2025.
British thrillers that move
Bodyguard is six episodes about a protection officer assigned to a Home Secretary whose politics he despises, and it is one of the few thrillers that earns its cliffhangers. Richard Madden barely blinks for the whole run. What it shares: two people locked together, neither able to trust the other. What is different: it is a single tight arc rather than a slow-burning obsession. Choose it for a weekend. BBC One, 2018, six episodes.
Line of Duty is anti-corruption police work built almost entirely out of interview scenes, and those scenes are the best sustained tension on British television. What it shares: the hunt for a person who is hiding in plain sight. What is different: it is institutional rather than intimate, and it expects you to keep track of acronyms. Choose it if you like being outsmarted. BBC One, running since 2012.
Sherlock deserves a place here purely for Andrew Scott's Moriarty, who understood the assignment years before Villanelle did. What it shares: an antagonist having far more fun than the hero. What is different: the case-of-the-week structure means the obsession only surfaces in bursts. Choose it if you want feature-length episodes. BBC One, 2010 to 2017, four series of three episodes each.
The long game
Mindhunter is FBI agents in the late 1970s inventing criminal profiling by sitting in rooms with killers and asking them questions. The dread is entirely conversational. What it shares: the idea that studying a monster changes you. What is different: it stops after two seasons and does not resolve, which some people cannot forgive. Choose it if you want the smartest version of this material. Netflix, 2017 to 2019, two seasons.
The Americans is KGB officers living as a suburban Washington couple through the 1980s, with an FBI agent living across the street. What it shares: a relationship built on deception that becomes real anyway. What is different: it is a marriage drama first and a spy show second, and it takes a season to catch. Choose it if you want the most complete ending on this list. FX, 2013 to 2018, six seasons.
Where these actually stream
Rights on British thrillers move around constantly, so instead of printing a streamer that may be wrong by the time you read this, check the title page on BingeNext for current US options. Every show above has one.
So where do you start
If you want the closest thing to Killing Eve, watch The Fall. If you want the strangest, watch Hannibal. If you want to laugh again, watch Barry. If you have one free weekend, watch Bodyguard.
And if none of those land, give BingeNext's TV recommendations a try. Enter Killing Eve along with two or three other shows you loved, and it comes back with picks, a reason for each one, and where they stream. Results take about a minute.
Topics covered: thriller, psychological, crime, dark, cat-and-mouse, bbc
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and is responsible for every guide published on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu. Dates, season counts and where-to-watch details in these guides are checked against official sources before publishing, and corrections are welcome at Jordan@Bingenext.com.