Slow Horses (2022) s02e01 Episode Script
Last Stop
- [RAIN PATTERING]
- [THUNDER RUMBLING]
[GRUNTS]
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
[GRUNTING]
Go! Get in!
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
[PANTS]
[LAUGHS]
[ANNOUNCER SPEAKS
INDISTINCTLY THROUGH PA]
[PERSON GRUNTS]
[ANNOUNCER] Apologies once more,
but due to equipment failure,
this train will
terminate at High Wycombe.
The bus replacement service
will take you to Oxford Pathway,
where you can proceed to your journey.
Thank you.
[GURGLING, SPUTTERING]
[ANNOUNCER] Remaining passengers
arriving from Marylebone,
the bus replacement service
offers a pathway available
from the car park.
It's just this way. The
bus replacement service.
[INHALES SHARPLY]
- [PASSENGER 1] Whoo!
- [PASSENGER 2] Run with your head down!
Hey, we're here.
[SIGHS] Christ's sake.
Come on, mate. Wake up for God's sake!
["STRANGE GAME" PLAYING]
[ANNOUNCER] Welcome to High Wycombe.
The train currently
standing at platform two
[SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY] Bicester
Village, Oxford Parkway, and Oxford.
Yeah, mate, I'm not working that day.
They're They're
expecting 100,000 people.
The toilets are gonna be like a barn.
[SIGHS] Mate, there is no
way I'm working that day.
Hang Hang on.
- Can I help?
- Yes. [STAMMERS]
I'm wondering if you could tell me
where I might find
the replacement buses.
We don't have any today.
Everything's running. [CHUCKLES]
So, listen, you tell
Head Office, yeah, um
[STAMMERS] I need the
bus because, um, uh
Well, the other night my brother passed.
I don't know whether you heard.
[ATTENDANT] Uh. Yeah, um, uh
Hey, mate, I'm I'm
gonna call you back, yeah?
Uh, yes, I did. My condolences.
Uh, the buses are run
by a separate company.
Uh, well, perhaps you could
give me the name of the company.
Well, we use different
ones. I'm not sure
Please. I I would
very much like to see
the place from where he left this earth.
All right, uh
Let me make a few
phone calls, and I'll
I'll see if I can sort you out.
[MOUTHING] Okay.
["STRANGE GAME" PLAYING]
[GRUNTS]
[RODDY] Standish.
[SIGHS]
This isn't working.
Can you be more specific?
[RODDY] Seniority dictates
I should have my own office.
Oh, I wouldn't take length
of service in this shithole
as a status symbol.
Prisoners have hierarchies.
Humans organize themselves
according to power.
I'll be down shortly with today's work.
Hurry up. If you don't give me
something to do, I'm gonna kill him.
Or at least maim him.
Morning.
Has anyone seen Lamb?
[BUS DRIVER] Ambulance driver
said it was a heart attack.
[JACKSON GRUNTS] Ah, mercifully quick.
Here one moment, the
next, with the angels.
[BUS DRIVER] Found him down
there, second from the back.
And I thought he was sleeping.
[STAMMERS] Well, he was, wasn't he?
[GROANS]
[STAMMERS] Was there
anything out of the ordinary?
[STAMMERS] Apart from him.
Uh. A-anything near him?
Something he, uh, might've left?
There was a hat. Seat next to him.
Oh, well, that could well have been his.
Could I take a look at it?
Be lovely to have a keepsake.
[BUS DRIVER] Sure, it'd
be in lost property.
Huh, I'll I'll go
by when I'm done here.
[JACKSON SIGHS]
He looked quite calm-like. Your brother.
Well, that's how he
would've wanted to go.
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
He liked buses.
It's It's not that I believe
in a life-force, precisely.
But I'm I'm not positive
I I don't believe in one.
[STUTTERS] If you take my meaning.
I'll, uh I'll give you a moment.
[GRUNTS]
- Sorry to bother, but
- Oh, yes.
[BUS DRIVER] Will you be much longer?
[JACKSON GRUNTING]
I've, uh [SNIFFS, GRUNTS]
I I've said my my final good-byes.
Only we've just had a call.
Gonna need to use the bus.
[STAMMERS] Of course.
Fuck.
Um, has anyone seen River?
Yeah, I'm just really excited to take
what I've learned in
government intelligence
and apply it a bit more to
more concentrated, commercial
Taking what I've learned
in government intelligence
and applying it to more
commercial, targeted goals.
It's something that I've
They are ready for you
now, Mr. Cartwright.
[SNIFFS, CLEARS THROAT]
And actually, now, at a time of
real geopolitical uncertainty,
private intelligence can fill the
gaps left by the national agencies.
You know?
- [INTERVIEWER] Absolutely.
- Mmm.
And it it feels to me, actually,
that those are the really interesting,
and often unorthodox areas of fieldwork
to which I'm probably best suited.
Now, on your CV,
it says that you're currently
seconded to a unit near Aldersgate.
Yes, I am. Yes. Um
[CLEARS THROAT] It's a bespoke unit.
Deals more in analog methods
of intelligence gathering
that's actually given me a-a-a
real grounding in more database
Yeah, and That's great. Uh,
so you work at Slough House?
Yes.
I understand that it's not everyone's
first choice of assignment, I do.
But actually, I've found it invaluable.
So you work with Jackson Lamb?
Yeah.
What's he like?
[SIGHS] Where is everyone?
Oh, Min, please can you sit down?
[MIN] Sorry, it's just that
I'm trying to get my steps in.
[CHUCKLES] I should never
have given you that thing.
[SIGHS] Well, Lamb's gonna kill us.
No, it's fine. He wasn't
even in this morning.
Yeah. He's probably off
wanking in a morgue somewhere.
[CHUCKLES]
Okay. What about this one?
- 300?
- Mm-hmm.
Min, it's got a garden.
Okay, 310 then.
I mean it's What, it's a
"garden flat in Leytonstone."
