Need a thriller binge? These 4 Peacock shows are the best
Need a thriller binge? These 4 Peacock shows are the best
These four thrillers cover true crime, serial killers, conspiracy, and international espionage without feeling like variations of the same show.
Peacock isn’t where I usually go looking for thrillers. Comedy? Definitely. Reality TV? Yes, but not me just because I don’t watch it. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t find some great, intense original and acquired thriller shows on the platform. And they’re all addictive for completely different reasons. Here are my picks for the best binge-worthy thriller shows streaming on Peacock right now.
Best binge-worthy thriller shows streaming on Peacock
Best true-crime binge: ‘Dr. Death’
“Dr. Death” is one of the best true-crime shows I’ve watched, and also one of the most infuriating. Season 1 follows Christopher Duntsch, a neurosurgeon whose surgeries leave patients seriously injured or dead. Joshua Jackson plays him with so much confidence that you start understanding how people kept trusting him, which only makes everything worse. Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater play the doctors trying to stop him, and their growing disbelief basically becomes your own.
Then Season 2 starts over with Paolo Macchiarini (Édgar Ramírez), experimental artificial windpipes, suspicious doctors, and journalist Benita Alexander (Mandy Moore) getting pulled into his life. That anthology setup is great for a binge. Pick either the eight-episode season and watch an unbelievable situation become somehow more unbelievable every hour. The recurring question is basically: surely somebody stops this now, right? Nope.
Dr. Death
An anthology series, with each season following a new medical true crime story.
Best long-haul binge: ‘Mr. Mercedes’
The weird trick “Mr. Mercedes” pulls is telling you who the killer is pretty early. Harry Treadaway plays Brady Hartsfield, who starts tormenting retired detective Bill Hodges (Brendan Gleeson) about the case Hodges never solved. So instead of spending 10 episodes asking “who did it?” you’re watching both guys make moves while only you can see the entire board. Much better.
But three seasons and 30 episodes later, Gleeson is the reason this thing really works. Hodges slowly gathers people around him, especially Holly Gibney (Justine Lupe) and Jerome Robinson (Jharrel Jerome), and the show becomes this strange mix of serial-killer thriller, Stephen King horror, detective story, and dysfunctional little family. It changes quite a bit from season to season, and I actually like that.
Mr. Mercedes
A demented serial killer taunts a retired police detective with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he can strike again.
Best twisty conspiracy binge: ‘The Capture’
Do you believe your own eyes? “The Capture” spends three seasons making that question harder to answer. It starts when CCTV appears to show former soldier Shaun Emery committing a violent crime he says never happened. Holliday Grainger’s Rachel Carey investigates, and before long the problem is much bigger than one suspicious video. Later seasons push into deepfakes, AI, politics, intelligence agencies, and manipulated reality happening in real time.
This is probably the purest binge on the list. Each season is only six episodes, there’s almost no filler, and answers have a nasty habit of making the mystery larger instead of smaller. It also feels really well-timed in 2026. A show about no longer knowing whether video evidence is real hits a little different now.
The Capture
When soldier Shaun Emery’s conviction for a murder in Afghanistan is overturned due to flawed video evidence, he returns to life as a free man with his young daughter. But when damning CCTV footage from a night out in London comes to light, Shaun’s life takes a shocking turn and he must soon fight for his freedom once again.
Best action-thriller binge: ‘The Day of the Jackal’
Turns out watching Eddie Redmayne prepare to assassinate someone is extremely entertaining. “The Day of the Jackal” gets a ton of mileage out of process. Redmayne’s assassin studies locations, builds weapons, creates identities, plans exits, then watches some tiny unforeseen problem threaten the whole thing. Lashana Lynch’s Bianca Pullman is doing the exact opposite, taking whatever he leaves behind and trying to reconstruct the man to stop him.
That gives the show a great cat-and-mouse energy. You know enough about the Jackal’s plan to get nervous when it goes sideways, which occasionally puts you in the awkward position of hoping a professional killer successfully escapes the authorities. His wife also doesn’t fully know what he does, so even getting home safely doesn’t necessarily end the suspense. Ten episodes is maybe a touch longer than this story needed, but watched two or three at a time, it moves. And if you end up loving it, definitely read the book, which is different enough to still keep you guessing.
The Day of the Jackal
An unrivalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.
More binge-worthy thriller TV shows on Peacock:
‘Based on a True Story’
Based on a True Story
The lives of a realtor, a plumber and a former tennis star unexpectedly collide, exposing America’s obsession with true crime, murder and the slow-close toilet seat.
‘Poker Face’
Poker Face
Follow Charlie Cale, a woman with an extraordinary ability to tell when someone is lying, as she hits the road and, at every stop, encounters a new cast of characters and crimes she can’t help but solve.
‘The Resort’
The Resort
An anniversary trip puts a marriage to the test when a couple finds themselves embroiled in one of Yucatan’s most bizarre unsolved mysteries.
‘The Hunting Party’
The Hunting Party
A small team of investigators are assembled to track down and capture the most dangerous killers our country has ever seen, all of whom have just escaped from a top-secret prison that’s not supposed to exist.