In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo gets pulled back into Apple TV+’s London-based spy series, “Slow Horses.” Based on the Mick Herron novel of the same name, the show follows Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), the slovenly, irascible, insubordinate leader of Slough House —a destination for all of British Intelligence’s misfits and career f*ck-ups. In the second season, which premiered its first two episodes last week on Apple TV+, the derogatorily dubbed “Slow Horses” stumble into another far-reaching case when a former colleague of Jackson Lamb’s is found dead on a bus.
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Returning to Bingeworthy to discuss the show are cast members Gary Oldman, Saskia Reeves, and Jack Lowden. The cast took a break from shooting seasons three and four back to back to discuss season two. During the interview, Oldman revealed that he may have based a piece of Jackson Lamb on a famous former colleague, Anthony Hopkins.
“I think [Lamb] wants to be dysfunctional despite himself,” Oldman said. “You speak with Tony [Hopkins], and he really always says, ‘Oh, you know, it’s just a job.’ He says, ‘I just learn the lines, and I don’t bump into the furniture.’ You know, ‘I turn up, hit the marks, say the lines, and, you know, there you are.’ We know Tony does more work than that. He loves to sort of outwardly, publicly say, ‘It’s all a game. I just come in, learn the lines and all the rest of it, and you think, ‘No, no, no. You do your homework.” And that’s the thing. I think it’s like a front. Like Jackson Lamb – that training that he has and that talent that he has for it, that in some ways he shares with [George] Smiley (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”), in that sense. He’s very, very smart and often three or four chess moves ahead of whoever he’s with, in spite of himself. He wants to be able to say, ‘I don’t care.”
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Of course, it was big news when Oldman said earlier this year that he might retire after playing Jackson Lamb. During the interview, Oldman was asked if that quote was misunderstood, and – brace yourselves, Oldman fans – it may be true.
“Never say never,” Oldman said. “But I feel very, very lucky — I mean, I’m 65 next year, and I’ve noticed there’s some careers with some people where the work falls off. And I feel very fortunate to have landed Lamb. It’s a great, well-rounded series based on very, very good books full of wonderful stories and complex characters. And so, I feel really lucky and really honored to come in, not only with this team and with this crew and these designers and directors and writers and actors. And, I feel that there are now eight books — obviously, it depends on the viewers, the subscription, the audience, and the people upstairs who write the checks whether we’re going to continue. But I could see myself, yes, playing Lamb for the foreseeable future, and there may be something that comes along that might interest me in between, but I would be more than happy to end a career that has been a great career playing Jackson Lamb.”
However, if filmmakers would like to entice Oldman into sticking around, he did share that he’s always wanted to revisit one character, in particular: George Smiley from his film, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.”
“I wanted to revisit [George] Smiley, and that nearly happened but didn’t through many reasons.” Oldman shared. “There is, obviously, a very delicious sequel, ‘Smiley’s People,’ after ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,’ even though George appears in other stories, but that, particularly, is a great Smiley tale. So, that would have been nice to revisit that one.”
The first two episodes of “Slow Horses” are now streaming on Apple TV+, with new episodes premiering each Friday. You can listen to the full interviews with Gary Oldman, Saskia Reeves, and Jack Lowden below.

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