It can't be that much.
- 520.
- [MIN] Oh, my God.
I mean, that's a lot.
- [LOUISA] It's not.
- He's here.
[LOUISA SIGHS, CLEARS THROAT]
[SIGHS] Here we go.
It's gonna be fun.
All right. Let's make this quick.
I'm seconding you.
Not for long, week or so.
So you'll be reporting to me.
On what sort of job?
Security.
For an off-the-books meeting.
Oh, okay. So that's why we're
meeting here and not the Park.
Yeah. And because you're
not allowed in the building.
Who's the meeting between?
Myself and Arkady Pashkin.
Representative of Ilya Nevsky.
The oligarch?
Nah, the kid's puppeteer.
Yeah, the oligarch. [SCOFFS]
But I thought we were
supposed to stay away from him.
[SIGHS] You're supposed to
stay away from everyone, Min.
I meant "we" as in
MI5. He's a dissident.
He opposes a regime in Moscow, and
we're not supposed to take sides.
[WEBB] Well, Her Majesty's
Government are prepared
to be pragmatic in this matter.
Nevsky made his money in oil and gas.
We're worried about energy security.
So, Nevsky's right-hand guy, Pashkin,
Taverner's right-hand guy, moi,
are gonna sherpa a little
meeting between the two of them.
Any face-to-face meetings are to be held
at a pre-agreed secure location
which I need you to assess, sweep,
take out the bins. Usual routine.
Well, who made the approach?
Pashkin. Via an intermediary.
Freelancer named Krimov.
And does Krimov check out?
I did the background. It's all in here.
[LOUISA SIGHS]
So, the meeting's this
Saturday in the Glasshouse.
Same day as the Anti-Capitalist March.
Is that a problem?
Are you thinking of making
a placard and going along?
No, no. Just getting up to speed.
Good. Well, I hope it's
not too tall an order.
But if you think you're too rusty
or you're happy with the stale scraps
Lamb throws you, just say the word
and piss off back to Slough House.
- [MIN] Should we take the job?
- [LOUISA] Uh, I think we just did.
Well, yeah, I know.
But Lamb's gonna cough up
a bollock when he finds out.
- Well, we don't really have a choice.
- Well, we do. We can just not do it.
[CHUCKLES] Thing is,
you're scared of Lamb.
[MIN] I'm not scared of Lamb.
I mean, yeah, I am scared of Lamb. Yeah.
[RODDY] You're looking at it. I did
what you asked without being asked.
[JACKSON] Be great if you could do that
- without making me want to hit you.
- [FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]
- [LOUISA] Just don't say anything.
- [MIN] Yes, okay.
- [JACKSON] What am I looking at?
- [RODDY] Soho street cam footage.
[JACKSON] This is Soho?
But where's all the
prostitutes and the junkies?
- Soho's changed.
- Shut up, Mike.
Marcus.
Yeah, it'll take me six
months to get your name right,
and if I've done my job,
you'll be long gone by then.
[STAMMERS] It looks like he's
heading for, uh, Marylebone.
Can you pick him up there?
[INHALES SHARPLY]
[JACKSON STAMMERS] Where's
he gone? We lost him.
We just need to switch
to another camera.
- Cause of death?
- What's going on?
Ex-service agent found dead
on a bus in Oxford Parkway.
Just got the coroner's report.
Guy!
Heart failure.
That's bollocks.
[LOUISA] Well, he was in
his 60s, smoked, drank.
Was probably on the cards.
But I do all that and look
at me, eh. I'm in my prime.
Why would someone wanna kill this guy?
Uh, maybe he went for a job
interview without telling his boss.
That's grounds for murder.
Are you sure it's murder?
He left a note on his
phone that tells me it was.
[SIGHS] And you gonna
tell us what it says?
Yeah, well, I would if I thought
you could offer up any insights.
Here's an angle by the ticket barriers.
Dickie goes through the
barrier without buying a ticket.
- So it's not a planned journey.
- Yeah, uh, rewind.
- Dickie?
- His real name was Richard Bough.
He was an occasional in Berlin.
Kicked out just before
the wall came down.
He's following someone.
I w I wanna see them getting on
the buses at High Wycombe station.
Well, hang on. That
That bus is closer,
but he walks over to that one.
I think he's following
the man in the hat.
Well, this hat was
found near where Dickie
snuffed it in the luggage rack.
Ladies and gentlemen, the
death bus is now pulling
into Oxford Parkway station.
Well, there's no one in a hat.
[SCOFFS] That's because the hat was left
on the fucking bus, you pillock.
I'm holding it.
Just show me the footage
from both platforms.
[CATHERINE] It's the bald man.
[LOUISA] Which bald man?
Center of screen, on
the northbound platform.
He's got his back to the camera.
He doesn't want to be seen.
Where did your bald man go?
Must've got on the train.
No, he's still on the platform.
Fast-forward to the next train, Roddy.
[JACKSON] Right. I want footage from
inside that Oxford Parkway train,
so we can see where
baldy gets off, okay?
I wanna know who this fucker
is and where he fucking went.
[RODDY] Footage from inside the
trains is stored on hard drives
that are physically
swapped out once a week
and are taken to a data center.
[SIGHS] I just fell
asleep with my eyes open.
Where they're copied and wiped,
then put back on the trains.
It's legwork.
You need a donkey for that,
and I'm a thoroughbred.
You, Ho, are a massive horse's cock.
But you're right. I need a
donkey to fetch those hard drives.
Harper.
Whoa. You see that?
- [RODDY] See what?
- [STAMMERS] No.
Harper just shared a little
look with with his girlfriend.
I wonder what that means.
We've been seconded.
- Who by? Twats "R" Us?
- [RODDY LAUGHS]
- Webb.
- [RIVER] What Webb?
You're gonna work for that
dick after he fucked me over?
I don't know. I-I-I think
it shows excellent taste.
What's the assignment,
and please tell me
you can't give me any details?
