Contains minor plot speculation. Most recent comments are at the top. Other coverage of Slow Horses and the Slough House novels, standalones and short stories can be found here.

Sunday 4 October

Good evening. Here is the best of this week’s coverage.

We start with our recap/review/response to episode 3.

This week we came across quite a few articles that called it obviously wrong or went out of their way to be contrary, presumably for clicks and engagement. I’m looking at you, ScreenRant, for publishing two pieces, one of which came up with a bonkers theory linking Sid with Frank Harkness, and another that whined that Sid’s return was a reversal of ‘one of the boldest, most shocking twists in television history’. Man’s never read a book, and I’m not sharing the links.

On the other hand, I’m impressed for the second week running by Miscellana. They’ve got an interesting, in depth look at Blake’s Grave and why it’s the emergency meeting point for the slow horses.

River might not know the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars and in the absence of concrete information, that might be why ‘Jim’, one half of the Russian assassination duo, is out to get him. For Kyle Soller played Syril Karn in Andor, a Star Wars TV spin off which is described as ‘dour’ and ‘joyless’ and critically acclaimed. Yahoo! has all the essential chat on the matter.

This week’s episode sees Roddy having to deal with someone much younger than him being far more sassy. TV Insider asked Christopher Chung all about it.

The Wrap have a great interview with Olivia Cooke, on why she’s really glad to be back.

Film Shrine talk to Lenny Rush.

Saturday 26 September

Good evening. Here’s the best of this week’s coverage.

Of course, we start with our recap/review/response to episode 2.

The Hindu has a general review of series 6. It’s worth reading just for the description of J K Coe’s ‘faux cool’.

Lots of articles this week focus on the mash-up of Joe Country and Slough House arising from the scant appearance of Jackson and Diana in the first of the two books. Cinema Blend do a good job at giving us the deets though suggesting that the 45-50 minute episodes ‘always feel shorter than 60 minutes’ may not be the best journalism.

I haven’t really bothered with the showbiz coverage, but here’s an article in Style about Gary Oldman’s family.

And here’s an interview on Digital Spy with Christopher Chung which discusses some of his other roles as well as providing some insight into this season’s zen-attempting Ho-bi Wan Kenobi.

Here’s something a bit different: Miscelana do a deep dive into the relationship between Diana Taverner and Peter Judd from series 1 right up to Wednesday’s episode.

Gaby Chiappe has talked to TheWrap about combining the two books, and about Sid’s return.

Film Shrine have some theories about what’s going on and how Damien Cantor is involved. Are they right? Don’t know.

Finally, a cracking interview on No Film School in which Harrison Wall spills the tea on what it’s like to be an editor. If you’re me, you’ll make a mental note to go back and rewatch a particular scene.

Sunday 20 September

Here’s our recap/review/response to episode 1.

Saturday 19 September

Good evening.

The rest of the ‘first reviews’ are in. They range from ‘this is the best season yet’ to slight frustration that the show has changed, but not in the precise but unspecified way they wanted.

We won’t trouble you with all of them, but just the ones that told us something new or made us think differently. There are only so many times you can read that they are doing two books, or that Sid comes back.

You may or may not have seen episode 1, but Apple TV’s YouTube channel has an excerpt of just under five minutes available. Hope Mick Herron is getting decent appearance fees.

We start our article links with The Wrap, which had an interview with director Adam Randall, who explains the blue/green tint that arises from the heavier emotional tone to the season. Those of you who were guessing anamorphic lenses and a bleach bypass film emulation were spot on. Clever you.

Randall’s obviously been doing the rounds. He pops up on The Hollywood Reporter with a Q&A. No anamorphic lenses for the THR readership but there is some interesting insight into having prepared different scripts depending on the availability of Olivia Cooke. I also like that Randall is very clear about the body count: ‘We don’t kill anyone Mick hasn’t killed.’

JoBlo reckons that the final four episodes ‘do not let up for an instant’.

There’s a nice review in Men’s Journal, which tells us that Lamb is ‘at its Lamb-iest here’ in series 6, and which is delighted with the returns both of Cooke and of Rosaline Eleazar. This review is quoted in another, well-written review – in 25YL – but while we often have to warn about spoilers, here we must warn that 25YL have some shocking AI-generated stills. Go for the writing.

Aoife Barry in The Journal likes the dialogue – ‘perhaps the funniest yet’ which is good news as Metro found the one-liners wanting.

The Telegraph of India lets us know that Jackson and Frank Harkness share a scene in a Shake Shack.

So far everyone’s been quite positive, so it’s up to the Independent and Guardian to be contrary. Neither can quite decide whether to criticise the show or the books they are based on. For the Indy, Nick Hilton frets at the show’s ‘reliability’ as this means predictability before damning with faint praise and a 3-star rating: ‘one of the simplest pleasures in modern TV.’ In the Graun, Jack Seale is just bored by the whole thing. He thinks Lamb is burned out as a character (as opposed to the character being burned out, which we know he is), but doesn’t like any of the other horses getting more air time either. The only thing that really stands out in Seale’s take is that he isn’t at all interested in the source material. He wants a great TV show and that’s that. So Herron the book writer might decide he has unfinished business with previous characters. But for Seale: ‘cycling back to familiar faces does feel like something that might be done by a show that finds itself short of ideas.’ Are you listening, Mick Herron?

Sunday 13 September

Good afternoon.

Some lucky, lucky people have seen series 6 now and have written about it. So here are links to the first reviews. MANY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

We start our coverage with the excellent podcast, Barbican Station, which has just dropped a preview of the new series. There is, as ever, astute insight, though it appears to have been recorded before the most recent trailer in which Sid’s return was confirmed. It’s available on many podcast platforms. Here’s the link to Apple Podcasts. And here’s the one for Spotify.

