SummaryDuring a state visit, the husband of newly elected British Prime Minister Abigail Dalton (Suranne Jones) is kidnapped and the visiting French president, Vivienne Toussaint (Julie Delpy) is blackmailed in the political thriller written by Matt Charman.
Created By:Matt Charman
Hostage
Season 1 Premiere:
Aug 21, 2025
Metascore
Generally Favorable
62
User score
Mixed or Average
5.1
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All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
50% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
43% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
7% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Aug 21, 2025
80
Hostage is a solid political thriller made better by the performances of Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy, especially when they’re on screen together.
Aug 21, 2025
80
Despite some truly far-fetched storylines and one rather salacious twist, “Hostage” is certainly worth the ride.
User score
Mixed or Average
38% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
24% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
38% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
Aug 29, 2025
10
This show had me hooked from start to finish. I wasn’t planning to binge, but the ‘next episode’ button kept winning.
Oct 2, 2025
8
Hostage is one of those shows you can binge in a single sitting. With just five episodes, it keeps the tension alive from start to finish, never letting up. The pacing is sharp, and each chapter ends in a way that makes you want to keep going, making the experience highly **** script doesn’t reinvent the political thriller, but it maintains a steady pulse, mixing conspiracies, twists, and betrayals that work because the characters always remain at the center. What really matters here isn’t just the plot, but how loyalties collide and how each decision shifts the balance of **** lead actors deliver strong performances, bringing credibility to a story that could have otherwise felt thin. Their chemistry and craft help elevate the **** times it piles on conflict too quickly, but with such a short season, the choice to keep it tight works in its **** the end, Hostage is a compact, tense, and entertaining thriller. It won’t redefine the genre, but it does exactly what it sets out to do: keep you hooked until the very last minute.
Aug 21, 2025
80
This is one of those TV shows that is made for a binge-watch, because although questions arise in every episode, the writers leave just the right number of revelations to keep you invested from start to finish.
Aug 21, 2025
60
A solid binge for viewers who like their thrillers lean, entertaining, and somewhat vacuous.
Aug 20, 2025
60
The trouble is, beneath the series' slick exterior lies a slightly wonky storyline – one that ranges from the shrug-worthy to the downright jump-the-shark.
Aug 21, 2025
40
Neither impressive nor dreadful, the series is adrift in the doldrums of artistry. If they handed out Emmys for dull television, then I am certain “Hostage,” a limited British series now airing on Netflix, would make a clean sweep.
Aug 21, 2025
30
If you have an ensemble of characters who aren’t characters, good luck getting viewers to invest on even a superficial level, and good luck getting anybody to care when thriller conventions demand that you kill somebody off in order to simulate stakes.
Aug 27, 2025
8
Despite some far-fetched plots, it is very good entertaiment. Watched all 5 episodes in 2 days. Highly recommend
Aug 24, 2025
5
I watched Hostage during a long journey and ended up bingeing the entire series in one sitting. It was engaging enough to pass the time, though far from remarkable. If you're looking for something light that doesn't demand too much focus or emotional investment, it gets the job done. The story develops in a very predictable fashion, most of the supposed twists are heavily signposted, so nothing really lands as a genuine surprise. At times, it drifts into soap-opera territory. There are no standout moments or bold narrative risks. Instead, the show sticks to a straightforward, almost formulaic path. That being said, it's easy to consume and has a certain background-entertainment quality, perfect if you just want something to fill the silence or distract you on a long trip. It leaves no lasting impression, and there's nothing compelling enough to make you consider watching it again.
Sep 1, 2025
3
I could only get through a couple of episodes. It all just seems so contrived and unrealistic, you end up not caring about the characters or their motivations, except maybe for the actress playing the PM. The casting is overtly woke, and the French President with an American accent seems particularly out of place. There is so much fine British programming available recently but this isn’t one of them.
Aug 25, 2025
2
High expectations with Jones and Delpy plus a fine team ofBritish actors. And yet, the project embraces every cliche bothin character and in plot. How did this get green lit?
Aug 24, 2025
1
The problem with political thrillers is that, unless they’re anchored in some kind of historical context, they end up feeling like they’re set in a parallel universe. Hostage 2025 is very much that — a world where France and the UK simultaneously elect female leaders, the British Prime Minister slashes the military and strips the show of any remaining testosterone, and the French president plays like a cartoon villain straight out of central ****’s as if Coronation Street’s Suranne Jones suddenly joined Labour and somehow took No.10, while across the Channel the French went full pantomime. My wife likes it, though — says it’s got “feminist vibes.”Ultimately, the whole story can be boiled down to this: the UK no longer has elite forces just a bloke in a jeep… and as a consequence everything turns to ****. I gave it a 1 because the cinematography is decent.