Security on a Russian back channel meet.
Jesus Christ, Min.
[STAMMERS] You were
what, 549th on the list?
You know, if it was anyone else
I'd go nuclear bananas, but I hate Webb,
and you will doubtless fuck it
up, so I consider that a result.
I'll get the hard drives then.
They're too busy working for the enemy.
Fuck off. You're planning
to jump ship for Elessar.
Don't grandstand when you're
chasing the private pound.
Where the fuck are you going?
I turned them down. I
didn't want to do it.
Aw. Well, we just sorted
out your farewell present.
Here.
What am I supposed to do with this now?
[MARCUS LAUGHS]
I'm not giving you any juicy action.
I'm still laboring under the
illusion that, uh, that Shelby
Shirley.
is only half shit and not
full shit like everyone else.
So she's going.
But why risk her when you know
I could do the job? [STAMMERS]
Sorry, it's just this is in my
wheelhouse. I don't know what we're
- You have a wheelhouse?
- Yes, I do have a wheelhouse.
Do you know why she's at Slough House?
No.
Well, consider yourself lucky
you stopped when you did.
Wait, so what do I do then?
Fuck off to the job
center for all I care.
[SIGHS]
I mean, you can think
about getting a gardener.
Too much for you?
No, I'm just saying, you know.
Maybe someone to do stuff
around the house too.
[SCOFFS] If this is leading towards,
"You'd be better off in a home,"
I think I should warn you I once
killed a man with a pair of shears.
[LAUGHS]
Wait, really?
No, but it's never too late.
How did the interview go?
Jesus Christ.
God, spooks never do retire,
do they? How did you know that?
The director got in touch with me.
I said you'd prefer to be judged
on your own merits. [CHUCKLES]
Well, I was and I didn't get
it. So that's nice to know.
I think they just got me in to
hear stories about Lamb anyway.
I can't see you in private intelligence.
Well, luckily neither can the
people in private intelligence
because to them I'm still the dickhead
who crashed Stansted
on a training exercise.
[SIGHS] I thought saving Hassan
would wipe the slate clean,
but I'm still sat
around like a spare part.
[DAVID] Well, something will turn up.
Already has, but Lamb's
shut me out of that one too.
Tracking an FSB wet squad.
Who is the hit?
Richard Bough.
Christ.
What?
Oh, nothing. I'm just
I'm amazed he was still alive, is all.
How did he die?
Uh, heart attack. On paper.
Well, maybe it was just a heart attack.
I mean, I don't see anyone wanting
to have Dickie Bough killed.
Wait, so you knew him?
Yeah, of him. Yeah.
God.
Ah. Come on. I need
a drink for all this.
[SHIRLEY] Shit. Sorry.
No worries.
- Someone dropped this.
- [CASHIER] Ah, thank you.
- [CELL PHONE BUZZES]
- Yeah?
I need you to cut the power to the
Datalok building at nine o'clock.
- I've got a date in 30 minutes.
- No, you haven't.
I just lifted a security guy's card,
and I need to get in
there before he notices.
Why do you need me to cut the power
if you've already got his card?
It only gets me through the outer gate.
It's facial recognition on
the door to the building.
What's in it for me?
A quick death.
[DAVID] Cicadas.
Uh, sleeper agents
embedded in British society.
So named because cicadas spend
years underground before hatching.
And do you remember how we
concluded they were a hoax?
Uh, yes. Because the spy
master controlling them
turned out to be a bogeyman, yeah.
Alexander Popov. My
fearsome opposite number.
Invented by the Russians to
keep us chasing our tails.
Yeah, well. [BREATHES DEEPLY]
Dickie's big moment came when he
went AWOL before the wall came down.
We thought he'd defected,
and [CHUCKLES]
to be frank, the
Germans were welcome to him.
And then he came staggering
back, blind drunk,
claiming that Popov and
a thug had abducted him
and interrogated him and
poured brandy down his throat.
I mean, obviously he'd
been on an enormous bender.
[CHUCKLES] And he came up with the
worst possible excuse imaginable.
So we threw him out.
Right, so there's no chance that Dickie
was actually telling the truth then?
None. I mean, Popov was a ghost.
We never found a single cicada.
Well, it's definitely
getting Lamb worked up.
Well, he's probably doing due
diligence on an old joe, but
[INHALES DEEPLY]
you know, Dickie's death
was nothing out of the ordinary.
[SIGHS]
He was following someone when he died.
Maybe he saw someone
that he shouldn't have.
- [SCOFFS]
- No, in Berlin.
And then now again in London.
Look, I know you had a knock-back today
and you're desperate
for something to happen.
But believe me, this
doesn't sound like anything.
Why not?
Well, heart failure isn't
the FSB's style, is it?
I mean, all their recent hits
have left a clear signature.
Usually radioactive.
No, they want us to
see what they've done
and dare us to come up with a
response that will never happen.
- But what if this isn't the FSB?
- What?
- What if it's KGB?
- Oh. No, no, no. No.
Now you're chasing after your own tail.
Yeah, but I mean, those
guys, they left no trace.
You wouldn't see them coming. Brush
past, a tap from an umbrella
No, no, no, no. Dickie
wasn't bothering anyone.
Yeah. Maybe not.
Right, I better go.
Can I not offer you dinner?
No, no. It's fine. I
had something before.
Um, I'll clean all that up.
No, no, no. Leave it. I'll do
it later. I enjoy the night air.
[CHUCKLES]
Be careful, River.
- What made you say that?
- Hmm?
There's a streetlight out
at the end of the lane.
There's a dark stretch between
there and the high street.
- Right. Um. Don't drink too much.
- [CHUCKLES]
[LOUISA] Right. This is the Glasshouse
where Webb has agreed to meet Pashkin.
The entrance to the underground
car park is on the street behind.
And then, for the
meeting, we take a lift
up to the boardroom
and disable the cameras.
So we need to do a bug
sweep the night before.
