There have been multiple new faces in Slow Horses season 4, but few have stood out as much as Ruth Bradley, who plays Emma Flyte, the new head of MI5's enforcement unit, known as the Dogs. Flyte has had to interact with just about all of Slough House this season as they once again find themselves at the center of a dangerous conspiracy. Whether or not Emma has enjoyed the time spent with the Slow Horses, Bradley told What to Watch in an interview that joining the ensemble has been a "dream."
The show also gave Bradley, whose most notable roles prior to Slow Horses include playing Karen Voss on Humans, a recurring guest role on Ted Lasso and as part of The Gold, the chance to do something she hadn't in her career: a big fight scene. She was a major part of the sequence that closes out Slow Horses season 4 episode 5 where Emma has to fight Patrice (Tom Woznickza).
"I've done a few stunt sequences and stuff, but never like fighting and that kind of thing," Bradley told us. "I wanted to feel like — obviously nobody could take Patrice in a fight, really — but feel like I could go for something and not be afraid of it."
She spent a lot of time rehearsing for the fight scene to get to a point where it felt like it was second nature, but then on the day the director of the episode, Adam Randall, thought something was off. "[Randall] was like, 'it's too clean, you know. This fight is too perfect. These are people who are going to die. It needs to be messy.'" Despite the last minute change, Bradley thought it really helped the scene be more interesting for both her as an actor and for audiences.
And of course it sets up the Slow Horses season 4 finale, one that she teased won't leave fans "unsatisfied."
Find out more about Bradley's experience on the show and what's to come on Slow Horses with the full transcript of our interview below (edited for clarity and length):
What was your experience coming in as the new addition to the already established cast?
Ruth Bradley: I mean a dream really. Any nerves that I would have had totally melted away when I had my first rehearsal for Gary [Oldman], because he totally sets the tone really, and he's such a warm, generous actor. I think it often comes from the top and it just kind of trickles down. Everyone is just really gorgeous, the cast and crew.
You got to do scenes with most of the main characters in the show. How fun was getting that opportunity as a new cast member and were there any moment that stood out?
RB: Hmm, I had great fun with everyone for different reasons. What's great about Emma in this season is she kind of… I always felt it was kind of like an audience member, what would you do if like you, Michael, were thrown into Slow Horses world. Because she's meeting all these new people for the first time and figuring them out and who are they? It felt like she was a mirror for the audience, this is kind of a way in for the audience as well. But I mean it was super fun having a night shoot with Gary and just like playing around with this amazing… these quips to each other in this back and forth tennis match in the opening scene of the first episode. Riding around in the back of cars with Jack for months. It was all great fun.
When you first read Emma in the script, what popped out to you?
RB: I think how she could handle herself and how she never, even though she is so wrong footed by all of these people... she is just very capable of deflecting and coming across well and being able to handle anything that anyone throws at, namely Lamb initially. I was kind of struck by what has she been through before. Where was she born? Who are her family? Where did she work that she is so able for this stuff? Eventually as it continues on we do see her crumble a bit and you see a little bit more vulnerability. But I think what really gets her and what makes her crumble is that she is generally trying to do the right thing. Not necessarily for her career, because she probably could have done better, but she wants to do the morally right thing for these humans.
Episode 5 ends with a big action sequence that you are heavily involved in. Had you had a lot of experience with that kind of scene, that kind of action, with your past roles?
RB: Never, never. I've done a few stunt sequences and stuff, but never like fighting and that kind of thing. So I knew that was coming up from way early on, obviously we had all the scripts, so I kind of started working with a weight training personal trainer, like heavy weight lifting, which is something I had never done before or had never occurred to me. But I kind of felt like I wanted to feel like — obviously nobody could take Patrice in a fight, really — but feel like I could go for something and not be afraid of it. That kind of helped me in the physicality of Emma too, that I knew that under this big baggy coat I've got some guns, so I can do my best. We kind of rehearsed that fight sequence so much that it was like second nature to us by the time we got to shoot it. It was really fun and really rewarding actually.
What was shooting the fight scene like on the day? Was there anything that was unexpected or surprising?
"Have you seen Kneecap? It's a beautiful Irish film. I'm a Gaeilgeoir, so I speak Irish with my family… I'm one of the 80,000 people. So I was just like bawling. … our language has almost been eradicated and now it’s out there in the world."
RB: Totally. We had about four or five nights to shoot it, and we had rehearsed it to an nth degree, so we knew exactly what we were doing. And by the time we got to shooting, Adam Randall, the amazing director, was like, "it's too clean, you know. This fight is too perfect. These are people who are going to die. It needs to be messy." So essentially we kept all the same moves but totally changed the performance of it on the day. So that came out of nowhere. Because I guess I had seen it as like, cool, she knows what she's doing, you know. He was like, "no, no, this is like the last moment of your life, you know, it needs to be a big terrifying mess." That was surprising and so much more interesting to play and do. That's what a great director can do.
It seems to work a little bit more in the context of the show, where they're not the suave spies. They're very much just figuring it out and half the time almost stumbling.
RB: Totally. And it goes to show you how many times we watch this genre and people are just like, "I know what I'm doing." But actually human beings so often, even if you are well equipped, if you come across a terminator you're going to be like "oh my God, this is not a real situation, this is not a fair fight. This person is like inhuman," in that kind of scene. And that's so apparent from the second Patrice hops out of that truck… The look on his face, it's like, "God, what's going to happen?" It wasn't difficult to play.
Heading into the finale, if you were talking to fans — not going into spoilers — how would get them excited for what’s to come?
RB: I would say you won't watch the finale and be disappointed by unanswered questions. You know sometimes I find it so disappointing when I'm really invested in this show and then by the end I'm like they didn't answer any of my questions. There is something so satisfying for an audience member to see the puzzle come together. Which I think is something so gorgeous about Slow Horses. At the end of the each of season, it's really for the audience. So I would say please watch it, because you won't be left unsatisfied.
The Slow Horses season 4 finale premieres on Apple TV Plus on Wednesday, October 9. All other episodes of the spy series are available to stream exclusively on Apple TV Plus.
