Slow Horses star breaks down episode 4's shocking final scene

*Warning: Contains major spoilers for Slow Horses season 5 episode 4*

The fifth season of Slow Horses has just dropped one of the show's most audacious moments yet, with a shocking ending to episode 4 that has completely changed the game.

In the episode, the Slough House team split up to cover rallies held by both Mayor of London Zahar Jaffrey and his political opponent Dennis Gimbal, as they believed there was a plan to assassinate a populist leader.

While they at first thought this would be Gimbal, it actually turned out to be Jaffrey, and Catherine Standish and Shirley Dander managed to stop it from happening.

Meanwhile, River Cartwright and JK Coe staked out Gimbal's rally, and found him being confronted by Jaffrey's chief of staff, Tyson Bowman. When Gimbal started racially abusing him, the two got into a scrap, and River jumped to Gimbal's defence, believing Bowman to be part of the threat.

As River pulled his gun, Bowman ran off. Gimbal started thanking River, but when he found out he was MI5 accused him of being the 'deep state' and the biggest threat to his safety.

However, what they weren't aware of was that Coe was moving about above them on some scaffolding, and had himself not been aware that by doing so he was moving numerous pully systems.

Finally, a paint can from up on the scaffolding toppled off, and as River told Gimbal to "f*** off", it fell down on Gimbal's head, killing him instantly.

Stunned, River and Coe tried to understand what had just happened, the former now covered in paint. They found Gimbal's recording device on the ground, which had monitored the entire thing.

The sequence is both hugely comic but also shocking, and, speaking exclusively with RadioTimes.com, Roddy Ho star Christopher Chung has called it "the best scene in the season".

"It's just so brilliant," he said. "You know, when I was reading London Rules, the novel, I was thinking about when we go to film this, that moment is going to be so comical and so brilliant, and I cannot wait to see Tom and Jack play that out. And it didn't disappoint in any way.

"I think it is an absolute highlight. And the way that the paint can just drops on Gimbal’s head, it's just so perfect, because it's like a pin dropping on the ground. I think it's probably the best scene in the season – and I'm not even in it!"

There are now just two episodes remaining of Slow Horses season 5, and we will have to wait until next week to see how Gimbal's death factors in to the ongoing story – and how River and Coe get out of this one!

Slow Horses season 5 will continue on Apple TV on Wednesday 22nd October. Seasons 1-4 are available to watch now – sign up to Apple TV here.

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