We could check it out now.
I bet the view's amazing.
No. We can't get access
until Webb gives us passes.
Or we just use the building opposite.
Have a roofnic. Scope it out from there.
- Roofnic?
- Yeah.
How come Lamb knew
about River's interview?
Uh, Catherine said that they
called in for a reference.
Fuck. Brutal.
So what, did he just fart
down the phone? [CHUCKLES]
No. Apparently, it was
actually pretty good.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Pashkin is gonna meet
Webb in the boardroom
above Nevsky's office
which is on the 42nd floor.
[MIN] Um, does that say Almaz Trust?
[LOUISA] Nevsky's company.
It's Russian for diamonds. Made
his first million as a gem trader.
So, 42nd floor would be one, two, three,
four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine, ten, 11, 12
Min, just count down from the top.
It's 50 floors, boardroom's 47th
floor, Nevsky's five down from that
All right. Okay. Yeah.
I can do the maths, yeah.
Well, that's why he wants to have
the meeting in this building then?
Yeah. Once we establish
the boardroom's secure,
you can just sneak upstairs
and no one will ever know.
Yeah. And it's not like
anyone's going to be looking
through the windows, is it?
What's above and below?
Um, nothing above.
Below, apart from Nevsky's,
there are private banks,
investment companies, and
then 20 floors of luxury hotel.
Ooh. Well, maybe we
should insist on staying
in the hotel as part of the op.
Should we make that a deal breaker?
- Shall we?
- Yeah.
[TYPING]
[SHIRLEY GRUNTS, SIGHS]
[SIGHS]
[WHISTLES]
[KNOCKING]
You are a fucking dead man, Ho.
I said nine o'clock!
[GUARD WHISTLES]
[WHISTLING]
Fuck.
[WHISTLING CONTINUES]
[SHIRLEY GRUNTS]
I only realized when I got home. She
lifted my wallet and handed it in.
The card was gone. Fucking crazy.
[THUD]
[CREAKING]
[SHIRLEY BREATHING SHAKILY]
[GUARD] You go that way.
[PANTING]
- So did you get it?
- [SHIRLEY] Yep.
Good job.
Guess I'm not full shit then?
Oh, no. Definitely not full shit.
Yeah. Full shit be crashing Stansted.
Well, actually that was a
setup, so it Ah, forget it.
So you're here for Is it
punching your case officer?
Technically, no.
I mean, I did punch him
after he made a pass at me,
but I could've escaped that with
a reprimand and a note in my file.
It was the second punch that did
it, after he said I hit like a girl.
Didn't get up after that.
Fair enough.
He took a train from Oxford
Parkway to Stroud, Cotswolds.
I checked the station CCTV.
Our guy walks off camera
towards the taxi booth.
Right. So we don't know
where he went after that?
It's gonna sound strange, but did anyone
come near Dickie with an umbrella?
Yeah. Loads of people.
- It was raining earlier.
- Yeah, no. I meant
You meant like in the
Markov assassination.
- Yeah.
- Got a big wide-on for old-school hits,
but no one jabbed him with an umbrella.
What about the bald man?
[SHIRLEY] Told you, we
lose him at the taxi booths.
Yeah, but how close
did he get to Dickie?
[SLURPING, CHEWING]
[DOOR OPENS]
[RESTAURANT WORKER SPEAKING MANDARIN]
[CLEARS THROAT]
That seat's taken.
Oh, yeah? By who?
Gillian Anderson's in the lav.
Well, I imagine she'll be a while
throwing up after watching you eat.
Do you know how much
it hurt me to write you
an even half-decent reference?
And all for nothing. I
mean, you're still here.
What you do, take a shit
in the wastepaper bin
halfway through the interview?
Actually, what went wrong was
not having anything interesting
to say about you.
Should've just told them that
you eat like a dying horse.
Aw. It's my fault no
one wants to hire you?
Dickie was murdered.
I know that, you twat.
Yes, but you don't know how.
If you
Can I sit there or I'm gonna
I can't. [CLEARS THROAT]
Shirley got that footage that you
asked for from inside the train.
[INHALES DEEPLY] So, look.
Dickie's nearest the door, right?
Meaning that he has to get off first
if he doesn't want to
draw attention to himself.
But what that means
is that it puts the man
that he's following behind him
when they get off at High Wycombe.
But look. He's touching
Dickie on the arm.
And then, if you go to the
footage from inside the station
Dickie's rubbing his arm.
Our man must have dosed him
with something untraceable
that shows up as a heart attack.
Unless you want to run a bunch of
complicated and obscure
tests, which I imagine the Park
wouldn't want to bother with
even if they thought it necessary.
Now
I bet you 50 quid that I know
the message on Dickie's phone.
Just one word.
Cicada.
[SNIFFS]
[GRUNTING]
[JACKSON SNIFFS, CLEARS THROAT]
[SCOFFS]
Not bad.
What, my pitch or your noodles?
Yeah. Keep the change.
[SERVER] Thank you, Mr. Lamb.
You know, the fact that I'm
right means you give me 50 quid.
I mean, that's how bets work, generally.
Well, I'll take it as a fee
for writing your reference.
Okay, clever bollocks,
what's it all mean?
What it means is that Dickie
wasn't lying all those years ago.
It means he was grabbed,
force-fed a ton of booze
and then questioned by someone
wanting to spread the myth of Popov.
It's still a myth.
Yes, Popov didn't exist,
but maybe the cicadas did.
Do. Maybe they hid the truth in a lie.
And Dickie has seen
someone, he's tailed them,
they've not liked it
so they've killed him.
Because maybe they've been reactivated
and maybe more people are gonna die.
- [RIVER SIGHS]
- Where are you off to?
Cotswolds.
["STRANGE GAME" PLAYING]
Good.
Find out what the bald man did there,
who he spoke to, and
if he's still there.
Yeah.
Cheers, Mr. Lao.
Can I get a couple of
those prawn buns to go?
