Is Slow Horses on Apple TV based on real-life events?

Apple TV’s Slow Horses features the UK’s domestic counter-espionage agency, MI5. Based on the Slough House novel series by Mick Herron, the TV show presents Slough House as an administrative purgatory for MI5 agents who have failed to carry out high-level assignments. However, the Slow Horses still engage in numerous high-risk missions under the command of their dastardly boss, Jackson Lamb.

Slow Horses was just renewed for a fifth season, and the show has aired for three seasons as of writing. So, viewers can expect more misadventures from Lamb and his team of Slough House agents, especially newcomer River Cartwright.

For most of the show’s run, the series’ creators stayed true to the original book while making minor changes to the plot to better suit the visual medium. However, some glaring MI5-based errors become more apparent as the show goes on.

1. Is Slow Horses based on a true story?

Slow Horses is not based on a true story. The series is based on Mick Herron’s novel of the same name, and is part of the Slough House series. The events, characters, and story are fictional, although they may be inspired by real spies and agencies.

2. Slough House is not a real branch of MI-5

Slough House is not an actual branch of MI5 at all. Although there are many ways to demote agents for doing tedious paperwork if they are ineffective, there is no entire branch dedicated to reprimanding agents. The reasons some agents were demoted to Slough House are enough reasons to be expelled from the real MI5.

However, there are certainly other elements of the Secret Service that the show portrays correctly. Although the offices on Aldersgate Street are fictitious, it is true that the Cold War greatly influenced the work of MI5. In Slow Horses, the ramifications of the Cold War can be felt deeply throughout the series.

3. Cases take longer to solve in real life

As with most thriller shows, things are more dramatic than is usually the case in reality. Each season of Slow Horses consists of only six episodes; It is difficult to include a lot of details.

Therefore, cases in the series are solved much faster than in real life. Although MI5 has numerous cognitive and technological organizations at its disposal, it is impossible to solve such high-profile cases within such a short period.

4. MI5 has no gray books

Season 3 of Slow Horses sees Donovan intending to expose MI5 secrets, leading to the discovery of the Gray Books. In the series, gray books refer to documents containing detailed records and information About every conspiracy theory of the last century.

However, there is no concept like Gray Books in real life. Important information is no longer stored in documents, and even if it is, it is no longer stored or kept in one place. There are many backups available, and MI5 doesn’t work with conspiracy theories either way.

5. MI5 agents don’t handle their weapons the right way

Slow Horses features several scenes where MI5 officers work in the field rather than administrative work. Therefore, viewers see a lot of scenes in which agents use firearms and other weapons.

However, Slow Horses doesn’t get the details right, like many other spy thrillers. Characters often do not hold or use their weapons properly. Moreover, customers use them without any consequences and many times more than is allowed in real life.

6. About slow horses

Slow Horses is a spy thriller television series based on the Slough House novel series by Mick Herron. The series premiered on Apple TV+ on April 1, 2022.

Slough House is an administrative purgatory for MI5 refuseniks who were not directly dismissed, and those sent there are known as “Slow Horses”. They are expected to endure boring tasks and occasional mental abuse from their miserable boss, Jackson Lamb, who expects them to quit out of boredom or frustration. However, the Slow Horses group is somehow involved in investigating schemes that endanger Britain.

The series has aired 3 seasons so far and has been renewed for a fifth season.