Slow Horses is set in a grotty office block called Slough House in London. It’s the department where washed-up MI5 agents go to see out what’s left of their working lives. The series follows these ‘slow horses’ who have all made excruciating, career-ending mistakes.
One such screw-up is River Cartwright who is bitter about his failure and resents spending his time transcribing phone conversations. But then a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to behead him live on the Internet. River sees a chance to redeem himself and dives in to solve the case but he soon realizes that nothing is quite what it seems and everyone is pushing their own agenda