Slow Horses

File:Slow Horses series promotional image.png
Genre	Drama Spy thriller
Based on	Slow Horses by Mick Herron
Written by	Morwenna Banks Will Smith Jonny Stockwood Mark Denton
Directed by	James Hawes Jeremy Lovering
Starring	Gary Oldman Jack Lowden Kristin Scott Thomas
Theme music composer	Mick Jagger
Composer(s)	Daniel Pemberton Toydrum
Country of origin	United Kingdom United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producer(s)	Iain Canning Hakan Kousetta Jamie Laurenson Gail Mutrux Emile Sherman Will Smith Douglas Urbanski Graham Yost
Producer(s)	Jane Robertson
Cinematography	Danny Cohen
Editor(s)	Katie Weiland Luke Dunkley
Running time	41-53 minutes
Production company(s)	See-Saw Films Flying Studio Pictures Sony Pictures Television Studios (series 1)
Distributor	Apple Studios
Release
Original network	Apple TV+
Original release	1 April 2022 (2022-04-01) – present
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Slow Horses is a 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. Season two premiered on December 2, 2022. In June 2022, the series was renewed for third and fourth seasons. It has received critical acclaim.

Premise

Slough House is an administrative purgatory for MI5 service rejects who have bungled their job but somehow have not been outright fired. Those consigned there are known as "Slow Horses". 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. In the final episode of season 2 after a foreign agent expresses his desire "for humiliation of you and your team", Lamb responds, "that was a waste of effort. My team have already professionally embarrassed themselves." And yet the Slow Horses somehow get involved investigating schemes endangering Britain.

Cast

Main

• Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, the head of Slough House. Slovenly, rude, and apparently drunk most of the time. His bad habits belie a still keen, devious mind and his abilities as an experienced intelligence officer.
• Jack Lowden as River Cartwright, an up-and-coming 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

Except as noted, each character has appeared in all seasons so far shown.

• Saskia Reeves as Catherine Standish, the office administrator and a recovering alcoholic.
• Olivia Cooke as Sidonie “Sid” Baker (season 1), a competent MI5 agent inexplicably assigned to Slough House, to watch over River.
• 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 (season 1), an ex-member of "The Dogs", an MI5 internal affairs and tactical unit.
• Dustin Demri-Burns as Min Harper (seasons 1–2), assigned after leaving a top-secret disk on the train.
• Paul Higgins as Struan Loy (season 1), assigned after sending an inappropriate work email.
• Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Shirley Dander (season 2), who has anger issues.
• Kadiff Kirwan as Marcus Longridge (season 2), who has gambling issues.

Others

Notable other characters appearing in more than one season include:

• Jonathan Pryce as David Cartwright, River Cartwright's grandfather, a retired MI5 officer.
• Chris Reilly as Nick Duffy, head of MI5's internal affairs and tactical unit nicknamed "The Dogs".
• Samuel West as Peter Judd MP, a rising right-wing Conservative politician (season 1) and later Home Secretary (season 2).
• Sophie Okonedo as Ingrid Tearney (season 1, expected to appear in season 3), the Director-General of MI5, often referred to as "First Desk".
• Freddie Fox as James “Spider” Webb, an MI5 agent based at Regent’s Park headquarters.

Notable other characters appearing in Season 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 PA.

Notable other characters appearing in Season 2 - Dead Lions include:

• Rade Serbedzija 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.

Episodes

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally released
			First released	Last released
	1	6	1 April 2022 (2022-04-01)	29 April 2022 (2022-04-29)
	2	6	2 December 2022 (2022-12-02)	30 December 2022 (2022-12-30)
	3	TBA	TBA	TBA
	4	TBA	TBA	TBA

