20 best shows like The Riddle of the Sands (1979)

Everything changes when Alex Rider learns that his uncle Ian has actually been killed in the line of duty as a British spy. The normal teen is approached by the head of The Department and pressured to help investigate his uncle's death. Alex reluctantly assumes a new identity and goes undercover in a remote boarding school called Point Blanc.

Falling Skies opens in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the six months since the initial invasion, the few survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force.

A security consultant hunts for a ruthless assassin. Based on the Villanelle novellas by Luke Jennings.

House of Anubis is a jointly Nickelodeon British, American, and Belgian mystery television series based on the Dutch-Belgian television series Het Huis Anubis aired in the Netherlands and Belgium. The series was created by Hans Bourlon and Gert Verhulst and premiered on Nickelodeon on New Year's Day 2011 in the United States and on 25 February 2011 in the United Kingdom. The series is the first Nickelodeon series to be filmed overseas, the first soap opera created by Nickelodeon and the channel's first soap opera aimed at children and teenagers. As of 25 February, the program will be broadcast on TeenNick. The show has since concluded its third season and as of 28 September 2013 Nickelodeon has not announced a fourth season.

Following an emotional breakup, tough but tender FBI super-agent Will Chase (codename: “Whiskey Cavalier”) is assigned to work with badass CIA operative Frankie Trowbridge (codename: “Fiery Tribune”). Together, they lead an inter-agency team of flawed, funny and heroic spies who periodically save the world (and each other) while navigating the rocky roads of friendship, romance and office politics.

Years after a disastrous job in Baluchistan, a former Indian spy must confront his past when he returns to lead an unsanctioned hostage-rescue mission.

In a world mostly wiped out by the plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil, the fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail and a handful of survivors. Their worst nightmares are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the Dark Man.

A North American spin-off of the hit U.K. television series, Primeval: New World follows a specialized team of animal experts and scientists that investigates the appearance of temporal anomalies and battles both prehistoric and futuristic creatures.

Each episode transports the audience to worlds of wonder through the lens of today’s most imaginative filmmakers, directors and writers. A reimagining of the original anthology series by Steven Spielberg.

Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) puts together a team of agents to investigate the new, the strange and the unknown around the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.

After a massive alien artifact lands on Earth, Niko Breckinridge leads an interstellar mission to track down its source and make first contact.

Richard Mayhew leads an ordinary life in London when one day a girl named Door falls, injured, across his path. The next thing he knows, his life is gone and he's pulled into the fantastical world of London Below. Pursued by the murderous Messrs. Croup and Vandemar, Door and Richard with the help of Hunter and the Marquis de Carabas, attempt to find the Angel Islington, who knows the secret behind the murder of Door's family, and possibly a way for Richard to go home.

James is 17 and is pretty sure he is a psychopath. Alyssa, also 17, is the cool and moody new girl at school. The pair make a connection and she persuades him to embark on a darkly comedic road trip in search of her real father.

"The Game" is a 1970s Cold War spy thriller set in the world of espionage. It tells the story of the invisible war fought by MI5 as it battles to protect the nation from the threats of the Cold War.

Ichabod Crane is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to the founding fathers.

Nessa Stein, the daughter of a Zionist arms procurer who as a child witnessed his assassination. Now an adult, Nessa inherits her father's company and changes course from supplying arms to laying data cabling networks between Israel and the West Bank. Her efforts to reconcile the Israelis and Palestinians lands her an appointment to the House of Lords and creates an international political maelstrom.

On the run from their pimp and his henchmen, three women embark on a wild and crazy journey in search of freedom.

Danny is a gregarious, hedonistic romantic who gets drawn into the dangerous world of British espionage in this contemporary, emotional thriller. He falls for the anti-social but enigmatic Alex, both from opposite worlds, and they soon realise they’re perfect for each other. But when Alex suddenly disappears, Danny is utterly ill-equipped to take on his complex and codified world. Young, innocent and adrift he needs to decide whether he’s prepared to fight for the truth?

Allie Fox—a brilliant inventor and stubborn idealist—uproots his family for a dangerous quest through Mexico to flee the U.S. government and find safety.

Heroic U.S. Army scientist Dr. Nancy Jaax, working with a secret military specialized team, puts her life on the line to head off an Ebola outbreak before it spread to the human population.

