The disgraced spies of Slough House are in deeper trouble than usual in the new season of Slow Horses. After a shocking arrest and a city under threat, the team’s mission continues in the next episode, titled Tall Tales.
Slow Horses Season 5, Episode 3, “Tall Tales,” will be released on Wednesday, October 8, 2025. As with all new episodes, it will be available to stream exclusively on Apple TV+ starting at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time (3:01 a.m. Eastern Time). For viewers in the UK, the episode arrives at 8:01 a.m. BST.
The Story So Far: Attacks and Arrests
The fifth season of this spy thriller opened with a series of coordinated attacks across London. The narrative has placed an unusual spotlight on the team’s tech expert, Roddy Ho, whose new girlfriend, Tara, has raised suspicions. In Episode 2, those suspicions were confirmed when a masked attacker targeted Roddy in his own apartment.
Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but crude leader of the Slow Horses, was already at Roddy’s home and managed to intervene. However, the situation escalated when MI5’s Diana Taverner discovered that the weapon used in the attack on Roddy was the same rifle that killed the Abbotsfield shooter in the season premiere.
This connection led Diana Taverner to take drastic action. She sent a team of MI5 agents to storm the Slough House offices, placing the entire team on lockdown and taking Roddy Ho into custody for questioning. Meanwhile, the mysterious terrorist group has expanded its campaign, partnering with a climate activist group to tamper with petrol, resulting in cars explosively catching fire on the streets.
What to Expect in Episode 3: “Tall Tales”
With the team confined and Roddy in the hands of MI5, the upcoming episode is set to raise the tension even further. The official synopsis for the episode reveals that Emma Flyte will be leading the charge to find Roddy’s missing girlfriend. The synopsis states:
Flyte sets out to find Roddy’s girlfriend. The gang is dispatched to two different campaign events to prevent another attack.
This indicates that despite the lockdown, the Slow Horses will be forced into action to deal with the ongoing terrorist threat. The “campaign events” are likely related to the London mayoral race, which has been a background element of the season, featuring Nick Mohammed as the incumbent mayor, Zafar Jaffrey.
A key question for the next episode is whether Roddy will finally accept that his girlfriend, Tara, was using him. Evidence suggests she may have been coerced by the terrorist group, which has a pattern of weaponizing unrelated people to do their bidding. One review of the previous episodes noted that Tara was later seen looking “scared, a sea change from the confident, slinky young woman who’d been clubbing earlier that night with Roddy.”
The Team Behind the Scenes
Slow Horses is based on the bestselling Slough House novel series by Mick Herron. The fifth season adapts the book London Rules. The series is executive produced by Graham Yost, and Saul Metzstein returns as the director for this season. As with previous installments, the season is comprised of six episodes, released weekly.
The show has been praised by critics for maintaining its quality, with The Daily Telegraph noting it is “unusual: a long-running show that hasn’t had a drop-off in quality.”
Global Release Schedule for Episode 3
For viewers around the world, “Tall Tales” becomes available at these local times on Wednesday, October 8, 2025:
- Pacific Time (PT): 12:01 a.m
- Eastern Time (ET): 3:01 a.m
- Greenwich Mean Time (GMT): 8:01 a.m
- Central European Time (CET): 9:01 a.m
- Indian Standard Time (IST): 12:31 p.m
- Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT): 6:01 p.m
Full Season 5 Release Schedule
For those planning their watch schedule, the entire season will unfold on Apple TV+ with one episode per week. The remaining episode schedule is:
- Episode 3: Tall Tales – October 8, 2025
- Episode 4: Missiles – October 15, 2025
- Episode 5: Circus – October 22, 2025
- Episode 6: Scars – October 29, 2025
The core cast, including Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, Jack Lowden as River Cartwright, and Kristin Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner, all return. The season also stars Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho, whose character is at the center of the unfolding drama.
Also Read: Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 2: How the Attack on Roddy Ho Connects to the Abbotsfield Massacre
