Why Gary Oldman says his Slow Horses character Jackson Lamb is one of his favourite roles
With the fifth season of Slow Horses on screens, Gary Oldman talks about ‘Lamb hair’ and how he loves playing the lead role, Jackson Lamb
Gary Oldman is back on screens as the caustic Jackson Lamb for the fifth season of the misfit spy thriller Slow Horses, as the critically acclaimed adaptation reaches Mick Herron’s book London Rules.
The morning after he was invested with a knighthood by the Prince of Wales for services to drama on stage and screen, Oscar-winning actor Oldman said Lamb was one of his all-time favourite roles.
“Where would he be in the canon, as it were? I think up there with, you know, Darkest Hour, Tinker Tailor,” he said.
The star won his Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the 2017 film Darkest Hour. He was Oscar-nominated for 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and again for 2020’s Mank.
Oldman has played Lamb – the shabby, brash, seemingly uninterested leader of the group of MI5 agents in spy purgatory at Slough House – since Slow Horses debuted in 2022. He loves the role because Lamb does not have social norms and does not follow the rules.
“I’ve played a character and I’ve returned to a character, but I haven’t had the opportunity to really inhabit someone like Lamb, consistently. I’ve got a real soft spot for him. I’m really, I’m quite taken with him,” he said.