The provocative story of Cole, a time traveler from a decimated future in a high-stakes race against the clock. Utilizing a dangerous and untested method of time travel, he journeys from 2043 to the present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will all but annihilate the human race.

Stephen Ezard's search for the truth about the death of his brother Michael catapults him into an international conspiracy and a passionate love affair.

This thriller series focuses on an anti-terrorist unit agent named Jai Singh Rathod who has twenty-four hours to save the country from a major terrorist attack.

A young priest enlists the help of a demon hunter and a paranormal expert to search for a kidnapped girl in the underworld of Mexico City.

The disastrous meltdown of a nuclear power plant in Northern Spain created a contaminated no-go zone and left the nearby provincial city and inhabitants in a state of shock and mourning. Three years later, while the city prepares for the commemoration ceremony, a mutilated body is found in a warehouse. Police inspector Hector Uria's search for the murderer takes him deep into the no-go zone and into his own past.

What happens when a man who believes he has retired from MI6 is called back to do one more job to regain his life, only to discover that this job may mean he has no life to go back to.

A shipping magnate hires four experts from various fields to investigate what happened to his ships that went missing in the Bermuda Triangle. The team discovers a threat that might unravel time itself and cause the world to end.

Drive is an American action drama television series set against the backdrop of an illegal cross-country automobile road race, focusing on the willing and unwilling competitors and, as the plot develops, the unseen puppet masters who sponsor the race. Minear has described the show's thematic tone by saying "a secret, illegal, underground road race can be anything from Cannonball Run to The Game to North by Northwest to Magnolia-on-wheels. Ours is all those things."

Driven by revenge, human-turned-vampire Mia sets out to vanquish Dmitry, a ruthless vampire leader who seeks an artifact that grants immortality.

Russian Empire. The second decade of the twentieth century. As a result of the conflict between the Entente and the bloc of the Central Powers led by Germany, which erupted in August 1914, Russia is drawn into the First World War. A wave of unrest is rolling through the country. Revolutionary moods are increasing every day. Counterintelligence is trying with all its might to suppress the activity of German spies active in the territory of the country ...

This three-part, self-contained limited series is about the newest member of the Midnight Society, her first scary tale, and what happens to the group when the terrifying events of her story start to actually happen in their small town.

The Last Templar is a four-hour Canadian miniseries, based on the 2005 novel The Last Templar, which aired in the U.S. on January 25 and 26, 2009, starring Mira Sorvino, Scott Foley, Victor Garber, Anthony Lemke, Kenneth Welsh, Danny Blanco Hall and Omar Sharif. The miniseries is produced by Muse Entertainment Enterprises. Emmy Award-winning Robert Halmi Sr., along with Robert Halmi Jr., and Michael Prupas are the executive producers.

C.L.I.F. is a police procedural series produced by MediaCorp Singapore in 2011 in collaboration with the Singapore Police Force. It was aired from 31 May - 27 Jun 2011 on free-to-air MediaCorp Channel 8 and consists of 20 episodes. The drama stars Tay Ping Hui, Qi Yuwu, Elvin Ng, Joanne Peh, Chris Tong and Tracy Lee in the main roles with a large ensemble supporting cast. It was directed by Chong Liung Man, who previously directed another award-winning police procedural C.I.D., which also starred Tay and Qi in the lead roles as police officers.

A post-apocalyptic story about a botched U.S. government experiment that turns a group of death row inmates into highly infectious vampires, and an orphan girl who might be the only person able to stop the ensuing crisis.

21 year-old slacker Sam Oliver learns that his parents sold his soul to the devil before he was born, and now Sam has to repay the debt by becoming the Devil's bounty hunter, retrieving souls that have somehow escaped from Hell.

A military attaché at the French embassy is drawn into a world of abduction, betrayal and intrigue in the diplomatic salons and back alleys of Warsaw. A classic tale of spying, intrigue, and romance, based on the novels of Alan Furst and adapted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.

Odyssey 5 is a Canadian science fiction series that first ran in 2002 on Showtime in the United States and on Space in Canada.Odyssey 5 is the brainchild of Manny Coto, who served as a script-writer and executive producer during the series run. Through his website and in interviews, Coto has expressed his interest in returning to the series at some point, either continuing it or giving it a conclusion.