It was one of the sleeper hits of 2022, and now the story of second-rate spies made good is hitting our screens again, just in time for some festive espionage action.
The first season of Slow Horses was a stellar vehicle for the mighty talents of the Oscar-winning Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas, as well as Jack Lowden, Olivia “Ooh, stunning!” Cooke and Dustin Demri-Burns, among others.
The trailer for the next instalment has dropped, which means the actual series is not far off now. Here’s how to tune in on Apple TV+ for exactly zero of your pennies:
What’s it all about?
Slow Horses is a play on Slough House, a fictionalised building that MI5 agents who have misstepped are shipped off to work at. Written as part of the 2010 Slough House series of novels by Mick Herron, as Jackson Lamb (Oldman) explains in the first series: “Only screw ups get sent to Slough House, and I’ve got to be honest, working with you lot has been the low point of a disappointing career.” Thanks, boss!
Lamb then tries to see to it that their new dull, paper pushing roles are so boring that they quit, but then the drama arrives, and the group are forced to band together to defeat forces that threaten national security.
What’s the big idea for series two?
The storyline is based on the second book in Herron’s series: Dead Lions. And after an explosive ending to series one, we’re back in Slough for a brand-new six-parter on the people that MI5 would rather forget. However, some long-lost secrets of the Cold War are exposed, and a team of Russian sleeper agents is reactivated, pulling in the Slow Horses and implicating them in the action. Can they pull it off again and this time avoid a terror attack on the UK? Well, they’re going to give it a shot.
Oldman, Scott Thomas and Lowden are back in their regular roles, as are Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung and Freddie Fox, and look out for new faces such as The Crown’s Jonathan Pryce, Aimee-Ffion Edwards and Kadiff Kirwan too.
How to watch Slow Horses season 2 for free
All six episodes will be available to stream on Apple TV+ from 2 December, allowing you to watch the whole series in one fell swoop. So, anytime from that date onwards, sign up to Apple TV+’s seven-day free trial to the service, which also allows you to ration it out to an episode each night, if that’s how you prefer to watch your prestige dramas.
But if you’re due for an upgrade on an iPhone or any other Apple device – or have bought one in the last 90 days – you’ll get free Apple TV+ for three months, which leaves you plenty of time to also try some of the increasingly impressive back catalogue of original thrillers that the streamer offers.
Slow Horses series 2 starts on Apple TV+ from 2 December.
