Apple TV+’s Slow Horses is an adaptation based on a book series by Award-winning author Mick Herron. Season 4, which is currently streaming in its entirety, is taken right from the fourth book of the series. The show follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5, called Slough House. Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes.
Ruth Bradley joined the already well-established cast for Slow Horses season 4 as Emma Flyte, who was chosen by newly appointed Director-General Claude Whelan (James Callis) to succeed Nick Duffy after he was severely injured and fell into a coma. Bradley has appeared in other television series, such as Ted Lasso as Ms. Bowen and Concordia as Thea Ryan. She is expected to return to Slow Horses for season 5.
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Screen Rant interviewed Ruth Bradley in order to break down her character, discussing what was most surprising about her. She also reveals what it is like to join an already well-established cast and talks about working with the talented Gary Oldman and what she has learned from him. Bradley comments on the cliffhanger ending of Slow Horses season 4 episode 5, as well.
Slow Horses’ Emma Flyte Started Out Extremely Confident Before Continuing To “Get It Wrong”
“Once you think you’ve got this, the world comes and pulls the rug from under you sometimes.”
Screen Rant: Can you talk about what it was like playing a character that is going through so much this season?
Ruth Bradley: Amazing. I mean, so much fun to play, isn’t it? And also having an eye on the fact that it’ll be so fun for the audience to watch this person. “Oh, God, you got it wrong again.” She starts so confident and “I’ve got that .” One of these people. “I’m so above this.” And then it’s like all of us in our lives, right? Once you think you’ve got this, the world comes and pulls the rug from under you sometimes. So, yeah, I knew it would be really enjoyable for the audience to watch somebody be outwitted by the amazing slow horses and glam.
I guess, for Emma, she comes in here, and she thinks, “Right, well, I’m working for the good guys, and we’re going to save the country and that’s that’s our job.” And then it slowly becomes apparent that maybe the bad guys are not that bad. Maybe the good guys have other agendas. Nobody is clearly telling the truth.
Ruth Bradley Didn’t Think About Season 4 Episode 5 Episode Being A Cliffhanger Until She Saw It
“It was when I saw the edit, what Adam had done, the sound and the ringing in the ears, and the fuzzy back. It was just so, so disturbing.”
Screen Rant: Slow Horses Season 4 Episode 5 left viewers on a cliffhanger, wondering if you would be okay or not. What was it like filming that?
Ruth Bradley: Do you know what? I can’t even remember if I knew because scripts get changed so much in the edit. I knew how the next episode opened. Yeah, I didn’t really think about that because you don’t know how it’s going to be received. But luckily, everybody has really enjoyed that cliffhanger. Also, it was when I saw the edit, what Adam had done, the sound and the ringing in the ears, and the fuzzy back. It was just so, so disturbing and that’s when I realized, when we were still shooting season four. He was like, “Do you see a cut of the end of it?” We were like, oh, my gosh, it’s going to be a nightmare. I want to know what happens next.
Ruth Bradley Did Not Know How Much Emma Flyte Would Be In Season 4
“It was like Christmas morning for me when I got all the scripts.”
Screen Rant: Did you read the books?
Ruth Bradley: I did read books. But after I was cast. I wasn’t aware of the world at all when I was first sent the sides. Season one had just been on and they were about to air season two. I had heard rumors of Gary Oldman’s done a TV show. So I was like, “God, I have to watch that.” But I hadn’t got around to it yet. So I went back, read the scripts for this season, and then went back over the previous seasons, and then read the books.
Screen Rant: What was most surprising for you about Emma Flyte?
Ruth Bradley: When I was cast, I didn’t even know how much she would really feature, because I wasn’t given all the scripts. I was given two scripts. Then I was like, “Oh, my gosh, fun, fun, fun.” Like I was like, “Oh, my God, that’s where she ends up.” It’s great fun. That’s going to be so fun to play. It was like Christmas morning for me when I got all the scripts.
Slow Horses Is Faithful To The Books, But Inevitably, Some Things Get Left Behind
“It’s really fun to see which bits of Emma have come through.”
Screen Rant: Did you picture yourself and the rest of the cast while reading the books, since you were reading it after?
Ruth Bradley: Well, I guess so. Yeah. But in the books, it’s different, too. Will is so faithful to the books, but Emma in the show is even different to the book. Some things in the books, we take direct lines from the books and then sometimes other things get left behind. So it’s really fun to see which bits of Emma have come through.
Screen Rant: Is there something you were most excited to film?
Ruth Bradley: Probably it was the two handers with Gary that I was most excited to film because the dialogue was just lightning. It was just the bolt. I was like, “Can we say that line?” Can’t wait to play that, and then can’t wait to do it all with Gary Oldman.
Working With Gary Oldman On Slow Horses Is A Dream
“They say never meet your heroes, but you really should if your hero is Gary Oldman”
Screen Rant: What was it like working with Gary Oldman?
Ruth Bradley: They say never meet your heroes, but you really should if your hero is Gary Oldman, because he is not only such a lovely, normal, down to earth man, but also just loves acting, just really still loves the craft of acting. Sometimes people can get jaded, but there is nothing jaded about him. He’s like, “What can we work here?” and that just is so infectious. He still wants to play. We’re all essentially just kids playing dress up, and he’s still that. It’s just a joy to be around because that’s your job.
All the other fanfare around it, like the things and dressing up is so nice and stuff, but we could just be in our normal tracksuits with dolls. We’re just playing. It’s such an amazing dynamic. Everybody’s so happy because the scripts are great. The crew is so treated well. The crew’s been there since the beginning. It is like a family.
Screen Rant: What was it like for you coming later into the show and joining that family?
Ruth Bradley: Gary set the tone from the word go. He was like, “Welcome to our family. We’re a lovely bunch. We’re so glad you’re here.” It was like kind of meeting my father-in-law.
Screen Rant: Do you feel like you’ve learned anything working opposite him?
Ruth Bradley: I’ve learned so much from every actor I’ve worked opposite, but I think probably that he’s still a kid. He still loves acting and is not getting jaded and bored by it. Like, if I start going that way, I’ll stop, but testament to the fact that you can still just be buzzed off this amazing job that we get to do.
There Is A Lot Of Room To Play On The Set Of Slow Horses Season 4
“It feels like theater. It’s amazing.”
Screen Rant: Slow Horses is a combination of several genres. What has it been like for you getting to play in them all?
Ruth Bradley: Totally. The end of episode five is like an action sequence when mostly I would just do emotional stuff in my career so far. So you get to play all of it. And there’s so much comedy to play with. That’s why it’s so fun, as well, as an actor. It’s never boring. It’s always something a little different. You can drop comedy into something that’s not scripted as comedy. Often you’re like, let’s make this funny in the playing of it, and if it doesn’t work, they’ll cut it out. They give a lot of room for that. It feels like theater. It’s amazing.
More About Slow Horses Season 4
Slow Horses is an adaptation of CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning Mick Herron’s first novel in the “Slow Horses” series, which follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 – Slough House. Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes.
Check out our other Slow Horses season 4 interviews:
Slow Horses is an adaptation of CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning Mick Herron’s first novel in the “Slow Horses” series, which follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 – Slough House. Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes.
- Release Date
- April 1, 2022
- Seasons
- 4
- Streaming Service(s)
- Apple TV+