2022– · Based on 6 seasons through September 23, 2026 ·
River Cartwright is an MI5 agent sent to Slough House after he fails a training test. He joins other agents who have been pushed aside, under the rude but sharp Jackson Lamb. The team works from a run-down London office and gets pulled into plots involving spies, armed groups, and mistakes inside MI5. The show mixes tense cases with dark jokes, office fights, and the agents’ private troubles. The latest episodes begin with the murder of a former Slough House agent and pull River back into his family troubles. Some seasons give political threats a clear place in the spy story. Season 1 follows white nationalists who kidnap Hassan, a British Muslim student, while MI5 secretly tries to use the danger to improve its image. Season 5 links anti-immigrant politics and online anger at women to attacks around a race for London mayor. A Sikh agent corrects his boss after the boss mistakes him for a Muslim during a discussion of possible attacks. Those stories show far-right violence as a real danger, while the latest episodes turn to the agents' families and old cases.
Community feedback
Was our 38% Woke rating accurate?
Loading review details…
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Slow Horses.
Woke representation / casting
Not present. The varied MI5 cast fits a present-day London setting.
0%
Woke political dialogue
Claude Whelan asks an agent to confirm his guess that the man is Muslim. The agent replies that he is Sikh. The scene makes a joke about a senior leader's poor grasp of the communities he protects.
17%
Identity-driven story themes
Season 1 centers on white nationalists who kidnap Hassan, a British Muslim student, and threaten to behead him. Season 5 ties anti-immigrant politics and online anger at women to attacks around a London mayoral race. The stories present far-right violence as a danger that MI5 must stop.
38%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Diana Taverner uses a fake hostage plot in Season 1 to improve MI5's public image, and the plan harms people. Later seasons show senior agents hiding mistakes while Slough House agents face the danger. The series repeatedly shows MI5 leaders putting their careers before the public and their own agents.
15%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. Stays close to the source novels.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
X posts repeatedly call the far-right plots a political rewrite or propaganda. One widely shared post questions why the show rarely depicts Islamic terrorism. Smaller accounts call Season 5's opening shooting woke, and user reviews make similar complaints.
25%
Creator track record context
Mick Herron has criticized Brexit and conservative leaders, and his books mock right-wing political figures. Graham Yost has discussed adding rural black story lines and writing about past racism and sexism. Hakan Kousetta worked on Heartstopper and supports more roles for groups often left out. Nina Gold values varied casting while respecting the source story.
37%
Production
TV Show · 2019
A group of working-class friends finding unconventional ways to win at life in suburban northern England. These lads have dealt, scammed, bribed and conned their way through…
TV Show · 2018
A hit man from the Midwest moves to Los Angeles and gets caught up in the city's theatre arts scene.
TV Show · 2026
The dynamic between the two contrasting personalities, a seasoned cop who prefers old-school methods and a tech-savvy cop who relies on modern technology for investigations, as…
TV Show · 2021
A seemingly ordinary British couple become the focus of an extraordinary investigation when two dead bodies are discovered in the back garden of a house in Nottingham.
TV Show · 2023
A clue that can save Joe’s family forces Joe and his friends to Africa. From the moment they land chaos erupts and loyalties crumble.
TV Show · 2024
When aristocratic Eddie inherits the family estate, he discovers that it's home to an enormous weed empire — and its proprietors aren't going anywhere.
TV Show · 2019
Following an emotional breakup, tough but tender FBI super-agent Will Chase (codename: “Whiskey Cavalier”) is assigned to work with badass CIA operative Frankie Trowbridge…
TV Show · 2019
To win back his ex-girlfriend, a nerdy teen starts selling ecstasy online out of his bedroom -- and becomes one of Europe's biggest dealers.
