Joanna Scanlan in Slow Horses
Joanna Scanlan plays Moira Tregorian, the administrator introduced in Series 4. She is not Molly Doran: that part is played by Naomi Wirthner. Scanlan brings experience of institutional comedy from The Thick of It and Getting On to a workplace where an apparently routine administrative conversation can become a contest of wills. Moira’s confidence in procedure immediately gives her a distinctive rhythm beside Lamb’s deliberately offensive informality.
The character’s arrival is a useful reason to revisit the beginning of Series 4. Scanlan makes officiousness funny through precision rather than simply playing every exchange as a joke. Moira expects other people to recognise that she knows how an office should operate. The comedy comes from putting that expectation inside a department whose boss treats disruption as part of his working method.
What Scanlan has said about Moira
In a September 2024 interview with Flickering Myth, Scanlan distinguished Moira’s administrative priorities from Catherine Standish’s understanding of human frailty. She described Moira as concerned with her own interests and suggested that viewers could remain uncertain about her loyalties. That gives a useful way into the performance: confidence in professional competence does not automatically make somebody generous, perceptive or trustworthy.
Scanlan also discussed the adaptation of Spook Street. She said the television version gave Moira a more polished appearance than the novel’s cardigan-wearing figure, creating a clearer visual distinction from Standish. Her account ties costume and character together: presentation becomes part of how Moira announces the professional identity she wants other people to accept. She also praised working with Oldman and described Will Smith as present during rehearsals and receptive to changes.
Series 4 and released Series 6 spoilers
In Hello Goodbye, Moira’s knowledge becomes leverage in her dealings with Whelan. Scanlan lets the brisk office manner remain recognisable when the balance of power changes. The character’s ambition is expressed through practical demands rather than an enormous change in personality.
Her Series 6 return places Moira in a much more dangerous situation. Resurrection includes the effort to rescue her after the attack on her home. Watching that sequence after her earlier workplace scenes reveals how far the season has moved ordinary departmental friction into direct physical danger.
Career highlights and awards
Scanlan played Terri Coverley in The Thick of It, which began in 2005. As Denise in Getting On, launched in 2009, she combined performing with co-writing alongside Jo Brand and Vicki Pepperdine. Both programmes find comedy in institutions under pressure, but their settings and characters differ: government communications in one, an NHS ward in the other. Her writing credit matters as much as her ability to land an uncomfortable exchange.
In No Offence, which began in 2015, she played Detective Inspector Viv Deering. Her film work includes Mary in Aleem Khan’s After Love, a drama centred on bereavement and the discovery of a hidden life. That performance won the Leading Actress award at the 2022 BAFTAs. The official result provides a firm distinction between an award she won and the wider acclaim surrounding the film.
Her theatre credits include Cloud 9 at the Almeida, Top Girls with Oxford Stage Company and Madame Bovary with Shared Experience. Those productions extend the career beyond the television roles most readily associated with her. They also give stage audiences a different route into a performer whose screen work ranges from satire to intimate drama.
Where to watch next
Choose After Love for her BAFTA-winning dramatic performance; The Thick of It for Terri’s contribution to governmental chaos; Getting On for her work as both actor and writer; and No Offence for Viv Deering’s police investigations. These four choices offer different leading concerns rather than four replicas of Moira.
Questions and answers
Does Joanna Scanlan play Molly Doran?
No: Scanlan’s character is Moira Tregorian, while Naomi Wirthner portrays the archivist.
Which film won Scanlan her 2022 BAFTA?
She won Leading Actress for Aleem Khan’s After Love.
Did Scanlan write Getting On?
She co-wrote the comedy with Jo Brand and Vicki Pepperdine, as well as appearing in it.