Mick Herron 'Slow Horses' novels

[ex-khobar Andy]

A friend turned me on to these and they are hilarious spy stories. The basic premise is the protagonists are MI5 agents in London who fucked up at some point in their careers but not badly enough to be fired. (MI5 is for domestic terrorism - MI6 is the foreign one with Bond and Judi Dench etc.).

So the 'slow horses' - a derogatory and somewhat punning term - work on mind-numbing stuff at the very down-market office building Slough House instead of the fancy MI5 HQ, reporting to the slovenly Cold War-era Jackson Lamb. In the movies they have made (Apple TV) Lamb is played by Gary Oldman. But now and then they get accidentally caught up in some very serious spy stuff and bullets fly.

You can get a flavor of the novels and the TV adaptations - which are pretty close to the books - from what have come to be known as Lamb-isms. Too many to mention - I'll give you one of my favorites. Lamb is talking to the Slow Horses. “All you do is moan, moan, moan. It’s like being shackled to the ghost of Bob Marley.” “I think you mean Jacob.” “Depends. Which was the one surrounded by wailers?”

Treat yourself. I read the novels before watching the TV. It's not necessary, but I think it helps.

[BoSoxGal]

I watched the first series when it came out a few years ago, and I do recall enjoying it - I really like Gary Oldman. I see raves from fans online all the time, and just signed up this past weekend for a month of Apple TV so I could watch Vince Gilligan’s new show Pluribus, which is very good - looking forward to more seasons of that. Anyway will probably revisit Slow Horses while I’ve got the chance over the next few weeks. Spend a lot of time watching TV these days with my patient and I always get to pick the content.

As a related aside, I just watched another Apple TV series based on a Herron novel and also written for TV by Morwenna Banks - Down Cemetery Road. It’s got the incomparable Emma Thompson in a lead role and was very entertaining with excellent performances, production quality and storyline - highly recommend, didn’t read the novel first but stand alone it was really good!

[ex-khobar Andy]

Yes - also watching 'Cemetery Road' - Emma Thompson can do no wrong AFAIC. (Well except for marrying Kenneth Branagh - a wonderful Henry V but an awful man by many accounts.)

I download stuff and watch on my iPad while I am on the bike at my local Planet Fitness.

[BoSoxGal]

Emma Thompson can do no wrong AFAIC. (Well except for marrying Kenneth Branagh - a wonderful Henry V but an awful man by many accounts.)

Branagh was definitely a major disappointment as a man, sadly. Still we will always have Much Ado About Nothing to remember their moment of glory- and his betrayal brought Emma together with Greg Wise, which seems to have worked out brilliantly for her. Also that scene in Love, Actually where she speaks not a word but conveys every bit of the anguish of spousal betrayal - I wonder if it could have been so perfectly acted if she hadn’t had the real experience to channel into her performance. Kenneth’s loss, and I suspect as time has passed he has been able to understand that as scoundrels often do.

Branagh’s performance as Kurt Wallander is a thing of pure genius, it’s a series I have watched many times over - admittedly often while sleeping, as I will play it when I’m struggling with insomnia and it comforts me to sleep. I like to think that the complexity of emotion in his performance as Wallander captures all that he learned from his own erring in life.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Totally agree about Wallander. Especially since we get Emily Barker (and the Red Clay Halo) as a bonus. Nostalgia is a brilliant song - even adapting the words for the TV series. But I'm rather more fond of this one:

[BoSoxGal]

Treat yourself. I read the novels before watching the TV. It's not necessary, but I think it helps.

Just popping back in to say a hearty thanks for bringing Slow Horses back to mind with this thread.

I’ve been nursing a migraine since Xmas night and have had my arse planted in the recliner and binge watching the show, starting with a repeat of season one since I’d largely forgotten the plot after watching it way back in 2022.

The show is really quite brilliant, very funny and yet deadly serious. All of the performances are excellent, but Oldman of course is out of the park. It’s a bit hard to stomach the odious personal hygiene of his character - but the fact he can own it so convincingly is a testament to Oldman’s brilliance.

I’ve just got season six left to watch now and reluctant to start it because then the fun will be all done.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Per BSG:

I’ve just got season six left to watch now and reluctant to start it because then the fun will be all done.

I know what you mean. I got 'Clown Town' for Christmas - the latest - and I don't want to read it but I probably will, soon.

I was the same with the Aubrey Maturin series of novels which started with Master and Commander, which became a Russell Crowe / Paul Bettany movie. Patrick O'Brian wrote 20 wonderful novels about the Napoleonic Wars as Aubrey rose in the ranks of the Royal Navy. O'Brian died, but not before he had completed the final novel with Aubrey making Admiral. I did not read the final novel for about five years - I wanted that anticipation that there was another one I hadn't read yet.

[BoSoxGal]

Just a correction I’m in the midst of watching season five and I saw online that seasons six and seven have been green lighted, so that pleases me and gives me reason to plod on.

Meantime I suspect I might go back and watch these over depending on what else I find to watch on Apple TV the next few weeks. The shows have so much detail and so many wisecracks I know I could benefit from another viewing as I’m sure I missed stuff.