00:00This is Streamline, your weekly guide to what's actually worth watching across TV,
00:04film, and everything in between. And if you're stuck on what to get into this autumn,
00:07then stop what you're doing and go and watch Slow Horses on Apple TV+.
00:11If this is an on-the-spot performance review, I have to tell you,
00:15I am absolutely killing it right now.
00:17Yes, Jackson Lam, everyone's favourite flatulent...
00:20flat... flatulent...
00:21favourite flatulent foulmouth...
00:23fa... why did I write that?
00:25Everyone's favourite flatulent foulmouth is back,
00:28along with his ragtag team of MI5 rejects, the Slow Horses.
00:31You'll be thrown out for this.
00:35We've already been thrown out.
00:37If you think espionage is all...
00:39think again.
00:40The show follows a group of disgraced MI5 agents sent to paper-pushing purgatory at Slough House.
00:45So yeah, it's a pun. There aren't actually any horses in this show.
00:49Led by the gloriously crude Jackson Lam,
00:52the dysfunctional group of misfits have to use their overlooked skills
00:55to help save the country from a series of threats that the proper spies can't handle.
00:59Season 5 opens with a bang.
01:02Literally.
01:02We see a far-right gunman open fire on a group of people outside a shopping centre,
01:06where we even spot a few St George's flags.
01:09Now, Slow Horses is not a show that shies away from these kind of topics.
01:13It explored white nationalism back in Season 1,
01:15but this feels especially pointed and timely at the moment.
01:19Sinister forces are trying to bring down the country.
01:22What are we going to do?
01:23And don't say nothing.
01:24And front and centre of this season is everyone's favourite repellent computer hacker,
01:29Roddy Ho, whose actions set off a chain of disastrous events.
01:32I caught up with Christopher Chung about playing TV's most obnoxious character.
01:35I mean, you are more, like, pitiful and cringe-inducing than ever, so bravo to you.
01:40The thing about Roddy is that he's unfiltered and he's unashamed to say exactly what's on his mind,
01:48because everybody around him is living in his world.
01:52This guy is so deluded in his view of himself, that's quite endearing in some way.
01:59Nothing raises my spidey senses as much as hearing a woman is happy to spend time with you.
02:05The series is based on Mick Heron's novels, with Season 5 adapted from London Rules.
02:09And it was adapted for TV by Will Smith.
02:11No, not that Will Smith.
02:13That Will Smith, who co-wrote The Thick of It and Veep.
02:16So you know the insults are going to be pretty below the belt.
02:18Bringing you up the speed's like trying to explain Norway to a dog.
02:22And Gary Oldman is the driving force of the show.
02:25He's really giving a career-defining performance as this dishevelled, farty, noodle-slurping crank.
02:31And so Gary really has earned that knighthood,
02:34claiming to have once eaten a whopping 17 bowls of noodles in one sitting for a single scene.
02:40I know that, you s***.
02:42I mean, working with Gary has made me an exponentially better actor since Season 1.
02:46You just can't help but want to raise the bar of your own level of work when you're opposite someone like him.
02:53He's not totalitarian about the way that he approaches the work.
02:56It's not...
02:57And he absolutely could be.
02:59He's got all the accolades to justify his point of view.
03:02But he makes it a conversation.
03:04Look what I've got to work with.
03:05A crack-up, a drunk psychopath.
03:07Whatever that is.
03:08All of them more functional than you.
03:10Slow Horses flips the spy genre by making us root for the losers, not the Bonds.
03:15And I think that's what's so addictive about this show,
03:17is how these hapless underdogs always end up triumphing over the slick agents at MI5.
03:23And come on, who among us can't relate to a group of total losers coming together to solve stuff?
03:28It's really difficult to see yourself reflected in this spy genre like James Bond,
03:35because it's so shiny and it's martinis and really incredible hotels.
03:41This is an office comedy, really, set in the barbican,
03:45where people go to the Chinese restaurant downstairs and eat, you know, the five-pound chow mein.
03:49And it's really relatable, so people can really get on board with the characters
03:55because they see parts of themselves reflected within the piece.
03:58And Apple clearly knows they're onto a winner, having already started production on season seven.
04:03So it doesn't look like the Slow Horses are slowing down anytime soon.
04:06New episodes drop every Wednesday on Apple TV+, with each one ending on a brutal cliffhanger.
04:11You won't be able to binge it, but that does mean that it's going to keep people talking
04:14until at least the end of October.
04:17If you're looking for something to tide you over in the six long days between episodes,
04:21here are two other shows that scratch the same itch.
04:24First up, Archer.
04:25If you're into ragtag groups of incompetent spies, then this is one for you.
04:28The show follows Sterling Archer, a sexist, crass, super spy,
04:33basically James Bond with mummy issues.
04:35Jesus Christ.
04:36The character of Archer is voiced by H. John Benjamin,
04:39who you might recognize from Bob's Burgers.
04:41Bob is like this, and Archer is like this.
04:44I'll admit that I didn't instantly warm to this show.
04:46I thought the animation was absolutely stunning,
04:48but I wasn't immediately taken with the characters.
04:51So the stakes felt low, and some of the jokes fell a bit flat as a result,
04:55but the writing is razor sharp and wildly funny.
04:58All 14 seasons are available to watch on Netflix,
05:01and at just 20 minutes an episode,
05:03it's a fun and easy watch till your next Slow Horses fix.
05:06Oh, Pam's as full of crap as she is of carbohydrates.
05:09If it's the sharp, cutting humor of Slow Horses that really hooks you,
05:13then go straight to the source, the thick of it.
05:15It's a biting political satire,
05:16with genuinely some of the most poetic swearing in the history of TV.
05:20This is the show shack redemption, right?
05:22But with more tunneling through s***, no f***ing redemption.
05:24This was created by Armando Iannucci,
05:27who went on to give us Veep and The Death of Stalin,
05:29two other razor sharp satires about the inner workings of politics and power,
05:33which if you haven't seen already, then please go and do that next.
05:36Also on the writing team was Jesse Armstrong,
05:38who went on to create Succession,
05:40aka the best TV show just ever in the history of all TV ever.
05:45Yes, I will die on that hill.
05:47What are your initial thoughts on Slow Horses Season 5?
05:50Is it as good as Seasons 1 to 4?
05:51What are your predictions for how you think the rest of the series might go?
05:54Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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