If you are looking for an action-packed, found family, spy television series about a group of misfits, then we have the show for you! The Apple TV+ original Slow Horses, a British television show based on the Slough House book series by Mick Herron, features a captivating story and an amazing cast. The Emmy Award-winning show follows a group of disgraced MI5 agents that have been sent to administrative “purgatory” known as the Slough House. Called “slow horses,” these MI5 agents have each failed a task of some kind, and instead of being fired, they are sent to Slough House in hopes they will either quit or retire. Run by the miserable and rude Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), the members find themselves in the middle of a dangerous investigation. In light of the series’ recent Season 4 release, Just N Life was able to sit down with Slow Horses actor Kadiff Kirwan to learn about his introduction into acting and his experience on set. Kirwan plays Marcus Longridge, a former MI5 agent sent to Slough House due to his gambling addiction.
Interview With Kadiff Kirwan From Slow Horses
Just N Life: Do you find there is something in Marcus you connect with, or if you don’t connect with him, how do you feel about jumping into his character?
Kadiff Kirwan: I connect with him. He’s someone who really cares about his family and cares about his work, and someone who is incredibly human. So he constantly makes mistakes. I mean we can all relate to that. I relate to loving my family and my friends, loving my job and also making mistakes. I love playing his temper and his speed because it’s a lot less active than mine. So getting to really sit back and be a sarcastic prat has been quite enjoyable. Coming in with those zingers and then when it comes to having to rise to an occasion and him just going “yeah let’s go do it” and locking and loading and going to help his team.
JNL: What is it like being in the action scenes?
KK: It is high pressure, high volume, high intensity, and it’s so enjoyable. I mean it’s just one of those things that, I didn’t think as an actor I would enjoy making action or doing action sequences and it turns out I do, so maybe I’ll end up wanting to become a bloody action hero. But really enjoyable because it’s not slick. Slow Horses is not slick, the action sequences, there’s humor in them and there’s emotion in them and it’s not just things getting blown up for no reason. So, it’s been great to see the merger of emotions and action, especially season four.
JNL: Going back to your start in acting, is there a specific show or movie that made you want to be on screen?
KK: As a kid I watched sort of everything. I grew up in the Caribbean until I was eight and then we moved to the UK so I was getting a lot of American TV. So, I was watching the Fresh Princes of the world and all the sitcoms, The Cosby’s, all that kind of stuff, One on One, My Wife and Kids. It was seeing the live nature of doing TV. All those studio sitcom programs in front of a live audience, because if I was doing a play but it was TV, so I was like “whoa that’s cool!” So, it was sort of that and then eventually discovering films later on in life.
Also, it was Harry Potter for me. And the fact I am working with Sirius Black [Gary Oldman] now is really insane. I was and continue to be an avid Harry Potter fan. That world, those characters, those actors, even the passing of Maggie Smith, that really hit me because it felt like we all lost a grandmother or that teacher that saw something special in you. It’s been a joy working with Gary and asking him questions about filming that and, you know, it’s been so wild. If you would’ve told my fourteen old self that I would be on a TV show for Apple, who, when I was fourteen, were making iPods and now they have Apple TV+, this big streaming service and I’m now working with Sirius Black, but I’m actually not, I’m actually working with Gary Oldman who’s playing Jackson Lamb and it’s just been dope.
Season 4 of Slow Horses is streaming now on Apple TV+.
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