Damian Lewis' 'A Spy Among Friends' Lands At Newly Rechristened MGM+

Since announcing its first slate of four originals in 2020, BritBox UK has undergone significant changes, not the least of which was the BBC leaving the British side of the enterprise after ITV moved it under its streaming service, ITVX. The fate of the titles BritBox was producing varied: Magpie Murders has been a massive success on PBS; The Beast Must Die was a modest success on AMC+ but a second season seems to have disappeared; Irvine Welsh's Crime series flopped. The last title, A Spy Among Friends, has struggled along, only just arriving in the U.K. in December 2022, and finally picked up for the U.S. by the newly renamed MGM+.

A Spy Among Friends was first announced in July 2020, with Damian Lewis and Dominic West tapped as leads, a joint venture of BritBox UK and Spectrum Originals, the latter of which most people never heard of. By the time the show was put into production in October 2021, West had exited for The Crown, with Guy Pearce taking over the role.

Unfortunately, streaming services can only last so long without people knowing they exist. Though, like Peacock, Spectrum was subsidized by its parent cable company Spectrum TV, it never really took off, with its few originals (like the Mad About You revival and L.A's Finest, a Bad Boys TV spinoff) never making a cultural impact. In August 2022, Spectrum Originals shut down, and what was left was shopped to other streaming services, leaving A Spy Among Friends in limbo. The good news for viewers is A Spy Among Friends has been rescued. The bad news is that it was rescued by another streamer you've never heard of: MGM+.