Prime Video's 'Steal' is a Relentless Thriller that Refuses to Let You Breathe
A normal day at the work turns into the biggest heist of the century, turning office politics into an all out war-zone
This is the day of all days at work that you wished you clocked out…
There’s something uniquely cruel about a thriller that takes place where you’re supposed to feel safe: secured building, badged entry, routine. Steal weaponizes that familiarity by turning it into a gilded cage—and refuses to ever let you cat your breath.
All six episodes drop at once Wednesday on Prime Video and, by the time the first hour ends, you’ll understand why binge culture can feel like both a gift and a curse. This series doesn’t ease you in. The first episode comes at you like a shotgun blast to the face—you beg for the firing to end but it never does, and you can’t look away.
A high-octane story inside a pressure cooker
Created and written by Sotiris Nikias, Steal centers on Zara (Sophie Turner), an ordinary office worker at pension fund investment firm Lochmill Capital, whose mundane life is immediately and violently derailed when a gang forces her—and her best mate Luke (Archie Madekwe)—to help execute the heist of the century.
Billions of pounds. People’s pensions. No clean way out.
Opposite them is DCI Rhys Covac (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), a man chasing the truth while battling his own demons and financial desperation. It’s a collision of personal hell and institutional rot, and the series knows exactly how to exploit that tension.
Sound, the underrated character
The use of sound is a powerful force in delivering this jaw-dropping, heart-stopping thriller. One particular scene in the first episode (no spoilers here) is deeply harrowing—silence, a prayer, and a hope that said prayer would get answered stands out because of the absence of ambient room noise. The muffled hearing, shaking breaths, and pounding heart while watching a train wreck leaves the audience in auditory suspension—this method is so effective it feels invasive. You don’t watch it. You endure it.
This is where Steal understands the assignment. It doesn’t have to rush because there is nowhere for you to go.
Truth, deception, and the blame-game
Inside job or setup designed to look that way?
The theme of 2026 with film and television seems to weave in incredibly unguessable plot twists and Steal falls right in line. Trust, deception, greed. Who does the finger point to and who’s pulling the strings to lead you down a pre-destined path? Zara and Luke may be in too deep, but they’re not alone. Everyone becomes a suspect. Relationships fracture. Paranoia spreads. Your next move needs to be your best move or it’ll be the last move you ever make.
But what ensures a whirlwind of carefully thought out espionage? Layers within layers of carefully crafted lies dusted with enough truth that puts it just on the right side of believable. This crafting sends the series into a vast and highly-constructed IT web masking territory—where the truth bounces from server to server with no hope of landing on the real mastermind in sight.
Yet the show still powers forward. What starts as a simple heist (is there even such a thing) turns into whatever version of chaos that gets put through a wood chipper then spat out…in the best way possible. And if you’re someone who loves shows built around mission-driven checkpoints, Steal is engineered for you.
Lingering thoughts
Steal keeps you guessing until you’re exhausted. Then it asks the question that sticks: what would you do if £4 billion was sitting in front of you like a carrot but with no strings attached?
This series is emotionally unyielding. It interrogates morality, wage disparity, and desperation without pretending there is a clean cut answer. It asks how far you’d go to change your circumstances—and what happens when the plan collapses under the weight of human fear.
The performances by Turner and Madekwe amplify this sentiment, making you both root for them and scream at them at every choice and misstep. Their on-screen chemistry appears to manifest in a bond rooted in teamwork—a potential pre-production decision made to be there for one another no matter what. And with £4 billion on the line, they have no choice.
The verdict
Steal might be one of the strongest thriller series of 2026. The only real risk? That in a binge-first ecosystem, something this well executed could be talked about intensely and then forgotten just as fast.
It deserves better.
Steal premieres Wednesday, January 21 on Prime Video. All six episodes will be available to stream at once. Check out the trailer below.
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