Slow Horses: Season 5

Is there a more gloriously entertaining idiot on TV than Roddy Ho? The computer savant played by Christopher Chung in spy show Slow Horses is, put simply, a thundering twat, a preening berk, cringe in human form. “I have many nom de guerre,” he smirks in this new season to an understandably annoyed interrogator. “Clint Wolf, dragon slayer, the human tripod, the true king of Gondor.” Each of his lines provokes both laughter and the urge to scream out of the nearest window.

So it’s a treat that Apple TV+’s breakout spy series, which boasts an enviable deep bench of great characters, focuses this time around on Ho, who has got himself into deep trouble via a mysterious beauty who is showing interest in him. (“Nothing raises my Spidey-Senses as much as hearing a woman is happy to spend time with you,” splutters Gary Oldman’s unhygienic spymaster Jackson Lamb.) Ho’s implausible new love life turns out, of course, to be part of a bigger conspiracy, which unravels over six episodes packed with action, dry wit and, this being Slow Horses, the odd burst of Jackson Lamb flatulence.

It remains one of the freshest dramas on TV, despite those farts.

It remains a lot of fun, one of the freshest (despite those farts) dramas on TV. But this particular batch doesn’t quite hit the heights of previous ones, for a couple of reasons. For one, the increased screentime for Ho and the equally ridiculous new MI5 boss Claude Whelan (James Callis), aka First Desk, pushes Lamb and other Slow Horses stalwarts like River Cartwright (Simon Pegg-a-like Jack Lowden) somewhat to the periphery: while they still get great moments, the general chemistry feels a little diminished. And, after a powerhouse guest appearance by Hugo Weaving last time around, the villains here are fairly forgettable. The fact they’re Libyan terrorists invokes presumably unintended thoughts of Back To The Future. Their dialogue often feels generic, meanwhile, and their evil scheme amazingly well-choreographed given how few of them there are.

That evil scheme does unleash some sharp, surprising twists and turns, though veering from an upsettingly visceral assault on a political campaigner to a darkly comic scene involving zoo animals does induce tonal whiplash. At times the whole turbo-charged thing starts to feel like late-stage 24. But for the most part this is still another winner from MI5’s least wanted, a winning blend of espionage, eccentricity and piss-taking. The Slow Horses gallop on.