Chris Connor chats with Slow Horses star Kadiff Kirwan…
Kadiff Kirwan’s Marcus has been a firm favourite with the Slow Horses fanbase. We sat down with the him to chat about Marcus’ arc in season 4 and why the role means so much to him. Warning: this interview does contain major spoilers about the season 4 finale…
How have you found the Slough House dynamic this season with the team splintered?
It’s very different to previous seasons. But I mean, like with every season, I end up really enjoying it. Aimee who plays Shirley and I have become really close friends because of Shirley and Marcus. So I’ve enjoyed all of our scenes together, sort of them going off and getting themselves into absolute carnage and chaos. It’s been wonderful. Then when we get the opportunity to do those group scenes together, they’re just always fireworks, absolute fireworks, a zinger here and there. This season was also great because Amy and I got to do great scenes with Gary, the taxi, and Sean, who plays bad Sam.
The scene you’ve mentioned with Gary Oldman and the taxi is an obvious highlight, how was filming that sequence?
Oh, brilliant. Filming in a black cab driving through London. If someone would say bucket list, things that wouldn’t have been on there, but now I’m glad I’ve ticked it off, because it was just one of those days, you know, those scenes take a long time because exterior, interior stuff and moving traffic, XYZ. So in between takes, we got to chill and chat and get great stories from Gary telling jokes, just bonding as a cast of people. So I have some really great memories from those days.
Is it as fun to make as it is for us to watch?
I would actually say it’s more fun than you think. It’s been the highlight of my career thus far. So much fun because so many shows are out there, but ours has that balance of comedy and drama perfectly right, I think. It bleeds in and off camera like it’s just a very jovial set to be on from top down. So, yeah, it’s a lot of fun.
One of the most shocking moments in this series involves Marcus and how he kind of meets his end, how have you found that?
I knew that was coming the news was broken to me by our showrunner, Will Smith. I didn’t know the way in which it would happen, but if you’re going to go, that’s how you want to go. You know, blaze of glory sort of protecting your nearest and dearest. Had it been another horse that was asking that of Marcus, essentially, who knows what his reaction would have been, but because it was Shirley, it was a no brainer. You know their platonic relationship has been such a highlight of play, but also such a beautiful thing to see on screen. It’s very sad that Marcus met his end that way. But what a way to go.
Did you talk to Mick Herron about it? He was on set a bit more this series.
Yeah, Mick was around quite a lot. I asked him to rewrite it. I also asked Will to rewrite it, has Marcus got like, a twin brother or something that comes back and he looks exactly the same but alas. It’s a beautiful show, because they’re not afraid to kill their darlings. No one is safe at all. So it’s, yeah, I’ve been gearing up towards it, and I’ve kept the secret for nearly 14 months. I haven’t told any of my family yet, so they don’t know. So with season 5 filming, I’ve pretended that I’ve been filming it.
Gambling addiction is a key part of Marcus’ arc how have you dived into that?
Did I gamble? Did I go off and spend all my money? I didn’t do that, but yeah, I went and looked at quite a lot online that you can find in regards to addictive personalities. What motivates a person to to go to the extreme in that way. I did a lot of research online. I watched a few documentaries and then I just did what was on the page. In a way, Marcus in the books is so well rounded and by turn in the series also is so well rounded. You’re not often sure what makes him tick, but when he does come alive, it’s really vivid. So those moments of desperation that we saw this season when he was selling the gun and stuff like that, they were kind a real desperation of pain and not wanting to put his family through something that was so shameful for him. So all that was really great to play, and just on an emotional, on that human level, it was really beautiful to get to do all of that.
Do you have any other moments that you particularly enjoyed shooting in the fourth season?
The fight sequences going through the window was delightful. I was like, wow, getting paid to go through a window here. Then the final episode, the shootout in Slough House, oh my god. It was incredible. Like our special effects team, you know, you’ve got squids going off in your ear, you’ve got the gun, you’ve got the blood, the SFX, you’ve got the banging. The dialogue was amazing and tense in those moments. And we got to do a bunch of takes different ways, and it was just adrenaline for two weeks from in that sequence. It was just fantastic. I think you see it on screen, you see the production values, and also you see the care and precision which everyone has tackled it with. Yeah, it’s made me want to do more action, which I never, ever thought would come out of my mouth. I like being comfortable, usually, but this, this sort of pushing one spot into the extreme, was really great.
Is there anything else you’d like to cover about Marcus’ arc?
I think Marcus has made the impact he needed to in Slough House. I think he’ll be missed. I hope he’ll be missed. I’ve only been missed by Shirley especially. I think those kind of people come and go in our lives, and it snows that his arc was handled in the way it was in this season. I love playing him. I hope I get to meet someone like him in character form one day again, because it’s been an absolute joy and working with the slow horses, with Gary, Amy, Saskia, Jack, Chris I’m missing some people, but it doesn’t get much better than that. Apple TV+ have been just amazing, making sure everything is above board and brilliant and nurturing. So yeah, I’m living on a bloody big high. I can tell you that.
This series in particular feels like there’s a lot more buzz around the show, what for you makes the show such a hit with with audiences?
Human error, the fallibility of people. No one in Slow Horses is trying to be perfect. They’re not trying to give you this slight impression that they’ve got all this shit together. It’s show. and story about people constantly making mistakes trying to correct that and I think that is a, it’s about, you know, just keep going through it and you try and bear yourself each time. And it’s a very human, accessible show with killer production values and great acting. So, it’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry and it’ll make you scream.
Thank you for your time Kadiff and congratulations on Slow Horses.
SEE ALSO: Read our exclusive interviews with Slow Horses stars James Callis, Joanna Scanlan and Ruth Bradley
Chris Connor