Season 1 (2022): Slow Horses

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"Failure's Contagious"	James Hawes	Will Smith	1 April 2022 (2022-04-01)
After making a serious mistake during a live training exercise at Stansted Airport, MI5 agent River Cartwright is demoted to dead end work at Slough House in lieu of being fired. He is assigned by his superior Jackson Lamb to carry out surveillance on Robert Hobden, a journalist associated with far-right politicians Peter Judd MP and Roger Simmonds. His colleague Sidonie 'Sid' Baker has also been assigned to Hobden, discreetly copying the contents of his USB flash drive in a cafe. River is then instructed to deliver it to the service's Regent's Park Headquarters, much to his surprise. Hobden makes a series of calls to journalist colleagues alleging he has information an "attack is imminent". Cartwright visits his grandfather, who reveals Hobden was blacklisted when his name appeared on a leaked donor list of the British Patriotic Party, and always blamed MI5 for it. He warns Cartwright that if MI5 are using Slough House to look into Hobden, it is because there is risk and they want plausible deniability. Standish attends an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. British-Pakistani student Hassan Ahmed is kidnapped by a far right group Sons of Albion, who announce they will behead him on livestream at sunrise the following day. River breaks rank and leaves Slough House to further investigate.
2	2	"Work Drinks"	James Hawes	Will Smith	1 April 2022 (2022-04-01)
Hassan's kidnappers, Moe, Larry, Curly and Zeppo, hold him hostage in a London terrace basement, with it transpiring that Simmonds is behind the kidnapping. Cartwright, having copied the contents of Hobden's USB drive before delivering it to Regent's Park, realises it contains no information and manipulates a rival, James 'Spider' Webb, into confirming the same. Standish begins having flashbacks to the death of a former colleague of hers and Lamb's, Charles Partner. Slough House's cyber expert Roddy Ho discovers he cannot hack Hobden's laptop as it is air gapped, furthering everybody's suspicions. Deputy-Director General Diana Taverner approaches another member of Slough House, Jed Moody, and instructs him to do some "off book" work for her. Two other members of Slough House, Min Harper and Louisa Guy, meet in the pub after work and lament their failed careers. Cartwright and Sid are assigned to tail Hobden, but she confesses that she moved to Lamb's team to keep tabs on Cartwright. The two see a masked man enter Hobden's home and pursue him, discovering upon entry that the journalist was able to destroy his hard drive with thermite. Hobden escapes as River and Sid fight the masked man, who escapes after shooting Sid in the head.
3	3	"Bad Tradecraft"	James Hawes	Will Smith	8 April 2022 (2022-04-08)
Sid, alive but in critical condition, is taken to hospital by MI5 security operatives who detain Cartwright. Lamb breaks him out, and the two deduce Moody was the gunman sent to kill Hobden. Moody returns to Slough House and attacks Min and Louisa when they re-enter, but is killed when he breaks his neck falling down the stairs in a scuffle. Lamb theorises that Slough House is going to be blamed for whatever operation Regent's Park is running and be disavowed if it fails. Taverner meets with Lamb and reveals Ahmed is the nephew of the second in command of Pakistani Military Intelligence. His kidnapping and intended rescue is an unsanctioned false flag operation masterminded by herself to potentially increase cooperation with Pakistan as well as neutralise and intimidate the far-right. She claims to have an operative embedded with the Sons of Albion who organised the kidnapping, but will also facilitate the rescue. It is also revealed that Standish narrowly escaped a treason charge through her links with Partner and his death. Hobden meets with Peter Judd MP and tries to convince him to go public with the information that Hassan's kidnapping is a setup, but is rebuked. Curly is seen making a series of discreet calls with a burner phone, implying he is Taverner's mole. Hassan tries, but fails, to escape and is threatened by Moe. Giving him a chance to save face, Taverner offers Lamb's team the opportunity to signal to her man the raid is about to commence, allowing him to escape with Hassan. He, Cartwright, Min and Louisa arrive at the property, but upon entry discover it empty aside from Moe's beheaded corpse.
4	4	"Visiting Hours"	James Hawes	Morwenna Banks	15 April 2022 (2022-04-15)
