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Judging the all-star cast, the highly popular source material and the early reviews, The Little Drummer Girl, a new miniseries based off John le Carré’s novel which features Michael Shannon, Alexander Skarsgard and Florence Pugh, belongs near the top of your watch list.
All six hour-long episodes of the miniseries will air during a three-night event on AMC: Episodes 1 and 2 on Monday, November 19, at 9 p.m. ET; episodes 3 and 4 on Tuesday, November 20, at 9 p.m. ET; and episodes 5 and 6 on Wednesday, November 21, at 9 p.m. ET
How to Watch The Little Drummer Girl Online Without Cable
If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch a live stream of AMC (or DVR episodes, or watch episodes on-demand) on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for a free trial of one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
AMC is one of 85 channels included in the main Fubo bundle. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the show on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of Cloud DVR (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours), as well as a “72-Hour Lookback” feature, which allows you to watch all episodes up to three days after they air even if you forgot to record them.
AMC is included in Philo’s main 43-channel bundle, which is the cheapest among all streaming services if you plan on keeping it long-term. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch the show on your computer via the Philo website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Philo app.
If you can’t watch live, Philo also allows you to DVR programs and watch them up to 30 days later. And even if you forget to DVR something, Philo also comes with a 72-hour rewind feature, which allows you to replay any episode that has aired in the last three days.
AMC is included in both the “Sling Orange” and “Sling Blue” channel packages. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of either, and you can then watch the show live on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app.
If you can’t watch live, you can get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage as an additional add-on.
Preview
John le Carré’s popular spy novels have long been the source for both film and television adaptations.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was the first when it was turned into a film directed by Martin Ritt in 1965. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was originally turned into a seven-part mini-series from BBC, and then in 2011 it was adapted into a film starring Gary Oldman, ultimately garnering three Oscar nominations and dozens of other awards. Most recently, there was A Most Wanted Man starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Our Kind of Traitor starring Ewan McGregor, and The Night Manager, a critically acclaimed miniseries with Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie.
As The Ringer’s Chris Ryan puts it, this collection of adapted le Carré works is “not quite an expanded universe as much as it is a thinking person’s James Bond.”
These adaptations have typically been very successful, and The Little Drummer Girl looks as though it will continue that trend.
The story features Charlie, a far-left radicalized English actress-turned-spy who gets recruited for an undercover mission to flush out Khalil, a Palestinian terrorist leader responsible for a series of bombings throughout Europe in the 1970s. The deeper she gets, though, the more her allegiances are tested.
It’s a compelling story that makes sense for a television adaptation, but it also helps that it features a star-studded cast and crew.
Charlie is played by fast-rising star Florence Pugh (The Falling, Lady Macbeth), who “delivers effortlessly” with a performance on which “the series hinges on.” She’s joined by Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water, Nocturnal Animals) and Alexander Skarsgaard (True Blood, Big Little Lies), who play the Israeli agents who recruit Charlie.
Bringing it all together is famed director Park Chan-wook, the man behind Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, among others.
“To spend like four or five months with one of the greatest filmmakers on the planet, it’s obviously such a treat for us actors,” Skarsgard said.
Early reviews for The Little Drummer Girl have been excellent.
Writes Ryan: “(The Little Drummer Girl) is a gripping spy thriller set in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict of the late ’70s. But what it says about the psychology of its characters transcends genre or time period.”