Gary Oldman Talks Slow Horses 6: "Lamb Got Under My Skin"

Gary Oldman is tired but satisfied when he takes part in the virtual press presentation for the sixth season of Slow Horses. We caught up with the actor at the end of August, while he is in Edinburgh filming the eighth season, which was just confirmed yesterday by AppleTV. So while the public prepares to watch the sixth, the crew's work is progressing rapidly: filming for the seventh is complete, and the eighth is in production. The hope now is that writer Mick Herron will soon be able to deliver a new novel featuring Jackson Lamb. This is because the series, once the eighth season concludes, will essentially be caught up with the literary saga and will have to await its developments.

Gary Oldman also hopes to play the character of Jackson Lamb for a long time to come, who has become increasingly familiar after four years of very intense filming, especially for him, who has never worked on a character for so long, despite having played recurring roles in his more recent past. Lamb, however, is never too far away now, with two more seasons to write and direct to catch up with the novel series from which Slow Horses is adapted. 

Jackson Lamb has become one of the great contemporary television characters. How important has it been for you to encounter such a character?

When a new season approaches, I get excited about returning to set, seeing Saskia, Jack, Chris, Amy, Tom again. I think that's one of the things that has made this experience so enjoyable even after so long. It's my only experience with a long-running series, but I can't imagine anything worse than working on a series for years with people you don't get along with or don't like. I think that would be very difficult. That's also what kept me going. And of course, the writing is excellent, and the character is incredibly fun to play. So I hope Slow Horses continues for a long time.

In the sixth season, Slough House stops being just a place where unwanted agents are parked and becomes a target, with the team forced to flee. Does this threat bring out Lamb's protective instinct for the slow horses more clearly?

CI think a stronger protective instinct emerges than we've seen so far, because this time the matter seems very personal. Two former slow horses are murdered, and we soon discover there's some kind of hit list. Lamb understands anyone could become a target, so he sends them to a safe house, orders them to disappear off the radar and not use their phones, while he tries to figure out what's going on.

Lamb treats his subordinates terribly, but underneath it all, he's incredibly loyal. I think he'd take a bullet for them. So in this season, we see a more protective, and if you will, more paternal Lamb.

The trailer for the sixth season revealed the return of Sid Baker. What was it like to reunite with Olivia Cooke on set after four seasons?

When she reappeared in the books, however, we were thrilled. We adored Olivia and thought she was brilliant in the first season, so we were excited when we heard Sid Baker would be back.

Lamb has always had great respect for Sid. He considered her an excellent agent and still does. As for how her return might destabilize the balance of Slough House, I'm not so sure, because Sid never actually rejoins it directly.

Among the new arrivals is Lenny Rush. What kind of dynamic is created between his character and Jackson Lamb?

He's really the key to unraveling this whole story, and Jackson Lamb, being the great investigator he is, understands that he might be the one to help him solve the mystery. But he has no patience for that whiny brat. For him, he's primarily a means to an end. So a very interesting and conflicting relationship develops between them. I do think, however, that Lamb ends up respecting him, because the boy can give as good as he gets. He represents an interesting challenge for Jackson Lamb.

After so many years in Jackson Lamb's shoes, have you ended up absorbing any of his bad habits?

I certainly hope not. Sometimes I like to eat junk food. I try to avoid it, but I like it. I don't smoke or drink anymore. I'm much softer than him. Jackson Lamb has no filter, so he's extremely direct with people. I, on the other hand, no longer seek confrontation: life is too short. Maybe when I was younger I enjoyed arguing a bit more, but now I don't want to hurt other people's feelings, make them feel inferior, or make them uncomfortable. Lamb, however, does that. There's a part of him that even enjoys doing it. So I hope I haven't picked up anything from him. And I haven't farted since 1971 (laughs).

After six seasons, do you feel you know Lamb much better than at the beginning? Can you now slip in and out of the character almost instantly?

First of all: I don't smell. People ask Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden: "Does he really smell?" No, I don't smell. It's all a trick: makeup, hair, and hair gel.

After playing him for so long, he inevitably gets under your skin a bit. It doesn't mean that in everyday life I think about Jackson Lamb or am aware of his presence when I'm not playing him. But he's there now, and I can switch him on whenever I want.

It's been an interesting experience to play a character who, if you will, is the protagonist of something, for so long. I had it with Harry Potter and with the Batman trilogy, but those were more discontinuous experiences. There wasn't the same continuity.

Now we're all very comfortable in our characters. I could become Jackson Lamb in an instant, even now. I won't, don't worry, but you carry the DNA of that thing with you now.

Lamb is often brutal with River, yet he also seems particularly invested in his fate. What does he really see in him? Is it correct to read their relationship almost like that of a father and son?

The relationship between River and Lamb carries a huge backstory. Lamb despises David Cartwright, so with River inevitably comes all the history related to the Cartwrights. But Lamb sees himself in River and recognizes his potential. River is good. He would never tell him, but he's good at his job. So yes, there's a kind of father-son relationship between them. It's a complicated relationship because, on the one hand, River reminds him of past events related to his grandfather; on the other hand, Lamb is loyal and protective of his Joes, and River is actually very good.
I think Lamb knows River was framed. He knows why he's at Slough House and he knows he's not there because he's a bad agent. I don't know if Mick Herron would agree with me, but I see it this way: Lamb knows why River is there. He knows he's not a discard, he's not incompetent. Sometimes he gets a little too enthusiastic and rushes in, but Lamb sees potential in River.