Slow Horses Breaks Cover: Hit Spy Thriller Dominates This Week's Radio Times Cover
RT goes undercover to expose who’s on the chopping block, who’s snagged a royal fan, and who’s primed to be the next James Bond.
Big week for TV nerds: Steven Knight is rolling out yet another new drama, Slow Horses is back, and Neil Cross has a fresh thriller right around the corner. Yes, it is September, but apparently nobody told these showrunners to slow down.
Steven Knight is everywhere (again)
Knight has a new eight-episode series launching this week that tracks what happens to the four children of Sir Benjamin Guinness after their father dies. The vibe is glossy-and-grimy in that familiar Knight way — you can feel the Peaky Blinders DNA in the bones, even though it is its own thing.
Speaking of Blinders: the Shelby clan is due back as a feature film in 2026. So, add that to Knight’s workload, which is genuinely absurd right now. This is his third new drama this year, on top of both A Thousand Blows and SAS Rogue Heroes getting the nod for more seasons. He is also writing a Bond movie. And, just to make the rest of us feel lazy, the man reportedly has seven kids.
- New this week: an eight-part Guinness family saga from Knight
- Peaky Blinders: feature film planned for 2026
- A Thousand Blows and SAS Rogue Heroes: both renewed
- Also on his plate: scripting the next Bond
Slow Horses returns, and its showrunner taps out (by necessity)
Apple’s excellent spy series is back this week, but there’s a change behind the scenes. The show’s creator and showrunner Will Smith — the British writer, not that Will Smith — is stepping away. Why? Because the schedule was a blender. He was trying to write season 5 while still editing season 3, gearing up to shoot season 4, and hitting a deadline for season 6. That is not a pipeline; that is a stress test. Smart call to hand off before the wheels come off.
Neil Cross has a new thriller on deck
Luther creator Neil Cross returns next month with The Iris Affair. There’s an early premiere event with Sky on 6 October screening the first two episodes, followed by an on-stage chat with Cross and stars Tom Hollander and Niamh Algar. If you’re the early-bird type, that’s your first look.