[SONG CONTINUES]
- [THUNDER RUMBLING]
[GRUNTS]
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
[GRUNTING]
Go! Get in!
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
[PANTS]
[LAUGHS]
[ANNOUNCER SPEAKS
INDISTINCTLY THROUGH PA]
[PERSON GRUNTS]
[ANNOUNCER] Apologies once more,
but due to equipment failure,
this train will
terminate at High Wycombe.
The bus replacement service
will take you to Oxford Pathway,
where you can proceed to your journey.
Thank you.
[GURGLING, SPUTTERING]
[ANNOUNCER] Remaining passengers
arriving from Marylebone,
the bus replacement service
offers a pathway available
from the car park.
It's just this way. The
bus replacement service.
[INHALES SHARPLY]
- [PASSENGER 1] Whoo!
- [PASSENGER 2] Run with your head down!
Hey, we're here.
[SIGHS] Christ's sake.
Come on, mate. Wake up for God's sake!
["STRANGE GAME" PLAYING]
[ANNOUNCER] Welcome to High Wycombe.
The train currently
standing at platform two
[SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY] Bicester
Village, Oxford Parkway, and Oxford.
Yeah, mate, I'm not working that day.
They're They're
expecting 100,000 people.
The toilets are gonna be like a barn.
[SIGHS] Mate, there is no
way I'm working that day.
Hang Hang on.
- Can I help?
- Yes. [STAMMERS]
I'm wondering if you could tell me
where I might find
the replacement buses.
We don't have any today.
Everything's running. [CHUCKLES]
So, listen, you tell
Head Office, yeah, um
[STAMMERS] I need the
bus because, um, uh
Well, the other night my brother passed.
I don't know whether you heard.
[ATTENDANT] Uh. Yeah, um, uh
Hey, mate, I'm I'm
gonna call you back, yeah?
Uh, yes, I did. My condolences.
Uh, the buses are run
by a separate company.
Uh, well, perhaps you could
give me the name of the company.
Well, we use different
ones. I'm not sure
Please. I I would
very much like to see
the place from where he left this earth.
All right, uh
Let me make a few
phone calls, and I'll
I'll see if I can sort you out.
[MOUTHING] Okay.
["STRANGE GAME" PLAYING]
[GRUNTS]
[RODDY] Standish.
[SIGHS]
This isn't working.
Can you be more specific?
[RODDY] Seniority dictates
I should have my own office.
Oh, I wouldn't take length
of service in this shithole
as a status symbol.
Prisoners have hierarchies.
Humans organize themselves
according to power.
I'll be down shortly with today's work.
Hurry up. If you don't give me
something to do, I'm gonna kill him.
Or at least maim him.
Morning.
Has anyone seen Lamb?
[BUS DRIVER] Ambulance driver
said it was a heart attack.
[JACKSON GRUNTS] Ah, mercifully quick.
Here one moment, the
next, with the angels.
[BUS DRIVER] Found him down
there, second from the back.
And I thought he was sleeping.
[STAMMERS] Well, he was, wasn't he?
[GROANS]
[STAMMERS] Was there
anything out of the ordinary?
[STAMMERS] Apart from him.
Uh. A-anything near him?
Something he, uh, might've left?
There was a hat. Seat next to him.
Oh, well, that could well have been his.
Could I take a look at it?
Be lovely to have a keepsake.
[BUS DRIVER] Sure, it'd
be in lost property.
Huh, I'll I'll go
by when I'm done here.
[JACKSON SIGHS]
He looked quite calm-like. Your brother.
Well, that's how he
would've wanted to go.
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
He liked buses.
It's It's not that I believe
in a life-force, precisely.
But I'm I'm not positive
I I don't believe in one.
[STUTTERS] If you take my meaning.
I'll, uh I'll give you a moment.
[GRUNTS]
- Sorry to bother, but
- Oh, yes.
[BUS DRIVER] Will you be much longer?
[JACKSON GRUNTING]
I've, uh [SNIFFS, GRUNTS]
I I've said my my final good-byes.
Only we've just had a call.
Gonna need to use the bus.
[STAMMERS] Of course.
Fuck.
Um, has anyone seen River?
Yeah, I'm just really excited to take
what I've learned in
government intelligence
and apply it a bit more to
more concentrated, commercial
Taking what I've learned
in government intelligence
and applying it to more
commercial, targeted goals.
It's something that I've
They are ready for you
now, Mr. Cartwright.
[SNIFFS, CLEARS THROAT]
And actually, now, at a time of
real geopolitical uncertainty,
private intelligence can fill the
gaps left by the national agencies.
You know?
- [INTERVIEWER] Absolutely.
- Mmm.
And it it feels to me, actually,
that those are the really interesting,
and often unorthodox areas of fieldwork
to which I'm probably best suited.
Now, on your CV,
it says that you're currently
seconded to a unit near Aldersgate.
Yes, I am. Yes. Um
[CLEARS THROAT] It's a bespoke unit.
Deals more in analog methods
of intelligence gathering
that's actually given me a-a-a
real grounding in more database
Yeah, and That's great. Uh,
so you work at Slough House?
Yes.
I understand that it's not everyone's
first choice of assignment, I do.
But actually, I've found it invaluable.
So you work with Jackson Lamb?
Yeah.
What's he like?
[SIGHS] Where is everyone?
Oh, Min, please can you sit down?
[MIN] Sorry, it's just that
I'm trying to get my steps in.
[CHUCKLES] I should never
have given you that thing.
[SIGHS] Well, Lamb's gonna kill us.
No, it's fine. He wasn't
even in this morning.
Yeah. He's probably off
wanking in a morgue somewhere.
[CHUCKLES]
Okay. What about this one?
- 300?
- Mm-hmm.
Min, it's got a garden.
Okay, 310 then.
I mean it's What, it's a
"garden flat in Leytonstone."
It can't be that much.
- 520.
