This post is so long overdue! I’ve been wanting to highlight this underrated spy series since I saw the first two seasons (which were of course, fantastic). Well, last night AppleTV released the trailer for season 4. Well, let’s just say, the show about a group of hapless spies just gets better and better!

As if they don’t have enough A-listers already on its roster, they’re adding Australian thespian Hugo Weaving to season 4, woot!!

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Slow Horses is about a group of British spies who end up in a dead-end department of MI5 because of their past blunders that ruined their careers.

Here are just 7 reasons why you should absolutely watch this series:

1. The one and the only, Gary Oldman

Even if you’re not a fan of the spy genre, this show would still be entertaining just to watch Gary Oldman nail the role of the classic grumpy old spy. Jackson Lamb is a leftover from the Cold War days now stuck in Slough House. He’s still on high alert, spotting dangers that others miss, just don’t expect him to bathe regularly!

Lamb is as far away from John le Carré’s George Smiley Oldman played in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a quiet, detail-oriented, tenacious but dull agent. But Smiley and Lamb are similar in that they’re the anti-James Bond as both don’t fit the fantasy mold of a spy. Lamb doesn’t give a flying f@%& about being overweight and permanently disheveled, he farts whenever he feels like it and lives off a steady diet of kebabs and whisky, with an occasional ice cream treat.

Lamb might have turned into a caricature with a less skilled actor, but Oldman managed to bring him to life as a genuine character.

2. Great source material

I first talked about this series in this post, which was based on Mick Herron‘s spy novel series Slough House. Herron believes that the world of espionage is more funny than serious. Let’s be real, not every spy is a suave James Bond, and it’s riotously fun watching those clumsy MI5 agents fumbling through their missions.

I love that the story mixes an old-school Cold War vibe with a contemporary twist, and showrunner Will Smith brings its world to life with rich details about the setting, characters, and all the stuff that makes for great storytelling.

3. Clever wit and snappy dialogue

Writers Morwenna Banks, Will Smith, Jonny Stockwood, and Mark Denton deserve props for the best episodic writing in recent memory. The script deftly blends character development, genuine suspense, unexpected twists, and mixing in plenty of British humor. This is the funniest spy TV series I’ve seen so far and it never descends to cheap slapstick comedy.

Most spy series lean heavily on explosive action to keep viewers engaged, but Slow Horses uses clever wit and snappy writing to make it so deliriously entertaining.

4. The fun banters between Gary Oldman + Kristin Scott Thomas

Oldman is absolutely on fire as the sharp-tongued spymaster, using biting sarcasm and unapologetic ridicule as tools to push his team to excel. I love seeing him square off with another fantastic British actor Kristin Scott Thomas who plays as Diana Taverner, the Deputy Director General of MI5. Whenever Taverner and Lamb go head-to-head, there’s this awesome vibe from the rivalry between them, though at times their bickering sounds like an old married couple. It’s extra amusing to see the stark contrast in their um, personal hygiene, and fashion choices, ha!

The two British actors have a good rapport after working together in The Darkest Hour where Oldman portrays Winston Churchill and Thomas plays his wife Clementine.

5. Jack Lowden’s scene-stealing performance

While Oldman was the main draw to the series, Jack Lowden who plays River Cartwright has emerged to be one of the biggest assets of the series. River’s got the most screen time out of the rest of Jackson Lamb’s minions, and I’ve grown more and more impressed by the talented Scottish actor (who recently married the amazing Saoirse Ronan). From the get-go, River is totally getting the short end of the stick and is nothing like your usual hero as his boss Lamb constantly hurls unmerciful insults at him. All he wants is a little bit of respect after that massive mistake he made in the first episode, but he’s proven to be a resilient and resourceful agent.

I feel like Lowden would make an interesting Tom Cruise successor as Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible series, given all the running around (literally) he’s got to do in this show!

6. Phenomenal cast all around

Props to Saskia Reeves, Rosalind Eleazar, Christopher Chung, and Aimee-Ffion Edwards, some of my fave Slow Horses agents.

Shout-out to Sope Dirisu in S3 (pictured below with Saskia Reeves) as the former head of security at the British embassy in Istanbul with bones to pick with MI5, he’s got some serious screen presence that I’d love to see him lead his own thriller series.

Great to see the likes of Sophie Okonedo (as Ingrid Tearney, head of MI5) and Jonathan Pryce (as David Cartwright, River’s grandfather who’s a retired senior MI5 officer), both are memorable despite their short screen time. Looks like we’ll see a bit more of Pryce in S4 based on the trailer.

7. Streamlined, tight storytelling

While not every episode is action-packed, it’s well-paced and filled with surprises, making me anxious to find out what’s coming up next. The brilliance of Slow Horses lies in its tight storytelling. There aren’t too many episodes per season, only six, but each of them packs a punch and moves at a brisk pace. Brevity is the soul of wit and the show lives by this mantra. Almost every episode dives straight into the action, shares its story, and wraps up nicely, leaving us feel like we’ve been on a journey with the characters by the end of each season.

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Well, have you seen SLOW HORSES? I’d love to hear what YOU think!