Slow Horses director breaks down episode 1 funeral scene – and reveals how the season originally started very differently

*Warning - contains spoilers for Slow Horses season 6 episode 1.*

The first episode of Slow Horses season 6 has already fulfilled director Adam Randall's promise to Radio Times that it would feature "a lot more death" than previous runs.

Not only was former Slow Horses member Struan Loy (Paul Higgins) killed off in the opening sequence, but it was revealed that River's grandfather David (Jonathan Pryce) had also passed away.

This led to a memorable funeral sequence, which featured a cheeky cameo from the author of the Slow Horses book series Mick Herron (did you spot him?) and the reappearance of River's villainous father, Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving).

Now, Randall has broken down that sequence, telling Radio Times it was "one of the sequences I was slightly dreading shooting, just thinking, ‘God, it's so complicated’".

He continued: "There's so many different characters, so many different things happen. It's a brilliant, brilliant sequence in the book. It's the one that I remember the most. It's very different what we've done, because you have to, because the story is slightly different, but it was already brilliant.

"There's so many great lines in there. Jack doing his speech and having to talk to the two sides of the church, and it being so sad but so funny, and the way that Lamb can't control his laughter. When we shot that, even half a day into it, I still found it really funny. And then building towards the Frank reveal and a sense that something's going to go wrong."

Randall continued: "I thought that Jonathan's performance in his death scene, it was like a miracle. We pulled focus to him at the very end, and just the one tear trickles down his face, and the magic of that was just incredible."

The director also revealed that David's death scene, which is seen in a flashback, was originally the opening to the entire season, replacing the sequence surrounding Loy's death.

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"That was actually originally shot and put in the edit as a standalone full scene that was much longer," Randall said of David's death. "It was supposed to be in the opening of episode 1, but it felt very difficult to do something so sad and heavy, and then cut to Mick Jagger singing and the opening titles.

"So we ended up thinking, ‘How else can we approach this?’, and came up with the flashback structure that's in there now."

Slow Horses is available to stream on Apple TV. Season 6 will be released from 16 September. Start your seven-day free Apple TV trial.

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Authors

James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.