Review: Apple TV+ Brings Star Power to 'Slow Horses'

Mick Herron's spy thriller novel "Slow Horses" has been adapted into a six-part dramedy series premiering on Apple TV+ starting April 1. Episode one starts with a dramatic, long-running, well-choreographed on-foot chase scene in and around a London airport, a caper that MI5 agent River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) fails spectacularly. As a result, he's relegated to "Slough House," a run-down office where all the bad spies are exiled.

The leader of these "slow horses," also known as "those who have shat the bed," is Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), who walks around in his socks (which have holes in the toes) and is purposely horrible to his new underlings, assigning them endless clerical and garbage-sifting tasks so they will hopefully quit. Fellow flunky Sid Baker (Olivia Cooke) is both friend and foe to River, as they search though thousands of cold clues to find information to locate and South Asian college student.

Kristin Scott Thomas is the ever-annoyed HQ leader Diana Taverner, and Jonathan Pryce is River's grandpa David, a retired intelligence agent, who join Lamb's frustration with "being surrounded by fuck-ups," an example of many Americanisms like calling everyone "guys" and several folks sharing deeply racist proclivities. Even the sirens sound American, rather than the old-school, two-tone nee-naw noise.

This wealth of experienced actors cleverly depict seasoned, yet frustrated, operatives pining for "grown-up spies" rather than this current motley crew. The Mick Jagger deep cut "Strange Game" is the appropriate theme song during the credits.

The "Slow Horses" series premieres April 1 on Apple TV+.