Counterpart series airs in full

US spy drama Counterpart, starring J.K. Simmons, which had a premiere episode in June followed by an SBS On Demand screening, now gets a full television broadcast.

The 10 part series, produced for Starz, begins with a double episode.

A thrilling twist on the traditional spy drama, Counterpart gives new meaning to the term ‘double-crossing’. Howard Silk (Academy Award® winner J.K. Simmons) is a lowly cog in the bureaucratic machinery of a Berlin-based spy agency. When Howard discovers that his organisation safeguards a secret crossing into a parallel dimension, he is thrust into a shadow world of intrigue, danger, and danger – where the only man he can trust is his near- identical counterpart from this parallel world. Howard is forced to navigate through an unfamiliar, yet identical, territory that poses the question – can we truly only trust ourselves?

Series One, Episode One: The Crossing
Increasingly dissatisfied with his 29 years as a midlevel bureaucrat in the United Nations Office of Interchange in Berlin, Howard Silk is anxious to do something new. After his boss makes it clear that a promotion isn’t in the cards, Howard learns the position he sought has gone to his colleague, Marcel. Stranded in a job he doesn’t like, Howard is resigned to caring for his comatose wife, Emily, who was hospitalised after being hit by a car. However, his life is upended when Quayle and OI Director of Counterintelligence Aldrich introduce him to Prime, his doppelgänger from a parallel universe created by a Cold War experiment gone awry.

Episode Two: Birds of a Feather
Upon Prime’s return to the Other Side for a visa that will allow him to continue pursuing Baldwin, his ex-wife Emily alerts him to a rendition order that’s been issued for him. After Emily helps him take out the three contractors who’ve been sent to bring him in, Prime finds a note containing the name Nadia Fierro.

Thursday, 23 August at 9.30pm on SBS