Slow Horses star reveals his new season 5 spotlight - and how he’d rather be James Bond than Q

“I’ve always read ahead to make sure I don’t die and can pay my mortgage,” says 37-year-old Australian actor Christopher Chung, who returns as eccentric tech genius Roddy Ho in the fifth season of the drama, which begins this week. “When I first got the role, I checked out the books that had come out at the time to see if Roddy had a prominent role in any of them – which he really did in the fifth one, London Rules. I always hoped we would get to play out its storyline.”

So, in dramatic terms, is office menace Roddy the protagonist or antagonist this time around? “Oh, he’s always the antagonist!” laughs Chung. “But yes, he takes front and centre this season. He gets a girlfriend, which leads to much questioning from the other Slow Horses about how he’s pulled such a gorgeous woman.”

Actors often want to play likeable people, but the abrasive, misogynistic Roddy can be spectacularly dislikable. “You think so?” challenges Chung. “I would put him down to being misunderstood by everyone else. He lives in his own world. He’s a character people love to hate. The greatest compliment I get when people recognise me is: ‘You’re such an arsehole in that show. I absolutely love you.’ Which is wonderful, but an oxymoron.”

In the first episode of season five, we get a glimpse of Roddy’s home life, with ornamental swords on the wall and Warhammer figures and protein shakes everywhere. “Yes, it’s over the top and man-child. It’s another example of the way that every season gives a little bit more detail about the characters. I worked with the art and costume departments this season to show sides of Roddy we haven’t seen before.”

One Slow Horse comments about Roddy having an “annoying walk”. Did Chung work with a choreographer? “No! It’s my walk! I don’t know if it’s something [Slow Horses showrunner] Will Smith saw and decided to put in.” (When RT asks Smith, he insists he wasn’t being rude about Chung’s own walk.)

Over five series, Chung is pleased that Roddy’s eccentricities have made him less racially stereotyped than many East Asian characters on screen. “When we were in rehearsal for season one, I had quite lengthy discussions with Will and the director James Hawes to make sure that we avoided that. By my own admission, there were some things I thought about the character that leaned into that stereotype. So we avoided them.” The easy cliché being Roddy as a maths or IT super-nerd? “Yes. But nobody wants to see that again.

“We wanted to make him someone who marches to the beat of his own drum. He’s in some ways absurd. But people who come up to me often say: ‘Oh, we’ve got someone exactly like Roddy in our office.’ I’m amazed that someone like that could actually exist.”

Off screen, traces of racial stereotyping linger. “Jack Lowden [who plays fellow Slow Horse River Cartwright] is said to be a contender to be the next James Bond. And someone said to me: ‘Oh, you could be Q.’ And I said I’d rather be James Bond! But I think all the characters in Slow Horses could be put somewhere in the Bond universe.”

We’ve all seen later seasons of shows where the actors turn up looking contractually obliged, rather than raring to go. But in Slow Horses, everyone seems as if they want to be there. What’s the secret? “I think it’s because Will slightly reinvents the show each series to keep the actors engaged. When actors stop enjoying something, that’s because they are doing the same thing every year.”

Actors on political dramas often find themselves invited to Number 10 or the White House – do the Slow Horses cast dine with MI5 and MI6? A long pause from Chung. “No comment.” But real spooks do watch it? “They do and they are very big fans. Because I think they find it representative of their reality. Gary Oldman [who plays Jackson Lamb, head of Slough House] met Queen Camilla and I know that she – and, I would assume, the King – are fans of the show. So maybe we’ll be at Buckingham Palace.”

In the meantime, Chung is awaiting the arrival of his pre-ordered copy of Herron’s new novel, Clown Town, hoping that it will reveal more insight into Roddy’s peculiar soul – and that he survives to the end.

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Slow Horses season 5 begins on Apple TV+ on Wednesday 24th September. Seasons 1-4 are available to watch now – sign up to Apple TV+ here.

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