Talk me into watching “Slow Horses”

[Allromanticsmeetthesamefate]

Just that really…

I don’t like spy based fiction, or anything where the producer tries to inject too much clever humour into the script I also don’t like any kind of odyssey or unreal plots or characters. I love dark, gritty plots with real life complex characters and social demographics.

But everyone has said “Yes but you will still LOVE slow horses” 😅

Will I and should I give it a go or should I stick to my guns and demand avoidance!!

It’s very different. It’s gritty and funny. I didn’t expect to enjoy it but I do

I would say it is gritty and real, but also funny and tense. I really liked season 1, about to get into season 2. I would recommend!

I think it’s the funny that’s putting me off, I like serious and intense…

I’m a joy! 😂

My mum tried to persuade me for months. Tried one episode and binged the four series in 3 weeks. And that’s only cos I had to wait for DP, otherwise it’d have been much quicker.

It certainly has complex characters - Jackson Lamb is a layered character and several series in, we've only seen a few layers.

It's darkly funny, in a bitter cynical way, set in a real world that has strong echoes of current affairs and personalities and deals with people and their motivations for their actions.

As Yo Gabba gabba says 'Try it you might like it'

What put you off initially watching it?

Yea it’s not funny “ha ha”. It’s more deeply cynical

Gary Oldman - that’s all you need 😆

I love Slow Horses yet don’t do any kind of spy fiction otherwise.

Dame Kristin Ann Scott Thomas* *👌

I love spy dramas and I love slow horses. It’s about the type of secret service characters you never see. That’s what I like about it.

She’s incredible. I saw her in a play once, she’s luminous.

I hate any shooty stuff. I love Slow Horses. I love that they seem like the normal people that would act do this job not the smooth but deeply dysfunctional spy types.

They are all awful and that's the best bit. It's genius .

“I love dark, gritty plots with real life complex characters and social demographics.”

loads of this in SH.

Ots about spies rather than spy plots, iyswim. There are spy plots but those are the hanger for the human drama and drama between the spy teams.

It’s pretty much the best ensemble programme I’ve ever watched. Every one of them is flawed and human. Gary Oldman is brilliant but so are Saskia Reeves, Jack Lowden, Chris Chung and Kristin Scott Thomas. There’s not a duff bit of casting amongst them. It’s darkly funny and extremely clever and also action packed. If you don’t watch it you’re missing out.

Agree with all of this I’ve watched three seasons in about two weeks and now having to pace myself as don’t want to run out! It’s one of those series when you find it you’ll feel so excited there are so many episodes to enjoy - I felt this way about West Wing and Line of Duty but that’s just my personal choices!

Nah. If you have to be talked into watching a great series then maybe you should stick to watching tosh!

The books are brilliant.

Yes, came here to say the same. The series is really good but the books are so much more detailed and the author really draws you in. As pp have said, its not really about "spies" but about their flaws and the inevitable cock ups that follow. I read all 7 or 8 books over the space of a few months on my commute.

It is smart, human, sad, funny, brilliantly written, great ensemble cast - an example of how to make great tv!

I ran out of season 5 today, devastated! When is season 6 due?

Really, just watch it, ii is fab.

It's fabulous. I find most spy series kind of boring, but this is excellent. Funny, clever, human, all sorts of things really. It has great twists too, not obvious ones or stupid ones.

Great cast. Actors you can’t take your eyes off. Wonderful.

Read the books. I don't like spy fiction, but dh read the first book when it came out and raved about it to everyone. We've read them all-just finished the latest. Lots more nuance and exposition than tv, but the series is such fun, Gary Oldman obviously and Kirsten Scott-Thomas is icy.
Give it a go, its a tv show, not signing up for the foreign legion.

Took us a few episodes of season 1 to get into it but then we have steamed through to season 4 because we now love it.