The Honourable Woman

2014 • BBC
4.6
144 reviews
Eligible
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Season 1 episodes (9)

1 The Empty Chair
7/2/14
Season-only
Nessa Stein is a beautiful and powerful Anglo-Israeli businesswoman who strives for equality and peace in the Middle East, heading up the powerful Stein Foundation with her brother Ephra. As she receives her ennoblement from the House of Lords, Samir Meshal a Palestinian businessman with connections to the family is killed, forcing Nessa and her family to become even more vigilant. With their actions closely monitored by Whitehall and the secret intelligence agencies, both at home and abroad, tensions increase when Kasim, the young son of Atika, the nanny employed by Ephra, is kidnapped.
2 The Unfaithful Husband
7/10/14
Season-only
With the hunt on for Atika's son, the head of MI6's Middle East desk Sir Hugh Hayden-Hoyle starts to look into who killed Meshal and why, leading him to be blocked from any further line of enquiry by his boss Dame Julia Walsh on the instructions of the CIA. However, Julia tells him to look in a different direction which means turning his attention to Nessa. As more of Nessa's past is uncovered, including how she and Atika were kidnapped eight years before in Gaza, Nessa receives a mysterious phone call from a man who threatens to divulge secrets from this time in her past.
3 The Killing Call
7/17/14
Season-only
The mysterious phone calls to Nessa become regular, threatening the kidnapped child Kasim's safety should she not do whatever is asked of her. Israeli family friend Shlomo Zahary has been rejected by Nessa as a future business partner on the grounds she believes she has uncovered corruption in his past, a charge Shlomo passionately. Nathaniel Bloom, Nessa's security advisor, follows a lead he believes will help him uncover the identity of Kasim's kidnappers. However, Nessa is forced to reveal this to her mysterious caller resulting in terrible consequences.
4 The Ribbon Cutter
7/24/14
Season-only
Going back eight years, we see a younger Hayden-Hoyle making his way to the top of the spy business via an affair with current MI6 chief, Dame Julia Walsh who herself has made a pact with the ambitious Monica Chatwin, now eyeing the top job. We also see how Ephra once controlled the Stein Empire and Nessa's consequent abduction in Gaza with Atika (then a translator). Whilst held captive we discover that rather than Atika, Nessa is Kasim's biological mother. It was in fact her that was raped by Saleh Al-Zahid and we see her captors scheme with regards to how she can serve their cause.
5 Two Hearts
7/30/14
Season-only
Forced to carry the child and give birth to Kasim, Atika persuades Nessa to give Kasim over to her so that Nessa can carry on her international work without the stain of this trauma. This is a secret held only by the two of them and the terrorist cell from which they are finally rescued. Returning to the present day, this is the secret that the mysterious telephone voice is using to threaten Nessa. Meanwhile, at a University in Israel a computer science professor uncovers a corrupt admissions policy whereby Arab students are being denied places on courses in favour of Israelis.
6 The Mother Line
8/6/14
Season-only
Nessa discovers that it was Ephra who ordered the wiretap and that Kasim's life hangs in the balance as a new Palestinian businessman, Jalal El Amin demands a partnership in Nessa's data cabling business in return for the boy's safety. The rejected Israeli, Shlomo Zahary, having proved his innocence from corruption and now in tandem with Hayden-Hoyle, begins to investigate exactly how the wiretap was initiated. Saleh Al-Zahid (Nessa's abuser) arrives in London intent on an unknown deadly purpose.
7 The Hollow Wall
8/13/14
Season-only
Realising Israeli powers had only ever wanted to use the Stein name, company and connections for their own political and intelligence affairs, Nessa angrily forges ahead with the data cabling initiative in partnership with Palestinian Jalal El-Amin. Separately, Shlomo and Hayden-Hoyle discover the CIA was also aware of the Israeli wiretap and, aided by Monica Chatwin, have managed to covertly piggy-back on top of it for their own purposes. Events take a dark course when during a visit to the West Bank to launch the latest phase of data cabling, a bomb detonates, seemingly killing Nessa.
8 The Paring Knife
8/20/14
Season-only
Hayden-Hoyle realises that Nessa has been manipulated to become a martyr for exactly this purpose by both Monica Chatwin, working for the Americans and Jalal El-Amin, working for the same Palestinian cell as Atika and Al-Zahid. He also discovers that Samir Meshal had been murdered by the Americans to stop this revelation. However, despite being feared dead, Nessa re-emerges a captive in Hebron, from where she tries to find Kasim and bring him home.
101 An Introduction
7/10/14
Season-only
An introduction to this compelling new political drama starring the Oscar-nominated Maggie Gyllenhaal, and written by BAFTA award-winning Hugo Blick.

About this show

Written and directed by Bafta winner Hugo Blick and starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honourable Woman is a fast-paced thriller set against an international backdrop. As a young girl, Nessa Stein witnessed the assassination of her father by the armed wing of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. Now in her late thirties, Nessa is at the forefront of the Middle East peace process. Ennobled for her campaigning work, the newly made Baroness must fight forces that are conspiring against her as she awards a highly lucrative contract to a Palestinian businessman. When he is subsequently killed, Nessa and her brother come under the close scrutiny of Whitehall and the Secret Intelligence Service. Set against the gripping backdrop of government paranoia and espionage, The Honourable Woman tells the story of one woman's personal journey to right the wrongs conducted in a past life.

Ratings and reviews

4.6
144 reviews
A Google user
October 1, 2014
One of the best dramas I've seen on the BBC. Beautifully acted, deeply felt story about the troubled Middle East, with a wonderful twisting plotline of modern diplomacy and espionage.
A Google user
August 30, 2014
One of the best dramas I think I've ever seen. The plot is so involved and develops at a rate that is both believable whilst maintaining its interest and complexity. Maggie gyllenhall completely blew me away in her role as Nessa Stein, easily her most impressive role.
4 people found this review helpful
Catherine Willis
September 2, 2014
The best dramza on TV for a long time. You need to give it your full attention at all times!