To ‘Slow Horses’ Star Christopher Chung, “I Hate Your Character” Is Actually a “Lovely Compliment”

[This story contains spoilers from Slow Horses season six, through episode three, “Resurrection.”]

Slow Horses was recently renewed for season eight, but Christopher Chung — who plays the show’s narcissistic tech expert Roddy Ho — may not be quite convinced of his job security. The proof? When he hops on a Zoom call to talk about the current season, he’s just spent the morning on his side hustle, working with three clients as a personal trainer.

“I guess it’s just the pragmatic part of my brain. I’ve always been a hustler and a hard worker,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter when pressed on why he keeps the gig despite his long-running role on the Emmy- and BAFTA-winning series.

Roddy Ho is not written as physically fit in Mick Herron’s Slough House books, on which the Apple TV spy show is based — though the character certainly pictures himself that way. But when Chung landed the role, it became one of many specific personality traits that helped him make Ho more engaging — something he thinks a lot about on a show that he calls “a real character piece.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, the actor touches on the just-released third episode of season six, which sees Ho on the road with Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb and guest star Lenny Rush. He recalls his excitement to work with BAFTA winner and “comedic genius” Rush, who plays Reece, who witnessed his father’s murder in the season premiere. Separately in the episode, River (Jack Lowden) and Sid (Olivia Cooke) are on the run from a pair of assassins, while the rest of the team circles the wagons en route to a safe house.

Chung also shares plenty of behind-the-scenes stories, like a sequence that had to be reworked when he missed a shoot day because of food poisoning, why he asked the props department for a massive number of condoms left over from last season, and much more.

Everyone in Slough House has a character flaw, but Roddy’s is his whole personality. Despite that, you’re kind of a fan favorite. How do you approach Roddy as a character, and why do you think audiences like him so well when the other characters don’t?

With every character that I play, I try and find a justification, an access point into them where their worldview makes complete sense to them. That affords me a kind of humanizing of them. When I read the books initially, there’s a lot about Ho that’s quite abrasive and malicious and nasty. He doesn’t have that kind of depth in the books, and I remember in season one when I was working with [director] James Hawes, he really helped me carve out and shape the levels of which Roddy can be abrasive, but he also has to be accessible to the audience, too.

So I’ve worked really hard with showing moments throughout a season; maybe just one moment throughout each season where you find a point of the crack in Ho’s armor. For season one, it’s when Ho is genuinely asking River, “I want the information on why I’m here.” That’s a moment of vulnerability for him. Then, in season four you have when Coe [Tom Brooke] tells him that his girlfriend is a bot and you see he’s vulnerable in that moment, and then it shuts down again. It’s always about showing moments of him stepping out of his own world and into the actual, real world and the current situation. Having those moments of vulnerability are the things that keep the audience engaged with him and don’t ostracize him out of the piece.

Yeah, it seems like he grows a little bit each time we see one of those things.

Yeah, tiny bits.

How do fans perceive you when they recognize you as Roddy Ho?

I think the most common interaction I have with fans is like, “Oh my God, I absolutely hate your character. You’re so good at it, you’re amazing.” That’s such a lovely compliment. I’ve done a lot more press in the last 12 to 18 months, having done a bigger stint in season five and I’ve had another show come out in Australia [My Brilliant Career, available on Netflix] and having a little bit more on-camera interviews and people seeing who I am as a person and not as Roddy Ho, it’s so funny to see what people say. They’re like, “Oh my God, he’s nothing like the character,” which is quite relieving for me. (Laughs.)

It must be more fun to be known as yourself than as this kind of repulsive person.

Yeah, yeah.

When we see Roddy in his office, he’s often doing something a little bit strange when they first show him. At one point he’s doing a miniature Zen garden and burning sage, another time he’s drinking raw eggs and trading crypto, he’s got his weights machine in there. Are those all in the script, or where do they come from?

They’re all very specific choices. He’s always at his computer. When you come into those scenes in his office, you’re coming in for information to move the story along, and in terms of making a TV show, I don’t think it’s super interesting to always be coming in to someone sitting doing computer business. It’s always more engaging to have him in the middle of him doing something that is very character specific.

In episode two, I think it was just written on the page that he was at the computer doing work. I was like, “nah.” I asked the props guy, “Hey, do we still have a large amount of condoms from Ho’s flat from last season?” He managed to fashion up all of these condoms so that Ho could be sorting them out when the phone goes. It’s such a character thing to do, but it’s the things the audience picks up on. I think it’s the reason why the show continues to engage with audiences, because it’s a real character piece. Everyone has very specific moments that they get to show their character. It might be really brief, but they actually flesh the world out so clearly.

In episode three, you spend a lot of time not at the computer, surprisingly. You’re out and about with Lamb and Reece, in the car and at the arcade. What do you remember most about filming those scenes?

Um, they were really cold days, I remember that. (Laughs.) I remember being really disappointed when we went into the arcade and none of the games worked.

Was that not a functioning arcade?

