A kidnapping in French Guiana forces two heads of state into an impossible bargain in Hostage, a 2025 British political thriller built around the British prime minister and the French president.
What is Hostage about?
Suranne Jones plays Abigail Dalton, a British prime minister already under pressure over a defense budget cut and a strained health service, when her husband is taken hostage while doing aid work abroad. Julie Delpy plays French President Vivienne Toussaint, who finds herself blackmailed by the kidnappers just as the two leaders are due to meet for a high-stakes summit. Corey Mylchreest, Ashley Thomas, Martin McCann, Isobel Akuwudike, Hiftu Quasem, and Sophie Robertson fill out a cast caught between the personal crisis and the political fallout it creates. Rather than framing the kidnapping as an isolated crime, the series threads it through diplomatic pressure and hidden motives on both sides of the Channel, weighing whether the two leaders cooperate or protect their own interests first. Set in the United Kingdom and told as a five-part limited series, the show keeps the hostage's fate and the political standoff running in parallel across its episodes.
About the cast
Jones anchors the series as a prime minister forced to manage a personal crisis and a diplomatic one at the same time, while Delpy plays the French president whose own position is compromised by the same kidnapping. Mylchreest, Thomas, McCann, Akuwudike, Quasem, and Robertson round out a cast spanning the people around both leaders.
Context & significance
Hostage was directed by Isabelle Sieb and Amy Neil and released in 2025 as a five-part political thriller, positioning itself within the crowded but reliably popular genre of British political-crime thrillers. The show leans on procedural and diplomatic tension rather than action set pieces, building its stakes through dialogue, timing, and the slow reveal of who actually benefits from the standoff.
Watching Hostage on Ktime
Hostage (2025) can be streamed on K-Time after logging into a free account, with a Farsi-language interface that makes browsing straightforward. Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles are both available for the series.