It is revealed that Moe (real name Alan Black) was Taverner's mole, but was found out and murdered by Curly, who then fled with Zeppo, Larry and Hassan. Driving out of London, Zeppo and Larry reveal that they never intended to go through with killing Ahmed, and entertain the idea of releasing him, becoming increasingly concerned with Curly's erratic behaviour and rhetoric. Lamb and his team flee the property before "The Dogs" arrive, knowing that since the operation has not gone to plan that Slough House will be blamed. Cartwright is able to rescue Roddy Ho before he can be taken into custody, but Min and Louisa are unable to stop their colleague Struan from being taken from his home by operatives. Taverner calls Standish several times to flip her allegiance, alleging that Lamb was involved with Charles Partner's death, but she remains loyal to him when he comes to extract her. Leaving her house the two are apprehended by James Webb and head of security Nick Duffy, who force them into a car after searching Lamb. En route to Regent's Park, Standish is able to free herself and Lamb after pulling a Glock 17 from her handbag, the weapon having been taken from Moody and placed there by Lamb. Having discovered the fallout of the failed operation, Director General of the Security Service Ingrid Tierney pulls out of a State Department meeting in the US and heads back to the UK, giving Taverner limited time to tie off loose ends. She manipulates Struan into giving false evidence that Lamb was the mastermind behind the false flag operation involving Black, instead of herself.
5	5	"Fiasco"	James Hawes	Mark Denton & Jonny Stockwood	22 April 2022 (2022-04-22)
The rest of the team reconvene, and River recalls he took a photo of Taverner covertly meeting with Alan Black whilst carrying out surveillance training. Lamb "returns" Duffy's car to Regent's Park Headquarters and demands to speak with Taverner. She offers him a way out that will result in him being fired but not charged, but also threatens Standish and tells him Sid has died in hospital. Lamb informs her there is a bomb in the car he returned, which allows Cartwright to sneak in whilst Duffy's security team investigates. He confronts Webb, alleging Taverner had him purposefully feed him incorrect intel during the Stansted exercise so he would fail and be demoted, as he had the photograph of her meeting with Black. After locating the photo and evading security, he and Lamb threaten to reveal Taverner's operation to the Director-General and the press. Standish and Ho are able to identify the van being used by the Sons of Albion, as it is linked to a previous cover identity used by Black, and begin to track it. Running out of petrol, Curly announces he still plans to behead Ahmed and die resisting arrest, but Zeppo takes over after pulling a handgun he secretly took from Black's corpse. Hassan tells the group his uncle can offer them money for his safe return. However, after refuelling, Curly is able to disarm and execute Zeppo, regaining control.
6	6	"Follies"	James Hawes	Will Smith	29 April 2022 (2022-04-29)
Taverner confronts Judd at his home, revealing that calls he made to his far-right contacts after Hobden visited resulted in the mission being compromised and Black's death. Tierney returns from the US, ordering all loose ends be tied up after Taverner further lies to her about the operation. Curly forces Larry and Hassan to a secluded woodland at gunpoint to carry out the beheading. However, Larry frees Ahmed and attacks Curly with an axe, but flees which enables an injured Curly to recapture Hassan. Larry arrives at a seaport in Harwich, but is shot dead by "The Dogs" on the orders of Tierney, who plant a weapon on his corpse to justify the killing. Curly prepares to kill Hassan outside what he believes is a Norman castle, which Ahmed points out is actually a folly. Lamb, Cartwright, Min and Louisa, with assistance from Roddy, are able to track them to the same location. Curly and River engage in a brief shootout, before he is knocked out by Hassan with a rock. "The Dogs" arrive, but the group prevent them from killing the detained Curly. With the outcome seemingly a success, Roddy tells River that all traces of Sid’s name have been wiped from existence, indicating she may still be alive. Hobden is killed by Duffy. It is revealed that Charles Partner was the former Director General of MI5, and officially committed suicide as he was being blackmailed by a foreign intelligence service. Lamb tells Standish he knew and provided the gun, as Partner was a close friend. A flashback reveals Lamb actually killed him and made it look like a suicide, on the orders of River's grandfather, David Cartwright.