I think some of the ones in the front of the arcade worked, but the one that me and Lenny were in front of, for visual effects and things like that, actually didn’t work, so we didn’t get to play any games. That was disappointing. (Laughs.) But I think that was the first time Lenny and I got to do any scenes together. I was really excited about that because I’d seen his work before and he’s a BAFTA winner [for Am I Being Unreasonable?]. He’s a comedic genius and he’s just an all-around nice guy. I was really excited to start doing my scenes with him. [Writer’s note: Rush has also been cast as Dobby in HBO’s Harry Potter series.]

But I have more of a recollection of episode two, when they call Blake’s Grave. There was a specific moment when we’re all supposed to be at the grave, and actually Ho was supposed to be there as well, but I couldn’t make it to filming that day because I had food poisoning.

Oh, no.

Yeah, it was terrible. They managed to rearrange the scene, improvise around it and make it work, and that is a testament to how strong the show is, that they can pivot and not lose a day and still make such a high-quality scene out of it, and have me picked up out in front of St. Paul’s. That scene was not in the original drafts, but we had to write that in, so River had chucked me out the car and Lamb had to come and collect me. They’re able to do things so quickly, and that’s the power of having a long-running series where you’re working with the same crew all the time, that you can make those quick adjustments. In actuality, you save a lot of money because you don’t have to reschedule the whole day. You can just make a story point work really quickly.

Yeah, that’s surprising to me because that totally made sense that River would have kicked him out of the car.

Yeah.

Speaking of the long-running nature of the show, along with the crew, the cast have all been working together for a long time, and Olivia Cooke came back this season after not having been on the show since season one. Can you talk about that dynamic of people coming and going and how you heard she was coming back?

We do find out things quite far in advance, but I think because I had read the books, I knew she had come back in those. I was excited for her to be back on set, but I didn’t share any scenes with her, so that was disappointing because she’s great fun. I think she was so jealous that we got to stay in Slow Horses and she had to get shot in the head and wait five seasons to come back, because we have been having a brilliant time and it’s evident in the work.

It’s always really difficult when a member of the ensemble cast goes. We really felt it when Kadiff [Kirwan], who plays Marcus, left, and the same for Dustin [Demri-Burns], who plays Min. [Their characters died in season four and season two, respectively.] Even though they’re not in the show anymore, their DNA is still all over the piece in so many ways. Especially when you go into Slough House, because actually even though it’s a set, you totally feel the ghosts of those that have been in that environment, so it’s always sad when someone goes, but it does give such an incredible history to the world that you’re getting to play in as an actor.

It also gives you the opportunity to bring in new people.

Yeah, and the thing about Slow Horses, as an actor, and having talked to so many of my friends that are actors, it’s the show that everybody wants to be in. It’s the best. Because of the quality of the work but also the quality of the cast and the crew that we all get to work with. It’s incredible for me to have this be kind of my really big role that’s given me a bit of visibility. I feel so lucky to be still doing it. Long may it continue.

You’ve talked in a few interviews about how you also work as a personal trainer. Is that still true?

Yes, I had three clients this morning. (Laughs.)

Oh my gosh. Even though you have this show that’s been going on for six seasons, and it’s been renewed for eight?

I guess it’s the pragmatic part of my brain. I’ve always been a hustler and a hard worker. And there are a lot of times within a season that — the season is probably 100 days to shoot and I maybe work 25 to 30 of them, and not in a block, they’re kind of spread out. It makes it difficult to facilitate other acting work, so I like to have something else to do so my mind is continually busy, but also, I guess I’m always afraid of the bottom falling out of my acting career and being destitute. (Laughs.) Just gotta keep it real.

And you’ve gotten to work it into your character too, that he’s very into his fitness. Have you tried to get more involved in the stunts, considering?

Yeah, but Roddy doesn’t really get a whole bunch of stunts. I’m always really jealous of Aimee[-Ffion Edwards], who plays Shirley, because she gets to do all this crazy-fun stuff, like shooting guns. I did say to Adam [Randall, the director] when we started this season that I want to shoot a gun. It doesn’t have to be well, but at least some shots. (Laughs.) I want to shoot somebody with the gun.

The tech guy doesn’t usually get to do that.

I know! That’s why it’s great! Maybe in the upcoming seasons there will be more action for Ho.

That would be fun. I understand you have a musical theater background, too. Is that something you’re hoping to do more of in the future?

I do want to get back onstage at some point. The thing that’s difficult about filming is it leaves no time to be able to do that. There’s a show that I really want to do in London, which is on Broadway at the moment. Do you get to see any Broadway shows?

Not really, I’m in L.A.

Ah, you’ve got to go to Broadway. There’s a show called Maybe Happy Ending, and it’s so great. I hope that they bring it to London and they put me and my wife [Frances Mayli McCann] in it, because my wife is also in musical theater, so that’s the dream.

The first three episodes of Slow Horses season six are available on Apple TV. New episodes will drop weekly on Wednesdays until Oct. 21. See THR’s interview about the season with director Adam Randall here.