Slow Horses

The opening credits of Slow Horses may compel a viewer to press pause in order to do some quick Googling. Written by Will Smith? Yes, but not the Fresh Prince – the Will Smith in question is the British writer, best known for his contributions to Veep.

After a workplace cock-up of the catastrophic variety, the unfortunately named MI5 agent River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) is unceremoniously demoted by his crisply authoritative section head Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas). He’s reassigned to the agency’s bottom of the barrel Slough House outpost, where careers go to die. Under the apparently disinterested leadership of Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), Cartwright is drawn into a conspiracy involving right-wing nationalists and some shadowy goings-on that may implicate the intelligence services themselves. 

Although Oldman is top-billed, it’s Lowden’s Cartwright who does most of the grunt work, ably assisted by (the suspiciously overqualified to be working at Slough House) Sid Baker (Olivia Cooke). Oldman has certainly made some unique choices with his characterisation – it’s as though he’s been parachuted in from an entirely different story (and genre). There’s more than meets the eye with Lamb, but the character remains distractingly implausible, seemingly existing to contrast the difference between Slough House (cramped, peeling paint, overflowing ashtrays, piles of paper on every grimy surface) and MI5’s Regent’s Park HQ (cavernous, polished, high tech, Kristin Scott Thomas stalking the corridors). Both Oldman and Scott Thomas seem to be enjoying themselves, though.

To its credit, Slow Horses doesn’t try to do too much too soon. The low-key machinations that set the plot in motion largely simmer for the first few episodes, with Smith only adding additional layers to the story once some semblance of credibility has been established. Several supporting characters seem entirely superfluous to the story, to all appearances only existing to pad out the running time. These strands take on greater relevance as the story further develops, but there’s still some narrative fat that could have been trimmed. There’s more than a hint of conventionality to Apple TV+’s latest original, and while its ultimate destination won’t raise any eyebrows, it’s a grippingly fun (if occasionally uneven) journey.

Oliver Johnston

Slow Horses is released on Apple TV+ on 1^st April 2022.

Watch the trailer for Slow Horses here: