Ponies review: A terrific Cold War spy thriller that also has a lot of fun

Fans of The Americans are in a constant state of vigilance, always scanning for another show to give us those chilly Cold War spy vibes – and in Ponies, we’ve got ‘em.

This terrific dramedy has two twists on the set-up: we’re in Moscow, not Washington, so it’s Americans who risk being identified and summarily executed by the Russians, rather than the other way around; and, instead of pretending to be local civilians, here the spies are just pretending not to be spies.

The unlikely heroes are conscientious Bea (Emilia Clarke) and cynical, loudmouthed Twila (Haley Lu Richardson). They originally went to Russia as the wives of diplomats who were really spies but, when they suddenly become the widows of spies, they are stuck for something to do, so then they become… spies.

Without any experience but with a lot more common sense than the menfolk in their lives ever had, as women they are known in the business as Persons of No Interest. Can they stay under the radar?

Taking place in a handsomely realised Soviet Union in the late 1970s – with its icy market squares full of chain-smoking men and fierce women in frightening hats – Ponies is as much a comedy as a drama, droll and offbeat.

Once the espionage action gets going, however, it’s the good stuff, cold and hard: the KGB are wonderfully menacing, the threat of death is real and the atmosphere of fear and suspicion bristles in every poorly lit corner.

At the centre is a character comedy-drama about two lost souls who are surely destined to be each other’s best pal and saviour. Bea is thoughtful, personable, booksmart and speaks Russian; Twila is streetsmart and doesn’t fear death. Their overriding mission is to acquire each other’s qualities so they can survive in the field.

Clarke plays on and then smartly subverts her natural open-faced optimism as Bea, a pure innocent with deep reserves of determination; Richardson, who played Portia in season 2 of The White Lotus, is even better as the abrasive but brittle Twila, who has only ever experienced betrayal and disappointment in her life and thus feels like she has nothing to lose. Both of them are about to feel truly alive for the first time.

Men are supporting players in Ponies, but that support is stout. Adrian Lester enjoys himself as the women’s supervisor, Dane, a debonair CIA veteran whose eyebrows are forever slightly raised at Bea and Twila’s unconventional approach to the job; Artjom Gilz is horrible as Andrei, the KGB enforcer who has an empty sadness behind his eyes that makes him all the more terrifying; Patrick Fabian is amusing as the blustering, self-preserving CIA bureau chief, even before you realise that he’s a pre-politics George HW Bush; and there is a promise of Rob Delaney in future episodes, which should be a treat.

Piled thickly on top of all that is an impeccable 1970s soundtrack, kicking off with almost all of Fleetwood Mac’s Second Hand News over scenes of moustachioed men exchanging coded phrases in a freezing park, and then conducting a car chase in crap Russian cars through a pedestrian subway.

There’s a needle drop every few minutes: James Taylor! Todd Rundgren! Kiki Dee! Boney M! Tenaha-Tempson Boho & Blair! Blondie! Elvis Costello! When you’ve got Climax Blues Band’s tight 1976 banger Couldn’t Get It Right soundtracking a montage of illicit listening devices being constructed, intercut with a sex scene between an American and a Russian who will both soon regret it, truly you are in that Iron Curtain groove.

Ponies might be a tad too flippant to challenge The Americans and achieve proper spy-thriller greatness, but if it doesn’t, that will likely be because it’s too busy having too much fun. For now, comrades, we’ve secured a valuable new asset.

Ponies launches on 22 May on Sky and NOW in the UK, and is streaming now on Peacock in the US.

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