one of the newer arrivals worth your time, The Assassin is currently streaming in Australia on Stan, and in the US on AMC Plus Apple TV Channel and YouTube TV with a 7/10 audience score that speaks for itself. 6 episodes — the right length to tell the story it is telling. Television that earns its era label is rarer than the number of shows attempting it suggests — most of what gets called prestige TV is really just expensive TV. The Assassin is one of the genuine examples: the craft is there in the writing, the performances, and the way it handles its subject matter. Keeley Hawes's involvement signals the kind of production that attracts serious talent and uses it properly. Available now on streaming — no excuses left for not watching it.

Originally commissioned by Prime Video, The Assassin quickly became exactly the kind of show that viewers rearrange their evenings for. Secluded on a remote Greek island, retired assassin Julie has a somewhat thorny reunion with her estranged son, Edward, visiting from England. Armed with questions around new information on his paternity, Edward battles to find the right time to speak to his frustratingly distant mother. But, when the moment finally presents itself, things take a deadly turn as Julie’s dangerous past catches up with her and they are forced to flee the island and go on the run together. The series ran for 2 seasons from 2025, building a story that gave its audience time to invest properly. What distinguishes the best crime dramas from the rest is whether the character work can carry episodes where the mystery takes a breath — The Assassin passes that test consistently. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

If you are the type who cannot walk away from a good mystery, The Assassin will keep you watching far longer than you planned. The run is short enough to finish in a weekend but substantial enough to feel satisfying. The procedural elements give the show its rhythm, but it is the character development across the run that creates genuine investment. Viewers who think they have seen every variation of the crime drama format tend to find The Assassin goes somewhere they were not expecting. The writing takes the genre seriously without disappearing into self-referential games, and the result is a show with genuine momentum — the kind where you finish an episode and immediately start the next.