Severance and Ted Lasso may have won car-loads of Emmy awards, but fans of fellow Apple TV+ series Slow Horses know that the London-set spy drama is the real jewel in the streamer's crown – a funny, sharp, fast-paced and occasionally bonkers adventure that has remained consistently brilliant over four seasons.
Now season five is here, and thanks to some taut political plotting and a hilarious star turn from Christopher Chung as the outrageously deluded Roddy Ho, it's the best instalment so far. And that's before you take into account that this season features what showrunner Will Smith describes (via Empire) as "a weaponised fart" from dishevelled spy Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), an absurd moment that you can't imagine being a highlight in any other show on TV.
As with previous seasons, season five focuses on Lamb and his gang of MI5 misfits – computer hacking whiz Roddy, former office admin Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves), along with operatives Shirley Dander (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) and the mysterious JK Coe (Tom Brooke).
The Slough House team are all suspicious when Roddy reveals he has a glamorous girlfriend ("Nothing raises my Spidey senses as much as hearing a woman is happy to spend time with you," Lamb notes) and it's not long before his unlikely love life kicks off a wider conspiracy after Roddy is nearly run over by a van and a seemingly unrelated shooting takes place across town during the middle of a London mayoral election.
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As the gaggle of spy rejects try to investigate – against the wishes, of course, of MI5's Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) and the over-promoted First Desk Claude Whelan (James Callis) – deeper conspiracies emerge, drawing in mayoral candidates Zahar Jaffrey and Dennis Gimball (Ted Lasso's Nick Mohammed and Christopher Villiers) as well as no-nonsense MI5 internal-security agent Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley).
What to Read Next
Based on the fifth novel in Mick Herron's Slough House series, London Rules, this season features some fan-favourite moments from the book, including a darkly comic interaction between River and JK Coe that has an unexpected twist, and also remains pretty true to the original story even though some non-London locations in the novel have been moved to the capital for the screen adaptation.
Fans of Jack Lowden's River may be disappointed he gets less screen time this time around, especially after the shock revelation at the end of season four that River's biological dad is CIA operative-turned-mercenary Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving), but when he does appear he has some surprisingly hilarious moments alongside the serious ones. In fact, he delivers as much laughter here as the show's not-so-secret weapon Gary Oldman – whose Jackson Lamb succeeds in being more gross but oddly more sympathetic with each season – and newer comic relief James Callis.
Saskia Reeves and Kristin Scott Thomas, both as witty and deadpan as they have been in previous seasons, get their moments too, and there are a couple of action sequences that work brilliantly thanks to Aimee-Ffion Edwards, whose Shirley is still dealing with the death of fellow agent Marcus in season four.
Season five ultimately belongs to Chung's Roddy Ho, however: an over-inflated ego on legs who truly believes he is irresistible to women despite being one of the most annoying people on the planet.
Whether it's his false bravado during an interrogation scene or his utter ineptitude while brandishing a weapon, he manages to be both infuriating and utterly hilarious at the same time, adding an extra level of joy to a series that was already brilliant in the first place.
Slow Horses season 5 premieres on Apple TV+ on 24 September, with episodes dropping weekly. Seasons 1-4 are available on the same platform.
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Freelance film & TV writer, Digital Spy
Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies.
She is also the editor of website Movies4Kids. In her career, Jo has interviewed well-known names including Beyonce, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise and all the Avengers, spent many an hour crushed in the press areas of award show red carpets. Jo is also a self-proclaimed expert on Outlander and Brassic, and completely agrees that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