- [MIN] Oh, my God.
I mean, that's a lot.
- [LOUISA] It's not.
- He's here.
[LOUISA SIGHS, CLEARS THROAT]
[SIGHS] Here we go.
It's gonna be fun.
All right. Let's make this quick.
I'm seconding you.
Not for long, week or so.
So you'll be reporting to me.
On what sort of job?
Security.
For an off-the-books meeting.
Oh, okay. So that's why we're
meeting here and not the Park.
Yeah. And because you're
not allowed in the building.
Who's the meeting between?
Myself and Arkady Pashkin.
Representative of Ilya Nevsky.
The oligarch?
Nah, the kid's puppeteer.
Yeah, the oligarch. [SCOFFS]
But I thought we were
supposed to stay away from him.
[SIGHS] You're supposed to
stay away from everyone, Min.
I meant "we" as in
MI5. He's a dissident.
He opposes a regime in Moscow, and
we're not supposed to take sides.
[WEBB] Well, Her Majesty's
Government are prepared
to be pragmatic in this matter.
Nevsky made his money in oil and gas.
We're worried about energy security.
So, Nevsky's right-hand guy, Pashkin,
Taverner's right-hand guy, moi,
are gonna sherpa a little
meeting between the two of them.
Any face-to-face meetings are to be held
at a pre-agreed secure location
which I need you to assess, sweep,
take out the bins. Usual routine.
Well, who made the approach?
Pashkin. Via an intermediary.
Freelancer named Krimov.
And does Krimov check out?
I did the background. It's all in here.
[LOUISA SIGHS]
So, the meeting's this
Saturday in the Glasshouse.
Same day as the Anti-Capitalist March.
Is that a problem?
Are you thinking of making
a placard and going along?
No, no. Just getting up to speed.
Good. Well, I hope it's
not too tall an order.
But if you think you're too rusty
or you're happy with the stale scraps
Lamb throws you, just say the word
and piss off back to Slough House.
- [MIN] Should we take the job?
- [LOUISA] Uh, I think we just did.
Well, yeah, I know.
But Lamb's gonna cough up
a bollock when he finds out.
- Well, we don't really have a choice.
- Well, we do. We can just not do it.
[CHUCKLES] Thing is,
you're scared of Lamb.
[MIN] I'm not scared of Lamb.
I mean, yeah, I am scared of Lamb. Yeah.
[RODDY] You're looking at it. I did
what you asked without being asked.
[JACKSON] Be great if you could do that
- without making me want to hit you.
- [FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]
- [LOUISA] Just don't say anything.
- [MIN] Yes, okay.
- [JACKSON] What am I looking at?
- [RODDY] Soho street cam footage.
[JACKSON] This is Soho?
But where's all the
prostitutes and the junkies?
- Soho's changed.
- Shut up, Mike.
Marcus.
Yeah, it'll take me six
months to get your name right,
and if I've done my job,
you'll be long gone by then.
[STAMMERS] It looks like he's
heading for, uh, Marylebone.
Can you pick him up there?
[INHALES SHARPLY]
[JACKSON STAMMERS] Where's
he gone? We lost him.
We just need to switch
to another camera.
- Cause of death?
- What's going on?
Ex-service agent found dead
on a bus in Oxford Parkway.
Just got the coroner's report.
Guy!
Heart failure.
That's bollocks.
[LOUISA] Well, he was in
his 60s, smoked, drank.
Was probably on the cards.
But I do all that and look
at me, eh. I'm in my prime.
Why would someone wanna kill this guy?
Uh, maybe he went for a job
interview without telling his boss.
That's grounds for murder.
Are you sure it's murder?
He left a note on his
phone that tells me it was.
[SIGHS] And you gonna
tell us what it says?
Yeah, well, I would if I thought
you could offer up any insights.
Here's an angle by the ticket barriers.
Dickie goes through the
barrier without buying a ticket.
- So it's not a planned journey.
- Yeah, uh, rewind.
- Dickie?
- His real name was Richard Bough.
He was an occasional in Berlin.
Kicked out just before
the wall came down.
He's following someone.
I w I wanna see them getting on
the buses at High Wycombe station.
Well, hang on. That
That bus is closer,
but he walks over to that one.
I think he's following
the man in the hat.
Well, this hat was
found near where Dickie
snuffed it in the luggage rack.
Ladies and gentlemen, the
death bus is now pulling
into Oxford Parkway station.
Well, there's no one in a hat.
[SCOFFS] That's because the hat was left
on the fucking bus, you pillock.
I'm holding it.
Just show me the footage
from both platforms.
[CATHERINE] It's the bald man.
[LOUISA] Which bald man?
Center of screen, on
the northbound platform.
He's got his back to the camera.
He doesn't want to be seen.
Where did your bald man go?
Must've got on the train.
No, he's still on the platform.
Fast-forward to the next train, Roddy.
[JACKSON] Right. I want footage from
inside that Oxford Parkway train,
so we can see where
baldy gets off, okay?
I wanna know who this fucker
is and where he fucking went.
[RODDY] Footage from inside the
trains is stored on hard drives
that are physically
swapped out once a week
and are taken to a data center.
[SIGHS] I just fell
asleep with my eyes open.
Where they're copied and wiped,
then put back on the trains.
It's legwork.
You need a donkey for that,
and I'm a thoroughbred.
You, Ho, are a massive horse's cock.
But you're right. I need a
donkey to fetch those hard drives.
Harper.
Whoa. You see that?
- [RODDY] See what?
- [STAMMERS] No.
Harper just shared a little
look with with his girlfriend.
I wonder what that means.
We've been seconded.
- Who by? Twats "R" Us?
- [RODDY LAUGHS]
- Webb.
- [RIVER] What Webb?
You're gonna work for that
dick after he fucked me over?
I don't know. I-I-I think
it shows excellent taste.
What's the assignment,
and please tell me
you can't give me any details?
Security on a Russian back channel meet.
