What’s it rated? TV-MA

When? 2022

Where’s it showing? Apple TV Plus

If you're looking for an inky-black espionage series that isn't afraid to expose the corruption of spy work and the human frailty of operatives, Slow Horses is the series for you. It follows a team of disgraced MI5 agents who've been sent to Slough House, a kind of purgatory for agents deemed too incompetent for top-level spy work.

• PHOTO COURTESY OF SEE-SAW FILMS AND PRETTY PICTURES
• THE B-TEAM Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman, left) oversees a team of dysfunctional MI5 agents, including River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), who despite their second-tier status find themselves searching for a kidnapping victim, in the Apple TV Plus series Slow Horses.

Overseeing the group is Jackson Lamb (a terrific Gary Oldman), a slovenly, obnoxious, and dismissive boss who despite his appearance and behavior is still a clever and capable intelligence officer. His MI5 nemesis is Diana Taverner (the always chic Kristin Scott Thomas), the deputy director-general of MI5 who runs a group of top-notch but immoral agents.

The first season found the "slow horses" engaged in a dangerous gambit involving the kidnapping of Hassan Ahmed (Antonio Aakeel), a British-Asian student, by the Sons of Albion, a far-right group that plans to behead the man and post it to social media. The "slow horses" may be second tier, but their code of honor is all that stands between Hassan and a grisly death. The second season is done filming, and I can't wait to watch it. (six approximately 45-min. episodes) Δ

—Glen