As Jack Lowden reminisces about some of his improvised moments on “Slow Horses” that made it into the show, he remembers one particularly fondly. It involves Rosalind Eleazar, who plays Louisa, and the two were in a car together since she is still dealing with PTSD after the murder of her partner, Min. “In the end, he tries to make her feel better.” It goes wrong, and he just reaches over and hugged her, not knowing why. That was not in the script. That was just me, and it’s one of my favourites’, he tells Gold Derby during our recent webchat (see video above). Will Smith, who created the show, fosters such spirit. “He breeds that environment well, which is an incredibly generous thing for a writer to do on a show and more writers should do it because it gives the actors a great sense of ownership.”
“Slow Horses,” available on Apple TV+, is an espionage drama about Slough House, an MI5 unit that houses rejects who have made major and public mistakes on the job. Lowden plays River Cartwright, who makes a mistake during a training exercise. Slough House’s personnel is intended to conduct menial, paper-pushing job, but they become involved in different acts of active espionage. The series also includes Oscar winner Gary Oldman as Slough House’s harsh and abrasive employer, Jackson Lamb. Kristin Scott Thomas and Jonathan Pryce, who have both received Oscar nominations, appear in the film.
When asked where he would want to see River go in the following few seasons, Lowden simply says he wants River to have a night off. “I would just like to see him dance. I really want to see him relax because they are always working. I actually wish they’d script an entire episode where all of the slow horses go to a club, and it’s just set in the club, and they grow progressively drunker and more home truths come out like every other night.” He also assures us that he has no reservations about dancing on television. “I’m better at dancing than acting. I was once told, ‘Maybe you’re not the best dancer in the world, but you can really move,’ and I’ve always taken it as a badge of honour.”
This summer, Lowden garnered his first Emmy nomination for Best Drama Supporting Actor for his role as River in “Slow Horses.” He has also received several major prizes in the United Kingdom, including the 2014 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the West End revival of “Ghosts.” He has also received the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor twice, for “Calibre” in 2018 and “Benediction” in 2022.