Jesus Christ, Min.
[STAMMERS] You were
what, 549th on the list?
You know, if it was anyone else
I'd go nuclear bananas, but I hate Webb,
and you will doubtless fuck it
up, so I consider that a result.
I'll get the hard drives then.
They're too busy working for the enemy.
Fuck off. You're planning
to jump ship for Elessar.
Don't grandstand when you're
chasing the private pound.
Where the fuck are you going?
I turned them down. I
didn't want to do it.
Aw. Well, we just sorted
out your farewell present.
Here.
What am I supposed to do with this now?
[MARCUS LAUGHS]
I'm not giving you any juicy action.
I'm still laboring under the
illusion that, uh, that Shelby
Shirley.
is only half shit and not
full shit like everyone else.
So she's going.
But why risk her when you know
I could do the job? [STAMMERS]
Sorry, it's just this is in my
wheelhouse. I don't know what we're
- You have a wheelhouse?
- Yes, I do have a wheelhouse.
Do you know why she's at Slough House?
No.
Well, consider yourself lucky
you stopped when you did.
Wait, so what do I do then?
Fuck off to the job
center for all I care.
[SIGHS]
I mean, you can think
about getting a gardener.
Too much for you?
No, I'm just saying, you know.
Maybe someone to do stuff
around the house too.
[SCOFFS] If this is leading towards,
"You'd be better off in a home,"
I think I should warn you I once
killed a man with a pair of shears.
[LAUGHS]
Wait, really?
No, but it's never too late.
How did the interview go?
Jesus Christ.
God, spooks never do retire,
do they? How did you know that?
The director got in touch with me.
I said you'd prefer to be judged
on your own merits. [CHUCKLES]
Well, I was and I didn't get
it. So that's nice to know.
I think they just got me in to
hear stories about Lamb anyway.
I can't see you in private intelligence.
Well, luckily neither can the
people in private intelligence
because to them I'm still the dickhead
who crashed Stansted
on a training exercise.
[SIGHS] I thought saving Hassan
would wipe the slate clean,
but I'm still sat
around like a spare part.
[DAVID] Well, something will turn up.
Already has, but Lamb's
shut me out of that one too.
Tracking an FSB wet squad.
Who is the hit?
Richard Bough.
Christ.
What?
Oh, nothing. I'm just
I'm amazed he was still alive, is all.
How did he die?
Uh, heart attack. On paper.
Well, maybe it was just a heart attack.
I mean, I don't see anyone wanting
to have Dickie Bough killed.
Wait, so you knew him?
Yeah, of him. Yeah.
God.
Ah. Come on. I need
a drink for all this.
[SHIRLEY] Shit. Sorry.
No worries.
- Someone dropped this.
- [CASHIER] Ah, thank you.
- [CELL PHONE BUZZES]
- Yeah?
I need you to cut the power to the
Datalok building at nine o'clock.
- I've got a date in 30 minutes.
- No, you haven't.
I just lifted a security guy's card,
and I need to get in
there before he notices.
Why do you need me to cut the power
if you've already got his card?
It only gets me through the outer gate.
It's facial recognition on
the door to the building.
What's in it for me?
A quick death.
[DAVID] Cicadas.
Uh, sleeper agents
embedded in British society.
So named because cicadas spend
years underground before hatching.
And do you remember how we
concluded they were a hoax?
Uh, yes. Because the spy
master controlling them
turned out to be a bogeyman, yeah.
Alexander Popov. My
fearsome opposite number.
Invented by the Russians to
keep us chasing our tails.
Yeah, well. [BREATHES DEEPLY]
Dickie's big moment came when he
went AWOL before the wall came down.
We thought he'd defected,
and [CHUCKLES]
to be frank, the
Germans were welcome to him.
And then he came staggering
back, blind drunk,
claiming that Popov and
a thug had abducted him
and interrogated him and
poured brandy down his throat.
I mean, obviously he'd
been on an enormous bender.
[CHUCKLES] And he came up with the
worst possible excuse imaginable.
So we threw him out.
Right, so there's no chance that Dickie
was actually telling the truth then?
None. I mean, Popov was a ghost.
We never found a single cicada.
Well, it's definitely
getting Lamb worked up.
Well, he's probably doing due
diligence on an old joe, but
[INHALES DEEPLY]
you know, Dickie's death
was nothing out of the ordinary.
[SIGHS]
He was following someone when he died.
Maybe he saw someone
that he shouldn't have.
- [SCOFFS]
- No, in Berlin.
And then now again in London.
Look, I know you had a knock-back today
and you're desperate
for something to happen.
But believe me, this
doesn't sound like anything.
Why not?
Well, heart failure isn't
the FSB's style, is it?
I mean, all their recent hits
have left a clear signature.
Usually radioactive.
No, they want us to
see what they've done
and dare us to come up with a
response that will never happen.
- But what if this isn't the FSB?
- What?
- What if it's KGB?
- Oh. No, no, no. No.
Now you're chasing after your own tail.
Yeah, but I mean, those
guys, they left no trace.
You wouldn't see them coming. Brush
past, a tap from an umbrella
No, no, no, no. Dickie
wasn't bothering anyone.
Yeah. Maybe not.
Right, I better go.
Can I not offer you dinner?
No, no. It's fine. I
had something before.
Um, I'll clean all that up.
No, no, no. Leave it. I'll do
it later. I enjoy the night air.
[CHUCKLES]
Be careful, River.
- What made you say that?
- Hmm?
There's a streetlight out
at the end of the lane.
There's a dark stretch between
there and the high street.
- Right. Um. Don't drink too much.
- [CHUCKLES]
[LOUISA] Right. This is the Glasshouse
where Webb has agreed to meet Pashkin.
The entrance to the underground
car park is on the street behind.
And then, for the
meeting, we take a lift
up to the boardroom
and disable the cameras.
So we need to do a bug
sweep the night before.
We could check it out now.
I bet the view's amazing.
