Slow Horses Cleverly Referenced Gary Oldman's Two Best Movie Performances

"Slow Horses" would be a good show even without Gary Oldman. But with him it's a modern day classic. Of course, the actor is no stranger to starring in such celebrated fare, and the show even alludes to his esteemed filmography with two lines that directly reference his performances in both "Darkest Hour" and the "Dark Knight" trilogy.

"Slow Horses" is the best spy show on TV, and a big part of its appeal is Oldman's lead performance as Jackson Lamb. This jaded slob of a sleuth heads up Slough House, a dumping ground for MI5's burnout spies, all of whom have made some sort of blunder during their time in the service. While this gang of misfits resent having to spend their time in a dilapidated central London office block, Lamb relishes the job, mostly due to the fact the higher-ups leave him alone and he can berate his underlings with impunity.

That simple set up has led to some of the best TV moments of the last decade, with Oldman similarly relishing every acerbic, sardonic line delivery. His quick, witty, and often vulgar insults are at once hilarious and deeply offensive, such as when he told his team that bringing them up to speed on their current operation was like "trying to explain Norway to a dog." But Lamb's most memorable lines aren't all insults. At one point he borrowed from the great Winston Churchill. At least, he borrowed from himself as Churchill in 2017's "Darkest Hour" — and that wasn't the only time the "Slow Horses" writers referenced the actor's other work.

"Slow Horses" season 5 pays homage to Gary Oldman's "Dark Knight" co-star Heath Ledger in a scene that saw Jackson Lamb reference the Joker's pencil trick from Christopher Nolan's 2008 masterpiece. This wasn't the only subtle nod to Oldman's oeuvre, either. In fact, it wasn't the only reference to the fact that Oldman gave one of the best ever portrayals of Commissioner James Gordon in the "Dark Knight" trilogy.

In season 5, episode 5, River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) and J.K. Coe (Tom Brooke) meet with Lamb to update him on new developments. During their meetup Lamb discusses the recent bombing of a penguin enclosure at the zoo, asking River to name him one person who might have a grudge against penguins. In one of the show's most hilariously bathetic moments, River replies, "Batman?"

Lamb replies to this delightfully ridiculous moment with a curt, "Oh, f*** off," which ostensibly represents his increasing lack of patience with hopeless underling. But it could also be read as Oldman's character dismissing any association with the morally upstanding Gordon and his clean-cut image. Lamb is a mess of a man, and makes no apologies for his slovenly appearance and cynical nature. It's the exact opposite of Gordon's hopeful idealism and it almost feels as though "Slow Horses" is having a bit of fun in this moment by having Lamb so quickly shut down the Batman reference and any associations that may come with it.

In 2017, Gary Oldman gave a typically chameleonic performance as Winston Churchill in Joe Wright's biographical war drama "Darkest Hour." It saw Oldman give what was arguably the best performance of his career by playing Britain's greatest Prime Minister, who during the film delivered the line, "You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth." This reference to negotiating with the enemy wasn't actually a real-life Churchill quote, but Oldman made it feel as though it was.

The "Slow Horses" writers certainly felt as though the quote sounded Churchillian enough to pass for one of the leader's famous aphorisms. In season 3, episode 3, Lamb repeats the same line and asks Peter Judd (Samuel West) who originally said it, to which Judd replies, "Churchill." Adding to the overall neatness of this moment, Samuel West also played Sir Anthony Eden in "Darkest Hour," and was sitting directly next to Oldman in the scene where he says the "tiger" line.

The fact that these words weren't actually spoken by Churchill (as far as we know) and were only said by Oldman's version of the Prime Minister shows that "Slow Horses" intentionally referenced "Darkest Hour" in season 3. The fact West was present for the scene confirms it. Season 6 of the series has already been filmed, with a seventh season already having been confirmed. When those seasons do materialize, it will be interesting to see whether the writers keep up these references in the wake of longtime "Slow Horses" showrunner and head writer Will Smith's departure.