Season 2 (2022): Dead Lions

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
7	1	"Last Stop"	Jeremy Lovering	Will Smith	2 December 2022 (2022-12-02)
Former field agent Richard Bough, aka Dickie Bow, recognizes a man who tortured him during the Cold War, follows him, and dies on a rail replacement bus of an apparent heart attack. Jackson Lamb investigates, finding Bough's hidden phone under the seat with the message “cicada”, and gets the team to look deeper. River speaks with his grandfather about Bough's death. David discusses the “cicada” theory of Russian sleeper agents embedded in British society, which MI5 dismissed as a hoax after no sleepers were found and discovered that the program’s alleged mastermind, Alexander Popov, did not exist. He tells River that in East Berlin Bough went AWOL and was assumed to have defected, but returned drunk. He claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by Popov, who force-fed him brandy, but wasn’t believed, and was fired. David dismisses River's theory that Bough's death was the work of the FSB or related to the conspiracy, but seems generally unsettled and warns River to be careful. Min and Louisa are seconded by Webb to provide background security for a clandestine meeting at The Glasshouse between him and Arkady Pashkin, a representative of UK-based energy oligarch and defector Ilya Nevsky. Ho and newcomer Shirley Dander retrieve CCTV footage from the bus and train, showing that the man Bough was following discreetly poisoned him and then took a further train to Stroud in The Cotswolds. River approaches Lamb, revealing that he knows about the cicada conspiracy and is going to Stroud to pursue the matter further.
8	2	"From Upshott with Love"	Jeremy Lovering	Morwenna Banks	2 December 2022 (2022-12-02)
Lamb meets with Nikolai Katinsky, an ex-KGB agent and defector. He alleges when stationed in East Berlin he overheard Popov demanding the cicada program remain funded after the fall of the Soviet Union. His description of the man Popov was speaking to, Andrei Chernitsky, matches Bough’s killer. River bribes a taxi driver in Stroud, who reveals he drove Chernitsky to an airfield and flying club in Upshott, but was instructed to lie about it and call a number should people come looking. Ho traces the number, which places the phone in Estonia. Lamb meets with Taverner and discusses Katinsky's story, and convinces her to fund a fake ID and cover package for River, who he then meets and instructs to investigate the airfield, and its owner Duncan Tropper, further. Taverner is dealing with intelligence and now Home Secretary Peter Judd MP regarding a large upcoming anti-capitalist protest in London. Webb reveals his planned meet with Pashkin to Taverner, who reluctantly approves despite the UK’s agreement with Moscow to keep intelligence operatives away from Nevsky, a critic of the Russian government. Min and Louisa meet with Pashkin’s security operatives Piotr and Kyril, but the Russians lie to them about where they are staying. Min covertly follows them back to a commercial address at Edgware Road, but is confronted by Piotr, who puts a gun to his head.
9	3	"Drinking Games"	Jeremy Lovering	Morwenna Banks	9 December 2022 (2022-12-09)
The gun threat is a joke, and Piotr invites Min to drink vodka with him and Kyril. The Russians cut the session when a friend visits, and afterwards Min is killed when supposedly struck accidentally by a car as he is cycling home drunk. Believing he was targeted also, Lamb investigates Rebecca, the driver, and discovers she has connections to Russia and previously lived in Vladivostok. He confronts her, and she confesses she was paid off. Min wasn’t killed by her car, and she was not driving. Judd is delivering a speech in the City of London on the day of the anti-capitalist protest. He is due to be accompanied by Nick Duffy, leader of 'The Dogs', for added security, but demands Taverner join him instead. Newcomer Marcus Longridge replaces Min on the Pashkin assignment, and confesses to Louisa he has a gambling addiction. Ho, Dander and Standish deduce that Chernitsky never left the UK, and just planted his phone in the luggage of a touring folk band at the airport. Using his cover as a journalist from The Times in Upshott, River befriends Kelly, the daughter of the suspected sleeper agent Duncan Tropper. He discovers through her that Tropper and his wife Alex used to be student radicals who moved to the village from London. The family invite him to dinner and introduce him to their visiting friend Leo, who is actually Chernitsky.
10	4	"Cicada"	Jeremy Lovering	Mark Denton & Jonny Stockwood	16 December 2022 (2022-12-16)
Rebecca recounts that Min was attacked and run over by Pitor and Kyril, and finished off by Chernitsky before his death was staged. Lamb discovers Katinsky’s involvement as a triple agent; he agreed to assist the Russians and distract Lamb in exchange for facing no repercussions for his defection decades earlier. Standish speaks with Victor Krymov, the intermediary who set up the meet between Paskhin and Webb. Lamb suggests that Krymov lied about Pashkin being Nevsky’s representative, with the younger Russian likely being his competitor. Dander and Lamb visit Nevsky’s residence to find his bodyguards dead and Nevsky murdered by radiation poisoning. Louisa meets with Pashkin at his hotel armed with a utility knife, intent on torturing him as she believes he is a fraud and responsible for Min’s death. She is stopped by Longridge. Lamb orders her to temporarily stand down and proceed with the meeting, as Pashkin might resist interrogation. He approaches Regents Park Headquarters. Chernitsky leaves the Tropper residence and is pursued by Cartwright, who confronts him and Katinsky at the airfield loading an improvised explosive device onto a plane. Alex Tropper arrives and explains Katinsky is another friend from university. Then she incapacitates River with a stun gun, revealing she is the sleeper agent.
