England ain’t no country for Oldman, in Apple TV+ espionage series Slow Horses. It stars Gary Oldman as the obnoxious leader of an MI5 team uncovering a brew of nationalism, corruption, and anti-Muslim extremism.
His motley crew are pretty dysfunctional too, all banished from MI5 proper into Oldman’s dingy Slough House. You can witness everything that goes down within those walls, heroic or otherwise, exclusively on Apple TV+ from April 1.
The first season is only six episodes long, with the double-episode premiere available from April Fools’ Day and the remaining four dropping each Friday until April 29. The whole thing is based on a critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Mick Herron, although it’ll undoubtedly remind you of British spy yarns like John le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Oldman starred in that story’s adaptation as George Smiley, a shabby and deferential yet powerful spy. As Jackson Lamb in the trailer below, he’s just plain shabby: “bringing you up to speed is like trying to explain Norway to a dog”, he whinges to one of his poor underlings.
Handler Kristen Scott Thomas basically sees the Slow Horses‘ workplace as where failed spies are put out to pasture, but they’ll presumably get some big nation-saving wins as the episodes roll out.
In Steve Newall’s admiring review of the first season, he hyped up what we could expect for another batch of episodes, provided the Apple TV+ series finds an appreciative audience. “Buckle up for the arrival of Russians in Slow Horses’ second season…No one in their right mind would want an extra second spent in the real-life presence of Jackson Lamb—which is exactly why you’ll be left wanting more.”
