Slow Horses returns to screens for season five with a grunt and a sigh heavier than one even Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) can muster, which is no surprise.
River's (Jack Lowden) traumatic reunion with his psychotic estranged father last season resulted in destruction and death (including Marcus' – played by Kadiff Kirwan) and has left the team despondent and on edge. We mean a cliff's edge – as in ready to fall into irrationality and spontaneous fits of rage.
But their instincts remain sharp, particularly Shirley (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), who spots a threat her dejected colleagues refuse to acknowledge.
Her concern was sparked by what she believed was an attempted hit on Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung), followed by his even more alarming news of a budding romance.
Those who have seen the trailer will know that there is some validity to Shirley's worries as it revealed that a string of terror attacks, beginning with episode one's mass shooting (also featured in the trailer), is potentially connected to Ho's new girlfriend.
The first episode's arc, dealing with the complexities and pain of loss was in itself a touching way to pay tribute to a fellow member of the Slow Horses team who passed. They dedicated the episode to him. But just who was John Usher?
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Who was Slow Horses' John Usher?
In the episode-one title card, the tribute read: "In memory of John Usher, a much loved friend and colleague."
Slow Horses' John Usher was a costume assistant and had been a part of the team since 2022, when the show first debuted, though it appears from his published credits that he moved on after season two.
Away from Slow Horses Usher worked as a costume assistant on many much-loved films and shows: he worked on Paddington and Paddington 2, Wonder Woman, and was a costumer on the Kate Winslet-led docudrama Lee. He also worked on Charlize Theron's Netflix superhero fantasy The Old Guard.
He began his career on Ismail Merchant's 2001 comedy The Mystic Masseur, working his way up through projects including Keira Knightley's The Duchess. He worked twice with Michael Fassbender – on Jane Eyre and Macbeth – and with his Slow Horses colleague Gary Oldman on Churchill biopic Darkest Hour.
The cause of death has not been made public, but we join his colleagues in respectfully marking his passing.
Slow Horses season 5 premiered on Apple TV Plus on 24 September with the two first episodes. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
