Slow Horses

The career setback is part of the setting

Slough House is a workplace built around the idea that its occupants are no longer trusted with the important work. That judgement affects every task before an actual threat appears. An agent may want to prove a mistake was unrepresentative, escape a reputation or simply survive another day beside colleagues carrying their own disappointments.

The espionage premise becomes interesting when those sidelined people encounter a problem that cannot be left to routine. They must deal with danger while still negotiating the institution that put them there. A successful operation and a successful career are not necessarily the same objective, especially when the organisation has an interest in controlling how an error is remembered.

Jackson Lamb and his difficult department

Gary Oldman plays Jackson Lamb, the abrasive head of Slough House. Jack Lowden plays River Cartwright, while Kristin Scott Thomas portrays Diana Taverner. Saskia Reeves plays Catherine Standish, Rosalind Eleazar plays Louisa Guy and Christopher Chung plays Roddy Ho. Jonathan Pryce appears as David Cartwright, connecting River to another generation of intelligence work.

Will Smith adapted the series from Mick Herron's Slough House novels. The workplace and spy elements are closely connected: competence, resentment and damaged reputations affect who will cooperate and who expects to be blamed. The ensemble gives the premise a source of friction even before an external adversary enters the picture.

Following the cases and the grudges

Start with the first season and follow the cases in order. Later operations may have their own immediate threats, but relationships with the wider intelligence establishment accumulate. Knowing the novels is optional; the television version introduces the department and the reasons its people find themselves there.

This may appeal if you like espionage with dark humour and very little glamour in the workplace. Lamb's manner is not a reassuring guide to what he knows or what he values, so it is useful to distinguish presentation from capability. The question to watch is which kind of loyalty survives institutional embarrassment: loyalty to a colleague, a profession, a country or the possibility of finally being allowed back into the room.