Can you spot a slow horse? Test your knowledge of Gary Oldman's spy drama, covering cast, setting, and Mick Herron's novels. How many can you get right?

Slow Horses Quiz
📝 10 questions

First question:

Slow Horses is a spy thriller TV series based on novels by which British author?

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Slow Horses Quiz — Questions and Answers

Slow Horses

1easySlow Horses is a spy thriller TV series based on novels by which British author?

💡 Mick Herron🔍

Mick Herron worked as an editor before becoming a novelist, and the Slough House series was initially overlooked by major publishers before finding success.

2easyOn which streaming platform can you watch Slow Horses?

💡 Apple TV+🔍

Slow Horses was one of Apple TV+'s early prestige drama commissions and has been renewed for multiple series, becoming one of the platform's most critically acclaimed shows.

3easyWhich Oscar-winning actor plays the slovenly, sharp-tongued head of Slough House, Jackson Lamb?

💡 Gary Oldman🔍

Gary Oldman reportedly underwent a significant physical transformation for the role, gaining weight and adopting a deliberately unkempt appearance to embody the grubby, shambling Jackson Lamb.

4mediumWhich Scottish actor plays River Cartwright, the idealistic young MI5 reject at the centre of the Slow Horses story?

💡 Jack Lowden🔍

Jack Lowden, best known for roles in Dunkirk and Benediction, has said the role of River Cartwright in Slow Horses is one of the most complex characters he's played.

5mediumRiver Cartwright's grandfather is a revered former spook whose reputation looms large over River's career — what is his name?

💡 David Cartwright🔍

David Cartwright, affectionately known as 'the Old Bastard,' was such a celebrated spook that his grandson River's posting to Slough House feels all the more humiliating by contrast.

6mediumIn the first season of Slow Horses, a young student is kidnapped and threatened with on-camera beheading — what is the student's name?

💡 Hassan Ahmed🔍

Hassan Ahmed's kidnapping in season 1 is orchestrated to exploit media outrage, with the Slough House misfits racing to prevent a live-streamed execution that could inflame racial tensions across Britain.

7mediumSlough House, the dingy office where MI5's failures are sent to rot, is located near which famous arts and residential complex in the City of London?

💡 The Barbican🔍

In the novels, Slough House is described as a grimy building on Aldersgate Street, just a short walk from the Barbican's brutalist towers — a deliberately unglamorous address for MI5's cast-offs.

8hardIn Mick Herron's novels, what is the surname of Catherine, the teetotal former alcoholic who serves as Jackson Lamb's indispensable office manager?

💡 Standish🔍

Catherine Standish's sobriety is a central part of her character — she previously worked as personal assistant to the head of MI5 before her drinking led to her exile in Slough House.

9hardIn the Slough House novels, what is the first name of the MI5 analyst known by the nickname 'Roddy Ho'?

💡 Roderick🔍

Despite being one of Slough House's most irritating residents, Roderick 'Roddy' Ho considers himself the best hacker in MI5 — a self-assessment his colleagues would strongly dispute.

10hardIn the novel Dead Lions, which slow horse is killed early in the story, apparently of natural causes on a bus, prompting the investigation into old Cold War secrets?

💡 Dickie Bow🔍

Dickie Bow's seemingly mundane death on a London bus turns out to be anything but natural, pulling Slough House into a web of Cold War secrets and long-buried Soviet sleeper agents.

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