Genre Drama, Black comedy, Spy thriller
Based on Slough House by Mick Herron
Written by Will Smith, Morwenna Banks, Mark Denton, Jonny Stockwood
Directed by James Hawes, Jeremy Lovering, Saul Metzstein,
Cast and charactersMain
Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, the head of Slough House who is slovenly, rude, devious and has a mordant wit; he retains a secret loyalty to ‘his’ Slow Horses.
Jack Lowden as River Cartwright, an up-and-coming MI5 agent abruptly shunted to Slough House after a very public training-exercise blunder.
Kristin Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner, the Deputy Director General of MI5 and head of operations and designated “Second Desk”.
Jonathan Pryce as David Cartwright, River Cartwright’s grandfather, a retired senior MI5 officer. (main season 4; special guest star season 1-3)
Slough House
Saskia Reeves as Catherine Standish, office administrator, recovering alcoholic, still enamoured with her long-deceased superior.
Olivia Cooke as Sidonie “Sid” Baker (season 1), a competent, likeable 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 but brilliant computer nerd and former hacktivist on whose tech skills the Slow Horses are forced to rely.
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 absent-mindedly 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),[7] who has anger and drug issues.
Kadiff Kirwan as Marcus Longridge (series 2–present),[7] who tends to gamble on the job.
Joanna Scanlan as Moira Tregorian (series 4), one of the Queens of the Database, banished to Slough House by Claude Whelan. She becomes Catherine’s temporary replacement.
Tom Brooke as J.K. Coe (series 4-present), the newest ‘Slow Horse’ and former operative from Psych Eval.
Others
Notable other characters appearing in more than one series include:
Chris Reilly as Nick Duffy (series 1–3), head of MI5’s internal affairs and ruthless tactical unit nicknamed the “Dogs”.
Chris Coghill as Hobbs (series 1 & 3), a member of the Dogs.
Samuel West as Peter Judd MP, a Conservative politician with sharp elbows in series 1 who has been promoted to Home Secretary by 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
Theme music composer Mick Jagger, Daniel Pemberton
Composers Daniel Pemberton, Toydrum
No. of series 4, No. of episodes 19
Production
Executive producers Iain Canning, Hakan Kousetta, Jamie Laurenson, Gail Mutrux, Emile Sherman, Will Smith, Douglas Urbanski, Graham Yost
Producer Jane Robertson
Cinematography Danny Cohen
Editors Katie Weiland, Luke Dunkley
Running time 41–53 minutes
Production companies See-Saw Films, Flying Studio Pictures, Sony Pictures, Television Studios (series 1)
Original release Network Apple TV+, Release 1 April 2022 – present
To date, there are four seasons of Slough House, with the most recent one being released on Apple TV+ this week. A fifth is planned. Each season has its own title: Respectively, Slow Horses, Dead Lions, Real Tigers, Spook Street, and the next one is London Rules. Slough House is the name given to a department of the British spy agency, MI5. Situated in a truly seedy part just north of the City, it’s where the MI5 stash their has-beens and never-weres, along with agents who have screwed up royally and publicly, but not quite enough to justify a full civil-service sacking. The town of Slough (rhymes with “Ow”) is on the north bank of the Thames about 25 miles upstream and west of London, an unprepossessing place, and the division gets its name from the witticism, “If you’ve been assigned here, you might as well be in Slough.” “Slow Horses” is itself a play on Slough House, indicating a racehorse not yet ready for the knackers, but destined to never win a race, but just provide an illusion of competition and something for Andy Capp to bet on.
Per Wikipedia, “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 short, it’s the fuck-up brigade.
River Cartwright (played by Jack Lowden) is blamed, unfairly, for a massive screwup during a live training exercise with a mad bomber at a major airport. Unable to prove he was given the wrong information, he is stuck in this purgatory. He’s the viewpoint character.
Slough House, understandably, has a prison mentality about it, including never asking someone why they were there. In some instances, it becomes evident fairly quickly as personality quirks manifest. With others, as with Cartwright, it’s not at all clear.
The central character is Jackson Lamb, played to utter perfection by Gary Oldman. Lamb is exactly what you might expect from someone stuck with a shit administrative detail like Slough House: dissolute, thoroughly demoralized, vindictive, petty, a bully, mean, slovenly, a drunken disgrace.
Who also happens to be an utter legend in the art of spycraft. Of course, we don’t learn the story of how he wound up at Slough House right away. But Oldman utterly steals the show, in much the way a truly stellar performance can stand out even in a great ensemble cast: Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad, Alan Alda in M*A*S*H, or James Gandolfini in The Sopranos.
The humor is dark and very sophisticated, the action will put you on the edge of your seat, and true to the genre, the plot twists and turns are rapid, convincing, and completely engaging.
I’m only one season in, but already I think this may be one of the best spook series I’ve seen.
The theme song for Slow Horses is “Strange Game,” written and performed for the show by Mick Jagger. And honestly, I think it’s one of the best things he’s done in the past 65 years or so. The lyrics make it clear he’s familiar with the show. I think he likes it.
Season 4, Spook Street, just began on Apple TV+.
Comments
Cool. I’ve read the books, but haven’t gotten around to getting an Apple subscription. I will at some point.
One thin of note. Slough House is opposite the Barbican and is therefore north of the river.
I’ll have to read the books. If they’re half as good as the series (and usually the books ARE better) I’ll be in for a lot of fun!