Slow Horses; Art Detectives

“Slow Horses is at its considerable best when it’s slumming it – grit, mess, treacle-black humour, Jackson Lamb eating a takeaway like a dog that’s found a three-day-old sandwich. The best scenes are always in Slough House itself, and take place among the slow horses – Shirley (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) needling River (Jack Lowden); River needling Roddy (Christopher Chung); Jackson (Gary Oldman) needling everyone. By setting so much of this season and the finale in the slicker, shinier enclave of MI5 headquarters, the show has lost its mojo. It remains very funny, impeccably acted, a reliable six hours of action and (in Lamb’s case) inaction. But it hasn’t gripped like the previous four years.”
Benji Wilson, Telegraph

“What an enjoyable show this is: a synthesis of supreme plotting, character-led drama and the kind of sublime humour you would expect with lead writer Will Smith overseeing (for the last time, sadly) the Mick Herron source text. And while at times it looked as if this latest run was becoming just a bit too comedic for its own good, up pops Lamb to inject a powerful moment of solemnity. It was perfect.”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“DI Mick Palmer [Stephen Moyer] is an engaging eccentric in his red duffle coat, like Paddington Bear turned private eye. But the format feels slightly formulaic, clearly conceived for the U.S. market, with a self-contained mystery each week and a set number of suspects squeezed into each hour-long episode. It falls short of the standard of complexity and cleverness set by mystery maestros such as Anthony Horowitz with his Magpie Murders. This is no Old Master, then, but a passable imitation.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail