Corey Mylchreest | Hostage

• Genre: Political thriller
• Created by: Matt Charman
• Written by: Matt Charman
• Directed by: Isabelle Sieb, Amy Neil
• Starring: Suranne Jones, Julie Delpy, Corey Mylchreest, Ashley Thomas, Martin McCann, Lucian Msamati, James Cosmo, Jehnny Beth
• Music by: Jeff Russo
• No. of episodes: 5
• Executive producers: Matt Charman, Foz Allan, Steve Searle, Suranne Jones
• Running time: 38–46 minutes
• Production companies: Teammakers Productions, Binocular Productions
• Network: Netflix
• Release: 21 August 2025

An international summit between the French and British leaders goes awry when the husband of the British Prime Minister is kidnapped and the French president is blackmailed.

Episode 1

Recently elected Prime Minister Abigail Dalton meets with right wing French President Vivienne Toussaint, who is running for re-election. Toussaint offers to provide the drugs required by the NHS in exchange for stationing French Army soldiers in the UK to deter illegal migrant crossings. Dr. Alex Anderson, Dalton’s husband, is kidnapped with several Doctors Without Borders colleagues on a mission in French Guiana, with the perpetrators demanding Dalton resign within 24 hours. Toussaint promises to instruct the French Foreign Legion to extract him, but in exchange, she demands Dalton acquiesce to her demands for French border forces and soldiers to be stationed on British soil. The kidnappers are tipped off that Toussaint is organising a rescue. Toussaint meets with her stepson, Matheo Lewis, at a London gala. Thomas Mercer, an embedded MI6 agent, locates Anderson and prepares to extract with French forces. However, Toussaint receives a blackmail video of her sleeping with Matheo, with threats to release footage unless the rescue is abandoned and Dalton resigns. Toussaint aborts the mission as Alex and his colleagues are driven away.

Episode 2

Toussaint tells Matheo she is being blackmailed and can’t help Dalton, but allows his friend to analyse her phone. He demands she stop having his current girlfriend, Saskia, followed, but reveals who has been tracking her. Chief of the Defence Staff General Livingston advises Dalton that intervention will be difficult without French military approval. Adomako, Dalton’s Chief of Staff, recommends she inform the Cabinet. Mercer is captured by the kidnappers, and Alex saves his life. Dalton tells Sylvie her dad is a hostage. In a COBRA meeting, Dalton witnesses Alex's colleagues being executed, and Sylvie accuses her of endangering him by not resigning. Alex tries to plead with the kidnappers, whose leader tells him he had a daughter as well. Toussaint and Dalton reveal to each other how they are being blackmailed, but neither is willing to tell the truth to escape. Simon Kingsley, a reporter, publishes the story globally outside of D-Notice jurisdiction. Dalton announces her position in a press conference, confirming she will not resign and that Toussaint has also been blackmailed. Adrienne Pelletier, Toussaint's chief of staff, receives a call from John Shagan, the lead kidnapper, who tells her she is on the ground for a reason.

Episode 3

Dalton raises the threat level to critical, and is confronted in the House of Commons after a child dies from an asthma attack due to medication shortages. She maintains her position and refuses to resign. Sylvie confesses she leaked the story to Kingsley. Toussaint agrees to re-launch the rescue and provide the UK with drugs in exchange for Dalton investigating both their staffs to identify the traitor. Elias, Toussaint’s media mogul husband, tries to distract from the news reports of the blackmail. Dalton has an investigator, Ayesha, run background checks on both teams, and discovers Adomako recently received a large payment to a Cayman Islands account. A French Special Forces team is deployed and rescues the group, but another of Alex’s colleagues is killed. Adomako catches Pelletier trying to tip off the kidnappers and has her arrested, but is still suspended by Dalton pending an investigation. Shagan returns to the UK and, with a team dressed as police officers, instigates a riot at a vigil for the child. He tells Dalton the country will now burn. Saskia is revealed to be working with the kidnappers, and kills Dalton's hospitalised father.

Episode 4

Violent protests orchestrated by Shagan erupt across the country, ostensibly due to the drug shortage. After Home Secretary Michael Hall is violently attacked by protestors, the Cabinet urges Dalton to step down and have Defence Secretary Dan Ogilvy to take over as interim leader. The footage of Toussaint and Matheo has been leaked. Toussaint tells Elias she wants a divorce, and he argues that without his media backing her, she will lose re-election. Anderson identifies Shagan's voice in a recording as the man who shot his colleague. Saskia is instructed to kill Pelletier as she is transferred from the French Embassy, but misses the shot. Dalton and Toussaint announce a drug supply agreement to the press, with Toussaint saying she will no longer allow the wrong people to influence her. Dalton loses a no-confidence vote. Matheo brings Saskia’s laptop to 10 Downing Street, which implicates her in killing Dalton’s father. Toussaint and Dalton discover she is an ex-soldier whose battalion was shut down in Dalton’s Ministry of Defence budget cuts. Shagan detonates a bomb hidden in the laptop, which kills Toussaint instead of Dalton, his intended target.

Episode 5

During her time as a junior Foreign Office minister Dalton orders British civilians to be evacuated from Belize after Guatemala invades, leaving local support staff behind. General Livingston is revealed to be behind the conspiracy and giving Shagan his orders. Ogilvy, now acting Prime Minister, declares a state of emergency following the explosion and deploys the British Army to the streets. Dalton’s team discovered both Shagan and Livingston were stationed in Belize during the evacuation. With the help of Foreign Secretary Kathy MacIntyre, Dalton enters Ministry of Defence Headquarters and confronts Livingston, who is arrested after implicating himself in a fit of rage after criticising her military cuts. Shagan and Saskia kidnap Anderson, Sylvie and Matheo at a safehouse, killing two Protection Command officers. Shagan demands that Dalton take their place. Matheo secretly calls 999 and then fights Saskia, but allows her to flee. Shagan tells Dalton his pregnant Belizean fiancée was killed by invading forces after Dalton ordered only British staff to be evacuated. Before he can kill Dalton, Sylvie takes Saskia’s discarded pistol and shoots Shagan after he confesses to killing her grandfather. The no-confidence vote is voided, and Dalton is reinstated as Prime Minister. Three months later, she announces a general election and, in tribute to Toussaint, promises utmost honesty with the electorate.