‘Slow Horses’ and Underdogs

Flawed characters make a thriller more thrilling.

I’ve read and enjoyed the occasional thriller, but I find that one thriller per author hits the spot and I can leave it at that. No need to dive into an entire series (which is not a criticism of anyone, just a matter of personal preference).

The Slough House series may wind up being the exception, though. These thrillers don’t focus on the James Bonds of the world—they focus on the screw-ups, misfits, and washed-up has-beens of MI5. And that’s so much more interesting than another super-spy.

Apple TV+ has adapted the first three of Mick Herron’s novels, with more on the way. Each six-episode season focuses on one book, and the series takes its name from the first novel: Slow Horses.

Slough House is where MI5 careers go to die. Failed agents are sent there to complete busywork and stay out of trouble. Whether due to their colossal blunders, drinking problems, general incompetence, or excessive unlikability, MI5 sweeps these agents out of sight and out of the way, and everyone unaffectionately refers to them as the Slow Horses.

And these are our heroes.

Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) runs Slough House. He’s the king of the losers, an old spy gone to seed, though he retains much of his skills despite his excessive drinking and crudity. Lamb can barely tolerate his crew, but he’ll go to bat for them when needed (and likely insult them as he does so).

The Slough House crew consists of several characters, and the cast shifts a little bit each season. The main protagonist is River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), a promising young agent whose career was derailed right out of the gate due to a major—and public—mishap in a training exercise.

Whereas others are resigned to their fate in the purgatory that is Slough House, River holds out hope that he might redeem himself and return to proper service. But virtually no one escapes Slough House.

Circumstances keep pulling the Slow Horses into important action, certainly more action than MI5 and Deputy Director General Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) would like. They’re classic underdogs—people who have failed and whom everyone expects to fail again. But they keep trying, whether it’s to save lives, fix their shattered careers, or even just maintain a bit of dignity and self-respect.

And because they’re screw-ups and misfits, they commit plenty of mistakes along the way. Usually, the last thing we want in a spy thriller is for the characters to do dumb things, but here, it’s part of the premise. Their dumb mistakes are entirely consistent with who they are, and it all makes for refreshingly fallible agents.

Plus, flawed characters are great for comedy, and Slow Horses is rather funny at times. The show maintains impressive tonal agility, juggling tense action, life-and-death stakes, humor, and character drama within each short season.

The structure is spot-on. A series of movies wouldn’t have done the books justice—they would have needed to cut too much. Six episodes per book allows sufficient breathing room for faithful adaptations.

So far, I’ve read only the first novel, but I may have to deviate from my usual thriller pattern and read the second.

As strong as Slow Horses is, though, I’d still rate Severance as the best show on Apple TV+. Here’s what I wrote about that series a while back: