Gary Oldman on Slow Horses as series two comes to screens on Apple TV+

Now though, it’s his endearing small screen performance as part of comedic Apple TV+ spy drama Slow Horses that’s garnering attention for all the right reasons. Entering its second series, 64-year-old Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, a formerly admired Secret Service agent who finds himself leading a merry band of useless MI5 rejects.

Based on Mick Herron’s thrilling Slough House novels, Lamb’s team of hapless heroes find themselves in a race to contain Cold War secrets this time around. Based on Dead Lions, the second book in the acclaimed series, we speak with Oldman to discover more about his latest darkly humorous offering.

Series one and two were filmed back-to-back, does it feel as though you never left?

“It all sort of melts – time just melts into one,” says Oldman.

“Then you come back and you’re in the make-up chair and I look over and there’s Saskia putting on her wig and you go, ‘Oh hello, hiya’ and it was like we were literally here just a couple of days ago.”

He’s enjoyed exploring his a characyer beyond one series.

“You get to know who the character is. When you first come in, you’re working with a whole team for the first time. So, it’s like wearing in a pair of new shoes. You come back and they’re older, they’re more comfortable, it’s all just more familiar. Coming back was a real joy and it was a delight to see all the old faces. It becomes like a family. It’s fun following these characters. It’s very humorous, you’re allowed to laugh.”

The series picks up as two of the Slow Horses – as the offciers are known – have been asked to watch a Russian oligarch that MI5 have got their eye on. While that is going on, an old spy from the Cold War — and someone Lamb knew in Berlin — is found dead on a bus, presumably from a heart attack. However, he’s very far afield and in a location that sparks something in Lamb, who suspects foul play.

Has Lamb remained the character we know and love?

“He is still sort of irascible, and his usual self,” says Oldman. “This season, you see a little more of the Jackson who was the spy back in the day… you really do get a sense of what Jackson was like in his younger days, when he was an agent in the field.”

But series two certainly unearths from dark secrets from the past.

"It’s like going back into the hard drive. It’s like, bringing it up and going ‘Ah, yeah’ and then gradually putting the pieces together.”

Series two of Slow Horses airs from Friday, December 2 exclusively on Apple TV+ subscription channel.