To paraphrase some of the very first words grumbled out of the mouth of crotchety leader of rejects, Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), “another series has dawned of MI fucking useless”, also known as Slow Horses. Yes, the funny, fast-paced spy thriller is back and the ragtag crew of undistinguished spies has more on its plate than ever.

The Apple series has been a bit of a sleeper hit. The streaming platform doesn’t do a lot of marketing – an odd business move in this day and age. Its best shows become popular through fans evangelising about them. (If you’ve not watched Severance, what have you been doing?).

The person who evangelised Slow Horses to me was my dad. So great is his love for the show that when he found out the fourth season was being filmed in his local area, Crystal Palace, he attempted to track down Oldman through tip-offs he found in neighbourhood groups. His intel was correct, to be fair, and I have the grainy pictures of Oldman wearily walking up a hill to prove it. While my dad might not be an expert in intelligence, our reviewer is and he loves the show too.

Robert Dover is a professor of intelligence and national security and he says Slow Horses is one of the best things on TV right now. While he wouldn’t wish any of the characters on the real MI5, he believes they are sharply observed and complex and he enjoys the show’s antipathy to government intelligence agencies – and those who run them. As someone who has consumed a lot of spy drama, he said: “Balancing complex drama and clever comedy is difficult but perfectly executed here.”

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