Collider tells us about a few pairings for our slow horses and guests as they hunt down the bad guys.

Ben Dowell in The Times (paywall) says we’re in for a treat and this might be the best series yet.

In Radio Times David Brown gives four stars out of five but gives two MAJOR SPOILERS. First, we won’t meet Lech Wicinski who appears in both books, and the Epstein-esque scandal in Joe Country has been dialled down. (Brown says it’s been ‘nixed’ but that doesn’t really make sense.)

Nicole Gallucci tells Decider readers that new show runner Gaby Chiappe ‘does Slow Horses justice, maintaining its quintessential pacing, tone and heart while simultaneously upping the ante’.

TV Insider go the extra mile. At first I’m expecting a fairly bland preview but then – wow – a fairly lengthy interview with Gary Oldman (one of the many he gave while in Edinburgh). Meredith Jacobs has also spoken with Gaby Chiappe who gives some insight into the River/Frank Harkness dynamic.

I know we have only four days to go, but if you can’t wait to watch the first five minutes of the new series and find out why Sid Baker’s not the only returning character, head over to Town and Country who have the first scene (together with more quotes from Gaby Chiappe, reported by Emily Burack).

Fandomwire’s Alan French observes that the agents seeking out our horses are a ‘ghost of [Diana Taverner’s] making’. He also notices ‘ineptitude’ among the horses and we should hope so too.

Finally for today, series 6 has notched up a perfect 100% tomatometer score (as of now) on Rotten Tomatoes.

More as we find it…

Sunday 30 August

Good morning.

We kick off today with a short message from Gary Oldman. It’s been out for a couple of weeks but I came across it only today, and then watched it four times:

A few interviews with or articles about actors are now emerging:

Oldman himself appeared at the Edinburgh TV Festival and his phrase that it’s a ‘struggle and fight’ to keep the Slow Horses production lines running has made it into a number of articles. This one, from Deadline, suggests that he truly trusts the cast and producers around him. And this one, from Screen Rant, says that series 7 has finished filming and series 8 is in production. Since we assume that series 8 will adapt novel 9, Clown Town, and Mick Herron is working on a non-Slough House project, it feels like the producers will be scrabbling around for new material for series 9. The prospect of some of the rich content in some of the novellas and stand-alone novels making its way onto the small screen feels enticing.

Jack Lowden’s featured in an odd article on TV Line which focuses on his career with some interesting quotes but has a slight whiff of AI generation.

Variety interview Lowden himself and it’s worth a read.

A treat that relates to series 5: if you, like Cafethinking, wanted to visit the bar in which Jackson Lamb rallies the troops insults the slow horses, you’ll be disappointed. It’s a set. But what a set! Production designer Choi Ho Man told The Wrap how they did it.

Here’s an article from TV Insider that brings us up to date with the Sid-uation (sorry). It’s really a recap of what happened to her in the first series.

Finally, a poll! CBR have a poll with three questions about what fans are looking forward to. Have your say here.

Monday 24 August

Good evening. People have asked: why a new show runner? The short answer is that the production schedule, with multiple seasons being worked on at once, caught up with Will Smith. It’s perhaps no surprise that the seventh series will see another show runner change, with Ben Vanstone at the helm.

I found rather a good interview with Will Smith on The Wrap: it’s from October last year so is hardly news but is well worth a read if you missed it. Here it is.

Sunday 23 August

Slow Horses, the Apple TV adaptations of the Slough House series of novels by Mick Herron, is back for its sixth season. New episodes will drop every Wednesday, from 16 September to 21 October. We’re expecting things to be a little different this time round: two novels are covered (and we discuss the implications below) and there’s a new show runner, with Gaby Chiappe replacing Will Smith. Chiappe has writing credits including Vera and Shetland and her screenplay for Their Finest scooped a couple of award nominations.

The two novels coming to the small screen are Joe Country and Slough House and both have featured on this blog (all Slow Horses and Slough House coverage can be found here). And although Olivia Cooke’s return as Sid Baker has sparked the press’s attention, Sid does appear in Slough House. It was never nailed on that she would return, though – not only is Cooke busy with other projects, there are other changes that have arisen probably as a result of talent availability and also the subject matter of Joe Country in particular that makes it less easy to adapt.

Much of what follows is speculation based on knowledge of the novels, a few views of the trailer and information currently available on IMDb. Full cast credits for all six episodes are not up there yet.

Joe Country is a sprawling road trip – ‘bleak, angry, funny’. When Min Harper’s son goes missing, Louisa and Emma drive to Wales to track him down. River, Coe and Shirley follow. The five deal with a scandal involving the royals, Peter Judd and River’s father, Frank Harkness. Apple TV may be less likely than Herron to want to get involved in a royal scandal – plus, Joe Country may be strong on action but many pages are set inside the characters’ heads. It’s a brilliant read but one which doesn’t obviously fill six episodes. IMDb doesn’t suggest a new Harper character, but indicates that Lenny Rush, who plays Reece Nesmith, a character potentially similar in age to Min Jr, will be seen in episodes 2 and 3. And the characters who die in Joe Country aren’t in the IMDb cast for episode 4. That said, one of the official pics shows Nesmith with Roddy Ho in a pinball arcade rather than in a Welsh forest so your guess is as good as mine.

Slough House explores what happens after Diana Taverner gets played by Peter Judd, with deadly consequences for slow horses past and present. Watching the trailer, it looks as though this is the storyline that sees Louisa return to the series rather than the Wales trip. We’ll also see the return of Struan Loy.

I’ll update this post with more news and perhaps speculation as we get it.