Slow Horses

Slow Horses is a British spy thriller television series based on the Slough House series of novels by Mick Herron. The series premiered on Apple TV+ on 1 April 2022. The second series, Dead Lions, premiered on 2 December 2022. In June 2022, the series was renewed for a third and fourth series. The third series premiered on 29 November 2023. The fourth series is set to premiere on 4 September 2024. In January 2024, it was renewed for a fifth series, which will be based on the fifth book in the series, London Rules.

Premise
Slough House is an administrative purgatory for MI5 service rejects who have bungled their job but have not been sacked. Those consigned there are known as "slow horses" - a pun on "Slough House". They are expected to endure dull, paper-pushing tasks, along with occasional mental abuse from their miserable boss, Jackson Lamb, who expects them to quit out of boredom or frustration. Life in Slough House is defined by drudgery. Yet the Slow Horses somehow get involved investigating schemes endangering Britain.

Main

 * Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, the head of Slough House who is slovenly and rude, but has a sharp and devious mind, and retains his abilities as an experienced intelligence officer.
 * Jack Lowden as River Cartwright, an up-and-coming and visibly competent MI5 agent shunted aside to Slough House after a very public training-exercise mistake.
 * Kristin Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner, the Deputy Director General of MI5 and head of operations and designated "Second Desk".

Slough House

 * Saskia Reeves as Catherine Standish, the office administrator and a recovering alcoholic enamored with her deceased superior.
 * Olivia Cooke as Sidonie "Sid" Baker (season 1), a competent MI5 agent inexplicably assigned to Slough House.
 * Rosalind Eleazar as Louisa Guy, assigned after a tail operation went badly.
 * Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho, an obnoxious computer expert and former hacktivist.
 * Steven Waddington as Jed Moody (series 1), an ex-member of the "Dogs", an MI5 internal affairs and tactical unit.
 * Dustin Demri-Burns as Min Harper (series 1–2), assigned after leaving a top-secret disk on the train.
 * Paul Higgins as Struan Loy (series 1), assigned after sending an inappropriate work email.
 * Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Shirley Dander (series 2–present), who has anger and drug issues.
 * Kadiff Kirwan as Marcus Longridge (series 2–present), who tends to gamble on the job.

Others
Notable other characters appearing in more than one series include:


 * Jonathan Pryce as David Cartwright, River Cartwright's grandfather, a retired MI5 officer.
 * Chris Reilly as Nick Duffy (series 1–3), head of MI5's internal affairs and tactical unit nicknamed the "Dogs".
 * Chris Coghill as Hobbs (series 1 & 3), a member of the Dogs.
 * Samuel West as Peter Judd MP, a rising right-wing Conservative politician (series 1) and later Home Secretary (series 2–3).
 * Sophie Okonedo as Ingrid Tearney (series 1 & 3), the Director General of MI5, often referred to as "First Desk".
 * Freddie Fox as James "Spider" Webb (series 1–3), an MI5 agent based at Regent's Park headquarters.
 * Naomi Wirthner as Molly Doran (series 2–present), an MI5 records keeper at Regent's Park.

Notable other characters appearing in Series 1 (Slow Horses) include:


 * Antonio Aakeel as Hassan Ahmed, Leeds University student kidnapped by the Sons of Albion.
 * Paul Hilton as Robert Hobden, a disgraced and struggling journalist with ties to extremist far-right groups.
 * Sam Hazeldine as Moe, the leader of the Sons of Albion, an extremist far-right group, with a secret to hide.
 * Brian Vernel as Curly, a fanatical member of the Sons of Albion.
 * Stephen Walters as Zeppo, a member of the Sons of Albion.
 * David Walmsley as Larry, a member of the Sons of Albion.
 * James Faulkner as Charles Partner (in flashbacks), a former Director General of MI5 during the Cold War, whom Standish worked for as his personal assistant.

Notable other characters appearing in Series 2 (Dead Lions) include:
 * Rade Šerbedžija as Nikolai Katinsky, a former KGB agent living in exile in London after defecting at the end of the Cold War.
 * Marek Vašut as Andre Chernitsky, a former KGB operative and assassin who operated during the Cold War.
 * Alec Utgoff as Arkady Pashkin, a fixer for oligarch Ilya Nevsky.
 * Catherine McCormack as Alex Tropper, a local resident in the small village of Upshott, the wife of Duncan and mother of Kelly.
 * Adrian Rawlins as Duncan Tropper, a pub owner in Upshott, the husband of Alex and father of Kelly.
 * Tamsin Topolski as Kelly Tropper, a pub barmaid in Upshott and the daughter of Alex and Duncan.
 * Phil Davis as Richard Bough, aka Dickie Bow, a former MI5 officer, who is disgraced and long since retired.

Notable other characters appearing in Series 3 (Real Tigers) include:
 * Sope Dirisu as Sean Donovan, a former head of security at the British embassy in Istanbul.
 * Katherine Waterston as Alison Dunn, a MI5 agent who uncovers a dark secret at the heart of the agency.
 * Sion Young as Douglas, an MI5 records keeper.
 * Charlie Rowe as Ben, a member of Donovan's team.
 * Eliot Salt as Sarah, a member of Donovan's team.
 * Gavin Spokes as Sly Monteith, head of the private security firm Chieftain.
 * Nick Blood as Sturges, a Chieftain operative.

For its fourth season, the show has cast Hugo Weaving as Frank Harkness, Ruth Bradley as Emma Flyte, James Callis as Claude Whelan, Joanna Scanlan as Moira Tregorian, and Tom Brooke as J.K. Coe.

Series 1: Slow Horses (2022)
Slow Horses is based on the novel of the same name by Mick Herron, which is part of the author's Slough House series. It tells the story of a team of British intelligence agents who have all committed career-ending mistakes, and subsequently work in a dumping ground department of MI5 called Slough House.

Production
The series was given a straight to series order by Apple TV+ in October 2019, with Gary Oldman announced to star. The cast was rounded out in December 2020 with the additions of Olivia Cooke, Jonathan Pryce, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden. Initially the production was to consist of two series, but three additional series have since been ordered. Each series has been based on an individual book in the Slough House series.

Filming of the first series began on 30 November 2020 in England, and continued into February 2021. In July 2021, filming continued in Stroud, Gloucestershire. It was originally intended to film earlier in 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June 2022, ahead of the second series premiere, the series was renewed for third and fourth series, which will be based on the next novels in the series, Real Tigers and Spook Street. Saul Metzstein has been announced as the director of series 3. , filming of Season 3 had been completed and filming of Season 4 was about to begin. Series 4 is directed by Adam Randall.

The title track "Strange Game" was performed by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, who wrote the song exclusively for the show together with the show's composer Daniel Pemberton.

Reception
The first series received highly positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes lists a 95% approval rating with an average rating of 7.7/10, based on 60 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Slow Horses refreshes the espionage genre by letting its band of snoops be bumbling, with Gary Oldman giving a masterclass in frumpy authority." On Metacritic, the first series has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 22 critics.

Rotten Tomatoes reports a 100% approval rating for the second series, with an average rating of 8.5/10, based on 26 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus says, "Slow Horses says nay to the sophomore jinx with a second series that might be even better than its supremely addictive predecessor." On Metacritic, series two has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 based on 10 critics. Oldman was nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for his portrayal of Lamb for the second series.

The third series received a 98% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes, with an average of 8.5/10, based on 42 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus says, "Slow Horses' shabby charms reach a full gallop in this superb third season, yielding what might just be Slough House's most compelling operation yet." On Metacritic, series three has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 18 critics. Oldman was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for his portrayal of Lamb for the third series.