Image via MGM+Published Nov 15, 2026, 3:00 PM EST
Lade Omotade is a News and Features Author at Collider, covering everything from casting announcements and streaming trends to behind-the-scenes stories and the cultural impact of today's biggest film and TV franchises. Since joining the team in 2024, she has written more than 1,000 news stories, with her work also cited by outlets like AOL and IMDb.
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Gemma Arterton is best known for playing Bond girl Strawberry Fields in the 2008 film Quantum of Solace, a role that earned her an Empire Award for Best Newcomer. Since then, she has delivered acclaimed performances on stage, television, and in blockbuster films, including Clash of the Titans, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, and The King's Man.
Most recently, she took on the role of an MI6 officer leading an investigation into a Russian plot to infiltrate the British Cabinet ahead of a leadership election. Titled Secret Service, the espionage thriller follows Arterton's Kate Henderson, a senior agent and head of the Russia Desk, whose covert investigation uncovers evidence suggesting a senior U.K. politician is a Russian asset. Kate must navigate political loyalties, international threats, and personal sacrifice to expose them before her career and the investigation collapse.
Secret Service makes its official U.S. debut this month, following its U.K. premiere earlier this year. The spy thriller inspired by Tom Bradby's book premiered at the Italian Global Series Festival before airing on U.K. network ITV1 in April, where its first episode drew 3.9 million viewers. It will premiere on MGM+ next week, on November 22, 2026, at 10/9c, for not only audiences in the U.S., but also in Canada, Latin America, and Italy.
James Marsh and Farren Blackburn directed Secret Service, while Bradby adapted the espionage thriller with Jemma Kennedy. Gail Egan and Andrea Calderwood executive produce alongside Bradby and Chloe Sizer. The British series also stars Rafe Spall, Aoife Hinds, Amaka Okafor, Avi Nash, Alex Kingston, Mark Stanley, Roger Allam, Alma Prelec, and Khalid Abdalla.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which British Mystery Series Should You Live In? Midsomer · Broadchurch · Luther · Vera
Answer eight quick questions and we will tell you which one you belong in. Four of the biggest British detective shows ever made, four completely different tones, and four very different ideas of what a detective is for.
🏡Midsomer(Midsomer Murders)
🌊Broadchurch(Broadchurch)
🌚Luther(Luther)
🧥Vera(Vera)
FIND YOUR SERIES →
01
Where would you most want to live? Pick the one that sounds most like you.
AA village with a very old pub. BA seaside town under a cliff. CA flat in east London. DSomewhere windy with a long view.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
How do you feel about your neighbours? Be honest.
AI know all of them and their business. BWe genuinely look out for each other. CI have never met a single one. DThey know to leave me to it.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
How would your friends describe you? Pick the closest answer.
ACheerful, and a little bit nosy. BKind, and you feel everything. CIntense. Occasionally alarming. DBlunt, and usually right.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
How do you solve a problem at work? One answer only.
AChat to everybody until it clicks. BPatiently, and it costs me something. CStraight through the middle of it. DAsk the question nobody else will.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
Pick a coat. No wrong answers here.
AA waxed jacket and wellies. BWhatever was nearest the door. CA long dark overcoat. DA battered hat and an old mac.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
How do you take bad news? Pick the closest answer.
AMake tea and sit down with it. BTake it personally, every time. CGo very quiet, then move fast. DGet straight on with the job.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
What is your relationship with the rules? Think about work, not parking.
ARules are what hold a place together. BI follow them and they still fail people. CRules are for people with more time. DI bend the ones that get in the way.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What matters most to you in a case? Last one. This is the one that decides it.
AThat the village gets its peace back. BThat the family finally gets an answer. CThat whoever did it is stopped. DThat somebody finally listened.
REVEAL MY SERIES →
Previously, On ITV Your Series Is…
Britain makes more detective television than any country has any business making, and somehow almost all of it is good. Here is the one you belong in, what it says about you, and the case for it being the best of the four.
Midsomer Murders
You want the tea, the gossip and the vicar behaving oddly. Midsomer is a county where the scenery is beautiful, the fete is on Saturday and the murder rate is roughly that of a small war, and absolutely nobody involved thinks this is strange.
- You are sociable, curious and the first to notice that somebody has changed their routine.
- It has been running since 1997 and sells to well over two hundred territories worldwide.
- John Nettles handed over to Neil Dudgeon in 2011 and the show did not miss a step.
- Your flaw is that the line between caring about people and enjoying the gossip is thinner than you admit.
Broadchurch
You feel other people's grief as if it were handed to you personally. Broadchurch is less a whodunnit than a study of what a small town does to itself when it finds out that the answer was always going to be somebody everybody already knew.
- You are the one people tell the truth to, and you carry all of it afterwards.
- Olivia Colman won the BAFTA for Best Actress for the first series and David Tennant has never been better.
- Chris Chibnall wrote it before taking over Doctor Who, and took Jodie Whittaker with him.
- Your risk is absorbing so much of other people's pain that nobody notices yours.
Luther
You go through things rather than around them. John Luther is the best detective in London and a liability to everybody who works with him, and the show is completely honest that those two facts are the same fact.
- You are the one people call when the normal approach has already failed.
- Idris Elba won a Golden Globe for it in 2012 and it made him a film star more or less overnight.
- Luther: The Fallen Sun arrived on Netflix in 2023 and took the character properly cinematic.
- Your weakness is that doing the right thing your way still leaves a mess for somebody else.
Vera
You say the thing and you do not dress it up. Vera Stanhope turns up in a hat and a mac, is rude to almost everybody, and is the only person in the room prepared to ask the question that the family has been waiting years for somebody to ask.
- You have no patience for performance, and the people who like you really like you.
- Brenda Blethyn played her for fourteen series before stepping away, and ITV ended the show rather than recast.
- Ann Cleeves wrote the novels, and also wrote the books behind Shetland, which is the same trick in a colder place.
- Your flaw is that blunt and kind can be the same thing, but only if people already know you.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
Gemma Arterton Becomes a Schemer After 'Secret Service'
Arterton next stars in The Portrait of a Lady, a six-episode TV adaptation premiering on MASTERPIECE on PBS in the U.S. and Canada, and on iPlayer and BBC One in the U.K. Based on Henry James's classic novel, the story follows Isabel Archer (portrayed by Nell Tiger Free), a vivacious young American who travels to Europe, eager to experience all life has to offer.
Charming and innately curious, Isabel turns down several marriage proposals. But after inheriting an unexpected fortune that promises her freedom, she falls prey to two American expat schemers: the elegant Madame Merle, played by Arterton, and the charming yet calculating Gilbert Osmond, played by Jim Sturgess. Filming reportedly began earlier in July, with production taking place across the U.K., Hungary, and Croatia. A premiere date for The Portrait of a Lady has yet to be announced.
Secret Service begins streaming on MGM+ next week.
Release Date November 22, 2026
Network ITV1
Directors James Marsh, Farren Blackburn
Writers Jemma Kennedy, Tom Bradby
Cast
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Rafe Spall
Stuart Henderson
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Alexander Mercury
Sergei Malinski
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Roger Allam
Sir Alan Brabazon









English (US) ·