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Jackson Lamb is rude and disgusting – so why is he still so appealing to audiences?

Well, I think he’s your classic antihero. In a world where we’re told that we have to eat a certain way, we only have so many units of alcohol a week, we’re not allowed to smoke and it’s all very PC, you’ve got a character like Jackson Lamb who doesn’t have a filter.

He speaks direct, says what’s on his mind. He smokes, he drinks, he eats junk food. I think there’s something rather charming about all of that. Don’t we sometimes wish we could be a bit like Lamb? Yes, absolutely! And with it, he’s incredibly smart. He really gives the impression that, because of his physical appearance and hygiene, he doesn’t care, while he actually cares probably more than most. It’s his game, isn’t it? It’s his spycraft.

Will Smith did a great job in his time on the show, but that transition, I think, has been a really smooth one. I mean, James Hawes, who directed season one, was very much involved with Mick Herron and Will in establishing the world, in much the same way [director] Chris Columbus set the tone for the Harry Potter movies. So Slough House looks the way it looks, and The Hub and The Park look the way they look from the initial season.

You’ve mentioned before that your wife Gisele Schmidt pitched a few ideas you’ve incorporated into Lamb’s backstory. But have you been pitching your own ideas?

Well, there’s a small, what I call, “character bible” of things that I’ve thought about. You also learn more about Lamb as each book comes out, and there may be things that I would have liked to have known on day one that I kind of know now!

You don’t really get much help from Mick Herron. You ask him questions, and he says, “Oh, I don’t know about that. If it’s not on the page, then I haven’t thought about it.” Which I don’t believe for a minute. I heard recently that Mick knows when, where, and how Lamb will cop it...

You’ve been in six series, with a seventh already filmed – how much longer do you think you’ll be stepping into Lamb’s fragrant shoes?

I don’t know. I know Mick is going to be writing more Slow Horses books, and Apple write the cheques. But just because a show is successful, it doesn’t mean someone might not one day take it off the air anyway. I don’t know what those people upstairs are thinking.

A show doesn’t have to fail to be cancelled, so it’s all up for grabs. Will we go on? I don’t know. Would I be keen? I’ve certainly enjoyed playing him. We’ll see where it goes.

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