No. We can't get access
until Webb gives us passes.
Or we just use the building opposite.
Have a roofnic. Scope it out from there.
- Roofnic?
- Yeah.
How come Lamb knew
about River's interview?
Uh, Catherine said that they
called in for a reference.
Fuck. Brutal.
So what, did he just fart
down the phone? [CHUCKLES]
No. Apparently, it was
actually pretty good.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Pashkin is gonna meet
Webb in the boardroom
above Nevsky's office
which is on the 42nd floor.
[MIN] Um, does that say Almaz Trust?
[LOUISA] Nevsky's company.
It's Russian for diamonds. Made
his first million as a gem trader.
So, 42nd floor would be one, two, three,
four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine, ten, 11, 12
Min, just count down from the top.
It's 50 floors, boardroom's 47th
floor, Nevsky's five down from that
All right. Okay. Yeah.
I can do the maths, yeah.
Well, that's why he wants to have
the meeting in this building then?
Yeah. Once we establish
the boardroom's secure,
you can just sneak upstairs
and no one will ever know.
Yeah. And it's not like
anyone's going to be looking
through the windows, is it?
What's above and below?
Um, nothing above.
Below, apart from Nevsky's,
there are private banks,
investment companies, and
then 20 floors of luxury hotel.
Ooh. Well, maybe we
should insist on staying
in the hotel as part of the op.
Should we make that a deal breaker?
- Shall we?
- Yeah.
[TYPING]
[SHIRLEY GRUNTS, SIGHS]
[SIGHS]
[WHISTLES]
[KNOCKING]
You are a fucking dead man, Ho.
I said nine o'clock!
[GUARD WHISTLES]
[WHISTLING]
Fuck.
[WHISTLING CONTINUES]
[SHIRLEY GRUNTS]
I only realized when I got home. She
lifted my wallet and handed it in.
The card was gone. Fucking crazy.
[THUD]
[CREAKING]
[SHIRLEY BREATHING SHAKILY]
[GUARD] You go that way.
[PANTING]
- So did you get it?
- [SHIRLEY] Yep.
Good job.
Guess I'm not full shit then?
Oh, no. Definitely not full shit.
Yeah. Full shit be crashing Stansted.
Well, actually that was a
setup, so it Ah, forget it.
So you're here for Is it
punching your case officer?
Technically, no.
I mean, I did punch him
after he made a pass at me,
but I could've escaped that with
a reprimand and a note in my file.
It was the second punch that did
it, after he said I hit like a girl.
Didn't get up after that.
Fair enough.
He took a train from Oxford
Parkway to Stroud, Cotswolds.
I checked the station CCTV.
Our guy walks off camera
towards the taxi booth.
Right. So we don't know
where he went after that?
It's gonna sound strange, but did anyone
come near Dickie with an umbrella?
Yeah. Loads of people.
- It was raining earlier.
- Yeah, no. I meant
You meant like in the
Markov assassination.
- Yeah.
- Got a big wide-on for old-school hits,
but no one jabbed him with an umbrella.
What about the bald man?
[SHIRLEY] Told you, we
lose him at the taxi booths.
Yeah, but how close
did he get to Dickie?
[SLURPING, CHEWING]
[DOOR OPENS]
[RESTAURANT WORKER SPEAKING MANDARIN]
[CLEARS THROAT]
That seat's taken.
Oh, yeah? By who?
Gillian Anderson's in the lav.
Well, I imagine she'll be a while
throwing up after watching you eat.
Do you know how much
it hurt me to write you
an even half-decent reference?
And all for nothing. I
mean, you're still here.
What you do, take a shit
in the wastepaper bin
halfway through the interview?
Actually, what went wrong was
not having anything interesting
to say about you.
Should've just told them that
you eat like a dying horse.
Aw. It's my fault no
one wants to hire you?
Dickie was murdered.
I know that, you twat.
Yes, but you don't know how.
If you
Can I sit there or I'm gonna
I can't. [CLEARS THROAT]
Shirley got that footage that you
asked for from inside the train.
[INHALES DEEPLY] So, look.
Dickie's nearest the door, right?
Meaning that he has to get off first
if he doesn't want to
draw attention to himself.
But what that means
is that it puts the man
that he's following behind him
when they get off at High Wycombe.
But look. He's touching
Dickie on the arm.
And then, if you go to the
footage from inside the station
Dickie's rubbing his arm.
Our man must have dosed him
with something untraceable
that shows up as a heart attack.
Unless you want to run a bunch of
complicated and obscure
tests, which I imagine the Park
wouldn't want to bother with
even if they thought it necessary.
Now
I bet you 50 quid that I know
the message on Dickie's phone.
Just one word.
Cicada.
[SNIFFS]
[GRUNTING]
[JACKSON SNIFFS, CLEARS THROAT]
[SCOFFS]
Not bad.
What, my pitch or your noodles?
Yeah. Keep the change.
[SERVER] Thank you, Mr. Lamb.
You know, the fact that I'm
right means you give me 50 quid.
I mean, that's how bets work, generally.
Well, I'll take it as a fee
for writing your reference.
Okay, clever bollocks,
what's it all mean?
What it means is that Dickie
wasn't lying all those years ago.
It means he was grabbed,
force-fed a ton of booze
and then questioned by someone
wanting to spread the myth of Popov.
It's still a myth.
Yes, Popov didn't exist,
but maybe the cicadas did.
Do. Maybe they hid the truth in a lie.
And Dickie has seen
someone, he's tailed them,
they've not liked it
so they've killed him.
Because maybe they've been reactivated
and maybe more people are gonna die.
- [RIVER SIGHS]
- Where are you off to?
Cotswolds.
["STRANGE GAME" PLAYING]
Good.
Find out what the bald man did there,
who he spoke to, and
if he's still there.
Yeah.
Cheers, Mr. Lao.
Can I get a couple of
those prawn buns to go?
[SONG CONTINUES]