The thriller, now on its third series, has been described as ‘frightening’ with ‘intelligent twists and turns’
Nicola Roy Multimedia content creator
12:12, 22 Mar 2026
The show is currently on its third season(Image: BBC/Heyday Films/Nick Wall)
If you’re after a new and exciting series to immerse yourself in this week, there’s one available on BBC iPlayer that’s been branded ‘the best thriller on TV’.
Those fascinated by conspiracy theories will be captivated by this, with each episode packed with jaw-dropping twists, proving you can never truly predict what’s around the corner.
The Capture first aired back in 2019 and is currently on its third series with new episodes dropping every Sunday. Since its debut, it has received glowing praise from television critics and audiences alike. It stars Holliday Grainger as DI Rachel Carey, a Metropolitan Police detective who becomes caught up in the realm of real-time deepfake technology.
The programme’s central premise centres around a procedure called ‘Correction,’ a government operation where intelligence services ‘correct’ or alter live CCTV footage in real-time to create false evidence – implicating suspects in crimes they may not have committed in the way the recordings suggest.
Rachel is ambitious and always in search of the truth(Image: BBC/Heyday Films/Nick Wall)
In the first series, Rachel examines a soldier, Shaun Emery (portrayed by Dua Lipa’s fiancé Callum Turner), whose conviction for a war crime is overturned, only for him to be captured on camera supposedly committing something unspeakable moments afterwards.
As she delves further, she discovers the footage she’s examining has been doctored by a shadowy intelligence programme involving both British and American operatives, reports the Express.
By the second series, it escalates from CCTV to the manipulation of live news transmissions and political meddling. The story centres on rising politician Isaac Turner (Paapa Essiedu), who falls victim to a devastating “real-time deepfake” hack while appearing on television, threatening to destroy both his career and national security.
In the third series, set twelve months after the second ended, Rachel is now serving as Acting Commander of Counter Terrorism Command and is working to rebuild public confidence in surveillance via Operation Veritas, a cutting-edge camera system engineered to be impervious to threats.
But it rapidly unravels following a significant incident, with just one witness – herself.
The fast-paced thriller is so gripping and fans can’t get enough(Image: BBC/Universal International Studios/Laurence Cendrowicz)
Critics have heaped praise on The Capture since its debut, with the Radio Times proclaiming it ‘the best thriller on TV’. James Hibbs wrote: “This season hews closely to what made the first two runs successful, and does so brilliantly. It still has that real sense of pace that was palpable in the first two seasons.
“When a mystery comes up, it will either be solved fairly quickly, or a new spanner will be quickly thrown into the works to complicate things. It’s something a lot of thrillers could learn from, all those shows which pad out their runtime with so little resolution or forward momentum.”
It boasts a score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, with one fan commenting: “You would be hard pressed to find another spy series with as many intelligent twists and turns as this one. It’s compelling viewing with frightening implications.”
Another wrote: “An absolute belter! A disturbing series about the threat of deepfake technology. Whilst we’re not quite at the level depicted in the show, it effectively highlights its dangers.”
You can stream The Capture free on BBC iPlayer.