Slow Horses is easiest to follow in broadcast order. Each six-episode series has its own investigation, but the people carrying it out bring unfinished arguments, loyalties and mistakes into the next case. This archive gives you the order without revealing how those cases end. Choose an episode for its full guide, including a recap behind spoiler controls, book comparisons, character links and verified locations.
The dates below are the original Apple TV release dates, rather than the dates on which a viewer happened to discover the programme. The opening two episodes of Series 1, 2 and 3 arrived together; subsequent episodes followed weekly. From Series 4 onwards, the listed runs begin with a single premiere episode. That distinction matters when checking the order: two entries sharing a date are still consecutive chapters, not alternative versions of the same instalment.
Series 6 is currently releasing weekly. As of 13 October 2026, four episodes are available and the last two remain upcoming. Their entries link to short release-information pages until the episodes have aired and their full guides have been checked. The archive keeps earlier series available alongside the current schedule, so returning viewers can revisit a relationship or a previous operation without starting from the latest development.
Where to start
Start with Series 1, episode 1, “Failure’s Contagious”. Its opening introduces River Cartwright’s expectations before showing what a posting to Slough House actually involves. Watching that contrast unfold gives Jackson Lamb’s office more meaning than a character list can supply. Continue through the six episodes before moving to Dead Lions and Series 2.
If you are returning after a break, open the relevant series hub first. The overview identifies its source novel and cast, while the ending sits behind a spoiler control. Readers can use the book links below to compare publication order with screen order; those routes begin together but diverge when Series 6 combines two novels. Episode guides are best read after watching: their introductions stay clear of the ending, but the detailed sections discuss what happens.
Series 1
A kidnapping pulls an office of sidelined intelligence officers into a case that reaches beyond their routine work. The first series establishes the uneasy connection between Lamb’s team and the Park, giving River a difficult introduction to the distance between wanting an important assignment and understanding the assignment he has received.
Failure’s Contagious
River’s urgent opening assignment gives way to an unfamiliar office and a stubborn search for useful work.
Work Drinks
River and Sid pursue the same journalist while Lamb faces a problem reaching beyond his office.
Bad Tradecraft
A kidnapping investigation draws Lamb into negotiations, while the team discovers pressure closer to home.
Visiting Hours
The slow horses move through London as competing priorities make protecting their colleagues increasingly difficult.
Fiasco
River follows an important memory while Lamb challenges the Park’s handling of the developing crisis.
Follies
The team pursues the hostage case towards its conclusion amid a contest over who controls the outcome.
Series 2
A death connected to an earlier generation of spies brings Cold War history into contemporary London. The team’s work divides between a corporate security assignment and River’s visit to a Cotswolds village. Follow both strands in order: the contrasts between public business, private hospitality and intelligence history gradually become the point.
Last Stop
An encounter from the past unsettles the present as River considers another route out of Slough House.
From Upshott With Love
River investigates a village connection while colleagues in London prepare for a demanding security assignment.
Drinking Games
Village hospitality and a London enquiry place different pressures on River and the colleagues working elsewhere.
Cicada
Lamb continues tracing the operation while River’s village investigation becomes harder to read with confidence.
Boardroom Politics
A planned meeting and an urgent search for answers bring the investigation into a compressed timetable.
Old Scores
The separate strands converge as Lamb and his colleagues work through the consequences of the operation.
Series 3
Catherine Standish’s disappearance sends her colleagues into an operation whose rules keep changing. Series 3 moves between the Park’s hierarchy and the people asked to do its dangerous work, with a records facility becoming a crucial setting. Its six chapters build continuously, making this a particularly poor place to skip an episode.
Strange Games
A connection between Istanbul and London coincides with Catherine’s absence and a change in the office routine.
Hard Lessons
River attempts a difficult rescue task while the Park’s competing interests complicate the instructions he receives.
Negotiating With Tigers
The operation outgrows its original rules, forcing the people involved to reconsider who can make demands.
Uninvited Guests
A proposed solution sends River and Louisa into a records facility with an uncertain set of safeguards.
Cleaning Up
The archive becomes a dangerous workplace while Lamb deals with another urgent problem away from the Park.
Footprints
The team confronts the final stage of the crisis before the aftermath changes several working relationships.
Series 4
An attack in London and a crisis involving David Cartwright put family history beside present-day security decisions. River’s investigation takes the story to France while Lamb’s colleagues work through the consequences at home. The source novel is Spook Street; the screen version keeps its central personal stakes within a six-episode thriller.
Identity Theft
A London bombing and a Cartwright family emergency send the office into overlapping lines of investigation.
A Stranger Comes to Town
River explores a French connection as Lamb begins examining the history behind events back in London.
Penny for Your Thoughts
Findings in France develop alongside problems keeping David safe and coordinating the Service’s response at home.
Returns
River’s return journey and a witness’s account bring earlier decisions into the current search for answers.
Grave Danger
The investigation closes in on its central players as protection and control become harder to separate.
Hello Goodbye
Confrontations in different places force the Cartwrights and Lamb’s colleagues to deal with the season’s accumulated pressures.
Series 5
Roddy Ho’s private life receives unusual attention as violence and political campaigning put the Service under pressure. The fifth series adapts London Rules, shifting the office balance as different colleagues try to distinguish a useful lead from a persuasive distraction. Its familiar workplace comedy sits alongside a case with immediate public consequences.
Bad Dates
Roddy’s unexpected romantic confidence arrives alongside a violent incident that demands the Service’s immediate attention.
Incommunicado
Roddy’s home becomes a focus of unwelcome interest as Lamb takes a closer look at his situation.
Tall Tales
Questioning at the Park puts Roddy’s account under scrutiny while colleagues look for their own useful information.
Missiles
Two political gatherings present the team with difficult decisions about where to watch and whom to protect.
Circus
A witness inside the Park creates another opportunity for influence as Whelan seeks control of the response.
Scars
The team tackles a threatened public event while the operation puts the Service’s leadership under direct pressure.
Series 6
The sixth series draws on Joe Country and Slough House rather than adapting one novel alone. A threat directed at the slow horses changes the practical meaning of belonging to the team. Four chapters have been released; the schedule below separates those guides from the two announced instalments still awaiting their premieres.
Circle of Life
River handles a family responsibility while Lamb investigates alarming gaps between the office and the Park’s records.
Daddy Issues
A recovered record offers Lamb another lead as the team tries to understand who is directing the threat.
Resurrection
An unexpected meeting sends River into a rapidly changing situation while his colleagues face related practical dangers.
Lost and Found
Separate pursuits converge around difficult decisions about safety, responsibility and the people caught between competing interests.
Episode 5
Scheduled for 14 October; the complete episode guide will be added once the broadcast has been reviewed.
Episode 6
The six-part run concludes on 21 October; this entry currently provides the announced release information only.
Series 7
Series 7 has its own hub for confirmed commissioning and adaptation news. Bad Actors is its announced source novel; episode dates and titles are not listed here because no verified schedule has been added.