With a loud trump and a pithy put-down, Jackson Lamb and his motley bunch of MI5 failures return to Apple TV+ from 4 Sept 2024, for the fourth season of Slow Horses, based on the award-winning novels of Mick Herron.
The latest outing takes its cue from book four in the series, Spook Street, and sees Lamb (brilliantly played by Gary Oldman) and his team dealing with the aftermath of a bombing in the heart of London. Meanwhile, the much put-upon River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) has even more on his plate than usual as his grandfather (Jonathan Pryce) – a former spook himself – begins to show signs of dementia.
The OB, as his grandson calls him, was once a big cheese in the intelligence service, and his mental decline is ringing alarm bells at Regent’s Park, and with Jackson Lamb too at Slough House. Lamb is well aware that there is more to David Cartwright than meets the eye.
The aftermath of last season’s shootout has repercussions in this new series. There’s been a shakeup at the Park and with former Head of the Dogs Duffy out of the picture, it’s time for Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley) to take the reins – or should that be the leads? Her by-the-book approach is eons away from that of her predecessor – cue some vintage interactions with rogue-in-chief Lamb.
Much to Diana Taverner’s (Kristen Scott Thomas) disgust, the First Desk job has once again passed her by and it’s clear to her that the new incumbent, Claude Whelan (James Callis), just isn’t up to the task. So with upheaval at the Park and the usual out of control shenanigans at Slough House, it is shaping up for a season to remember.
Fans of Slow Horses are still mourning the loss of Min Harper in the show’s last season – and it’s no spoiler to reveal that another beloved character is about to bite the dust as this latest tale unfolds.
It’s a Mick Herron trait, after all, as he told The Guardian: “Some kind of imp of the perverse inside me means that when somebody says, please don’t kill [such-and-such], I think, oh, that’s what I’ll do then. I don’t take it lightly; I do feel sad about killing off characters, not because I feel they’re real, but because they each offer an individual outlook and if I kill one off, I can’t access that voice any more, which limits me. My plots are essentially a MacGuffin to give them all something to do – they can’t just sit and snark at each other all day, which is the bit I really like writing.”
If you’ve missed out on this excellent crime series, Series one to three are available to stream on Apple TV+. A drip-feed approach is being taken with series four. The first two episodes debut on launch day, followed by one a week each Wednesday until the finale on 2 October.
Slow Horses recently picked up nine nominations in this year’s Primetime Emmy’s – including acting nods for Oldman, Lowden and Pryce, and the good news is that series five has already been commissioned, with Gary Oldman on record as saying he’ll be happy to keep on playing Jackson Lamb for as long as Apple keeps on giving the green light.
The Slough House series makes for superb reading. Get the full lowdown here.
