Slow Horses Story Inspired by It’s a Wonderful Life Needs Apple TV Holiday Special
Between its espionage intrigue, cast of endearing screw-ups, and wit as biting as the arctic wind, Apple TV’s Slow Horses has redefined the expectations one typically associates with a televised spy thriller. With five seasons under its belt in as many years (and more on the way), the dilapidated Slough House division, reigned over by the belligerent and slovenly Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), has become an annual streaming staple. Between that consistent release schedule and author Mick Herron‘s ongoing collection of Slough House book installments, short stories, and standalone novels, Apple TV’s Slow Horses lends itself to a new mission that, while perhaps unexpected, is more natural than one might suspect at first glance: a holiday special.
Specifically, The List, one of Herron’s six novellas, centers on a minor character’s investigation into a deceased asset, while another novella, Standing by the Wall, subverts It’s a Wonderful Life (with a dash of Charles Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol for extra flavor). Both short stories blend psychological introspection, winter melancholy, low-stakes scenarios, and Herron’s acerbic comedy into sly yet emotionally potent alternatives to more traditionally feel-good festive fare. And after all the hardships they’ve endured, shouldn’t Slough House give something as mundane as seasonal cheer their best-worst shot?
What Is the ‘Slow Horses’ Novella ‘The List’ About?
John Bachelor’s job isn’t flashy. An MI5 handler who oversees retired informants, his contributions amount to desk work: protecting his assets from foreign retribution and ensuring they don’t experience loose-lips-sink-ships syndrome. As The List opens, one of Bachelor’s former double agents, Dieter Hess, has died from natural causes. Born in East Germany, Hess risked life and limb to feed MI5 top-secret intel during the Cold War before defecting and fleeing to London.
Much to Bachelor’s surprise, the infamous Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) informs him that Hess kept a second, secret back account, which received sporadic deposits from an unknown source. Did an enemy agency woo Hess’ loyalties, or did the lonely expat compensate for MI5’s measly paychecks by earning enough innocuous side money to ease his twilight years? If it’s the former, then Bachelor’s faux pas might’ve compromised MI5’s security, and his punishment warrants an appropriate response: prison time, not a kindly demotion to Slough House’s ranks. To save his career, Bachelor scrambles to unearth the truth, including whether Hess was murdered.
‘The List’ Mirrors the Emotional Core of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
Like George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart), It’s a Wonderful Life‘s despair-riddled protagonist, Bachelor is plagued by self-doubt — just through the lens of a spy who fears he’s squandered his potential. In his 50s, Bachelor can’t keep himself from preemptively confronting his mortality. Considering his glory days long gone, he compares his unfulfilling career against MI5’s more glamorous, adventurous sectors. Missing Hess’ second bank account rubs salt in an existing wound; Bachelor failed the basics of the same role he views with listless cynicism. As he hunts through Hess’ home for clues, Bachelor glimpses his own possible future: living alone in a flat furnished with cheap carpeting, with only his regrets and his favorite material comforts for company.
If ‘Die Hard’ Is a Christmas Movie, Then So Is This Underrated Superhero Sequel
This season, give the gift of Extremis.
If George Bailey’s journey with his guardian angel helps him gain a more mature and grateful perspective on what defines a merit-filled life, then Bachelor gains the same through his investigation. He reconciles with losing his “young man dreams” once he realizes how those aspirations have faded into craving the predictable security his pension plan and unassuming job provide. The List combines introspective character studies, mystery-based tension, and pensive empathy, all tucked inside a wonderfully self-contained and intimate side tale — and perfectly suitable for a one-off holiday special.
‘The List’ and ‘Standing by the Wall’ Can Further Develop ‘Slow Horses’ Ensemble
An adaptation of The List could expand Slow Horses‘ world by highlighting a minor figure whom Herron vividly sketches out in a short timeframe. It can also be easily retrofitted to occur during the Christmas months; morose-turned-bittersweet self-reflection lends itself to the holidays’ contrast between bright lights and forced cheer. Otherwise, The List would need some slight adjusting to fit within the series’ current timeline. The short story is set between books two and three, which Slow Horses has already adapted for its respective second and third seasons, and the main Slough House team hardly appears. They could either be folded in more or left as cameos, allowing the universe to stand on its own.
That said, one of Slow Horses‘ major draws is watching the main batch of misfits at work. Herron’s Standing by the Wall novella is a perfect fit in that regard and one pre-formatted for Christmas. Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung), Slough House’s self-aggrandizing tech extraordinaire, finds his Christmas Eve plans — marathoning Die Hard, Die Hard 2, and Elf — ruined once Lamb hands him a special request that isn’t a request: removing a man from an old photograph of a trio. Spending extra time stuck in his dreary office erasing a stranger shocks Roddy into contemplating a scenario where his life is just as easily forgotten. An alternate universe without Roddy is, to paraphrase his unique line of thinking, a joyless world. If his coworkers even managed to survive without his skillful contributions, then they would grieve “the Roddy-shaped hole” in their hearts that they couldn’t place but knew represented a profound loss.
Turning the ‘Slow Horses’ Novellas Into Holiday Specials Is a Prestige Opportunity for Apple TV
Roddy’s take is quite selfish, self-centered, and in-character contrast to It’s a Wonderful Life; divine intervention schools a hopeless George about how one imperfect but fundamentally good man’s generosity affects an entire community. But that’s the bleakly hilarious mood audiences expect from Slow Horses. Herron’s novella skewers the Christmas spirit or lack thereof; for one, there’s a distinct lack of magically-timed Christmas Eve snow which figures. River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) muses how everyone is “at least twice as [ill-tempered and misanthropic] at Christmas,” and Lamb proves his point by growl-shouting Roddy’s last name in a play on the “ho, ho, ho” phrase.
Yet Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves) observes that Lamb receiving a photograph — the same one he tasked Roddy with manipulating — from archivist Molly Doran (Naomi Wirthner) has shifted his typical aggression into moody isolation. Catherine recognizes one of the three pictured figures as a younger, fitter, and less burdened Lamb. Despite wearing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer socks and his insistence that he doesn’t “do memories,” sentimental or otherwise,the photograph shoves Lamb into his most pensive, morose, and marathon-drinking self — a once legendary figure turned legendary failure who’s freshly re-haunted by the hidden ghosts of his past, present, and future.
Standing by the Wall is both perfectly satirical and an exploration into life’s widespread impact dysfunctional families and what happens when old memories aren’t laid to rest. It’s also low stakes lacking any major deaths or interconnected revelations. Instead both short installments offer the team brief moments of needed respite letting characters breathe while audiences enjoy their dynamics without usual dangerous fervor. If Apple TV turns its gaze uponThe ListandStanding by the Wall, especially if either airs during end-of-year holiday calendar thenSlow Horses‘ expert handle on gallows humor and prestige spy dramatics proves they’d have stand-out distinctive winner on their hands. Plus who could resist image of Jackson Lamb in Rudolph socks?
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