Mick Herron’s ‘Slow Horses’ series is great TV, based on great writing

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Jackson Lamb has long, greasy hair and a pot belly over which hangs a filthy old trench coat. You just know that he smells, too. And that’s before he loudly passes gas. Prince William even said he wanted to “give him a good wash” after his knighting ceremony at Windsor Castle in England on Sept. 30.

Well, OK, that was said to Sir Gary Oldman, the British actor who plays the slovenly MI5 agent in Apple TV’s hit series Slow Horses. (In reply, Oldman said, “Well, I think I’ve scrubbed up OK today.”)

The series, based on novels by Mick Herron, follows a band of castoffs from the British national security service who are relegated to a ramshackle office building, with Lamb at its head. He really doesn’t give a damn about much, cussing and deriding and ridiculing his staff and higher-ups, sneering behind his desk while hoisting his dirty, holey socks up on the desk.

“I didn’t mean to kill him,” an agent who accidentally shoots down a Slough House intruder tells him.

“Of course you didn’t. If you’d meant to kill him, he’d still be alive,” Lamb responds.

But Lamb isn’t as hateful as all that. Over the course of the first four seasons — season five started streaming in late September — he often shows concern and even affection (in his own, cynical way) for his team of misfits, even though he has been tasked with getting them to quit rather than be fired.

Most telling: He finds ways to teach (by yelling) and mold them (by demeaning) into better spies.

The espionage cases and machinations within MI5 are compelling in Slow Horses, each season presenting a gripping drama. And the supporting cast members including Kristin Scott Thomas, Jack Lowden and Christopher Chung more than pull their own weight next to Lamb’s oversized character.

Much of the dialogue — like in the novels — is spat out, with venom, with aggression, with wit, even with humor, propelling each episode to its cliff-hanging conclusion.

The BBC calls Jackson Lamb “the anti-James Bond.” I’m OK with that. (Really, Bond seldom made me laugh.)

Herron’s ninth novel in the Slough House series, Clown Town, was just published this month by Soho Crime. He’s a busy guy: Another of his novels, Down Cemetery Road, has also been made into an Apple TV series premiering this month and starring Emma Thompson.

And good news for Slow Horses fans: Season 6 has started filming, and there’s a Season 7 confirmed. Herron had better write faster to keep up with demand.

Look, there are dozens upon dozens of spy shows on streaming services that are vying for your attention. Slow Horses should be at the top of your list for two reasons: the smart writing (both in the novels by Herron and in the series by creator and showrunner Will Smith) and the guy who needs a good wash.

https://www.denverpost.com/2025/10/20/review-slow-horses/

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