11	5	"Boardroom Politics"	Jeremy Lovering	Mark Denton & Jonny Stockwood	23 December 2022 (2022-12-23)
Alex takes off in the plane, and Katinsky tells River they plan to fly it into The Glasshouse skyscraper before leaving. Duncan and Kelly find and untie River, and he is eventually able to convince them of Alex’s true identity. River calls in a “Code September”, prompting Taverner to evacuate Judd from his speech at The Royal Exchange and the immediate area around The Glasshouse. Lamb blackmails Nick Duffy to get him into the records department at Regents Park. He deduces Katinsky is the spymaster behind the Cicada program (passing himself off as a junior bureaucrat when defecting to avoid suspicion) and was the handler of a traitor in the service. Standish beats Krymov in a game of chess, and he reveals it was Katinsky, not Pashkin he met with to set up the Webb meeting. Katinsky specifically requested Lamb's team to be involved. The meeting between Paskhin and Webb at The Glasshouse proceeds as planned. However, a security alarm activates and Pashkin pulls a gun. Louisa explains to Webb that Pashkin is likely FSB and killed Nevsky. Pashkin shoots Webb and escapes with Piotr, locking the agents inside. Longridge shoots Kyril with a pistol he hid in the conference room. Ho and Dander trace Chernitsky to a train station in central London and pursue him as the evacuations take place.
12	6	"Old Scores"	Jeremy Lovering	Will Smith	30 December 2022 (2022-12-30)
Louisa interrogates a dying Kyril and learns that Pashkin and his associates were meant to drain Nevsky's accounts from the Glasshouse while it was evacuated. River discovers the bomb left at the airfield and realizes the attack was a hoax, calling Taverner to have the Code September retracted. Alex Tropper diverts her course, defusing the situation once the Glasshouse has been closed long enough for the heist. Ho notifies River that Chernitsky's destination is Tunbridge Wells, where his grandfather lives. Chernitsky ambushes Ho on the train and escapes after an altercation with Dander. Lamb calls Katinsky, deducing that he is the supposedly fictional Russian spymaster "Alexander Popov". Katinsky reveals that outside of his part in the Glasshouse plot, he also intended to kill Lamb in retribution for Charles Partner, his own "Joe" who acted as his informant while he was First Desk at MI5. Lamb, already aware of this, had notified David Cartwright that he was another potential target due to his complicity in Partner's death. By the time River arrives at Tunbridge Wells by plane with Kelly Tropper, David has already ambushed and killed Chernitsky with a shotgun. Louisa and Longridge pursue and kill Pashkin when he attempts to escape the Glasshouse, having betrayed and killed Piotr to steal an extra stash of diamonds along the way. Realizing he has been outmaneuvered, Katinsky goads Lamb to kill him. Lamb instead leaves Katinsky with one bullet left in his revolver, and Katinsky kills himself. Taverner and Judd create a cover story for the Code September hoax, blaming it publicly on a security glitch and implicating the Prime Minister, thereby improving Judd's odds against him in the next election. Lamb requests Taverner to place a plaque for Min Harper with other fallen MI5 agents at St. Leonard's church, but is denied. Lamb and the Slow Horses break into the church and hide a plaque for Min behind a bench. After the rest of Slough House leaves, Lamb adds a handwritten note commemorating Dickie Bow’s service as a joe.

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 series was to consist of two seasons, but two additional seasons have since been ordered. Each season has been based on an individual book in the Slough House series.

Filming of the first season began on 30 November 2020, in England, and continued into February 2021, with Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas spotted on set in Westminster, London. 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 season premiere, the series was renewed for third and fourth seasons, 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 season 3.

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 season received critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes reports a 95% approval rating with an average rating of 7.7/10, based on 55 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 the review aggregator Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The second season also received critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes reports a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8.4/10, based on 25 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus says, "Slow Horses says nay to the sophomore jinx with a second season that might be even better than its supremely addictive predecessor." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

External links

• Official website
• Slow Horses at IMDb