Of course, in the real world it’s a little different. According to the series’ new head writer Gaby Chiappe, getting the keys to Slough House was a dream job, albeit one that came as abruptly and unexpectedly as it might for one of Lamb’s spooks-on-the-shelf. Taking over was never the plan.
For its first five series was presided over by head writer, executive producer and general series boss Will Smith, best known for his work on The Thick of It. That’s who Chiappe was expecting to work with when she signed up, only for Smith to decide to depart at the end of series five. Suddenly, there was an opening in the hot seat.
“I came in new for this season,” explains the 62-year-old screenwriter. “When I went into the room, I went in just as a writer. The ‘taking over’ happened along the way. I was doing two episodes already when I was asked, and I was a little bit scared. I’m a superfan of the show, so you also think: I don’t want to mess up my own favourite show!”
Born in Gibraltar before moving to the UK aged three, Chiappe had a sideways route into writing, spending a decade as an actor in fringe theatre before deciding to pen the scripts herself when “there wasn’t anything we wanted to perform”.
“And then just out of luck,” she adds, “I got the chance to write a sample script for a television show that doesn’t exist any more: a soap called .”
A busy career across the big and small screens followed, with Chiappe running the regular screenwriting gauntlet of , , and before moving on to , and . More recently she’s turned her hand to period films like and . Smith’s writing background in political satire was often noted as a crucial ingredient for the blackly comic , so I wonder – what flavour does Chiappe bring?
I'm a superfan, so I don't want to mess up my favourite show!
“I suppose I’m a bit of an outsider,” she says after some thought. “I wasn’t born in England, my family were a bit foreign but we spoke English. And I think that gives you an ear for how everyone else is talking and operating. And I’m used to changing the voice I speak in.”
Onscreen, for a story that sees the Slough House team targeted by shadowy assassins, the behind-the-scenes transition is seamless. That’s especially impressive given that this may be the trickiest adaptation yet, for the first time combining two of Herron’s books – and – into one story.
“This series, the Slow Horses find themselves being hunted and caught up in a web of Diana Taverner’s making,” Chiappe says. “It’s very twisty and, I hope, thrilling and surprising.
“It’s more like some of fed into than the other way around. It was exciting, working out the nuts and bolts of how we could keep the spirit true, even if we have to change the engineering a bit.”
As if there wasn’t enough pressure, the story also required the return of former series stars Hugo Weaving, Joanna Scanlan and – most crucially – Olivia Cooke, whose character Sid Baker was apparently killed in the very first series (her return, revealed a few weeks ago in a series six trailer, was a big surprise to those who haven’t read the books). In recent years Cooke’s star has risen with roles in House of the Dragon and , and Chiappe says she had some sleepless nights wondering how they’d do the story if she was too busy to return.
“You’re waking up with your heart thumping in the middle of the night, thinking, ‘Oh my God, what if…?’” she laughs. “But it was very exciting when those three returns were confirmed.”
Compared to that negotiation, actually scripting the series must have been a breeze. In general, she says it helped to have Smith’s first five series as a “tuning fork” to find the characters’ voices, plus returning crew like director Adam Randall, who helmed the fourth series. And then there’s the cast, with Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden and Kristin Scott Thomas all returning for their sixth appearances as Jackson Lamb, River Cartwright and Diana Taverner.
This series, the Slow Horses are being hunted. It's very twisty!
“They know the characters inside out. They’ve been playing them for five seasons,” Chiappe says. “Those actors’ voices speak in your head when you’re working on it. And you can’t wait to hear what they’re actually going to do with the line.
“Gary, I’m particularly grateful to because I spoke to him before I’d met any of the others, about the scripts. I was an unknown quality as far as the actors were concerned, but Gary was at pains to make me feel welcome. He was incredibly supportive.”
Of course, Oldman’s main co-star Jack Lowden has hit the headlines as a contender to play a much more competent spy than River. Was there any chatter on set about the rumours he’s the next James Bond? Chiappe laughs. “You know, because it was a while ago, I’m not sure… I mean, he was probably always on the list, that would make complete sense. But I honestly never heard any speculation about it.”
Running seems like a particularly demanding job. The show’s unusual pace of delivery – airing at least one series every year, compared with the two-and-a-half-year gap we now often expect from top dramas – is one of its biggest selling points, but also hard on the cast and crew.
“It’s a very intense schedule,” Smith admitted to last year. “You’re writing the next series at the same time as rewriting the one that’s being shot.”
“I don’t know how Will did it for as long as he did,” Chiappe reflects now. “He was across everything. What a hero.
“We were still shooting this when they started the writers’ room for season seven. That turnaround, the crew are exhausted by the end of it. The actors must be absolutely shattered, particularly Gary and Jack, the ones who are in lots of scenes this season.”
Perhaps learning their lesson, Apple hired a separate head writer for the already filmed seventh series – Ben Vanstone – meaning Chiappe didn’t have quite as relentless an experience. But even if this is both the beginning and end of her stint in Slough House, she seems content.
“All I wanted to do was bring my love of the show – which is maybe slightly different to Will’s love of the show, I don’t know – and ensure that it’s still the same series that the audience love. I’ve no idea if I’ll be back one day. But for now, I feel very, very lucky.”