Lost your password?

Slow Horses has built its reputation on being the spy show where the biggest threat might be the agents themselves. Instead of a team of perfectly polished MI5 operatives, Apple TV’s hit series follows the misfits of Slough House, a department where agents who have made career-ending mistakes are sent to disappear. Somehow, they keep finding themselves in the middle of major intelligence operations.

At TIFF 2026, the cast brought that same unpredictable energy to Toronto for the premiere of the first two episodes of season six. Based on Mick Herron’s Slough House novels, Slow Horses has become one of television’s most entertaining takes on the spy genre, mixing sharp comedy, tense missions and a group of characters who are impossible not to root for.

The season six cast includes Olivia Cooke as Sid Baker, Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho, Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Shirley Dander, Ruth Bradley as Emma Flyte and Saskia Reeves as Catherine Standish. Cooke continues a run of standout performances that has taken her from House of the Dragon and The White Lotus to one of television’s most unpredictable spy worlds. Edwards brings the same sharp energy that fans know from Peaky Blinders and This Is Going to Hurt, while Reeves has built a career across acclaimed projects including Luther and The Tunnel.

At the centre of it all is Sir Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb, the brilliant, miserable and completely unconventional MI5 veteran who has become one of television’s most memorable characters. Known for everything from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Dark Knight trilogy to his Oscar-winning performance in Darkest Hour, Oldman has turned Lamb’s chaotic personality, questionable habits and hidden brilliance into one of the show’s biggest draws.

While at TIFF, we asked the cast a very important MI5 question: what skills would get them hired by British intelligence, and what would get them fired immediately? We also spoke with Oldman about the movie magic behind Jackson Lamb’s infamous eating habits, one of the character’s most recognizable details.

We chatted with the cast of Slow Horses at TIFF 2026 to find out who would actually survive MI5 training, what makes Slough House work and why Jackson Lamb’s eating habits are all part of the master plan.