{"id":1236713993,"date":"2026-09-30T10:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T17:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/?p=1236713993"},"modified":"2026-09-30T10:19:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T17:19:31","slug":"slow-horses-christopher-chung-roddy-ho-season-six","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/slow-horses-christopher-chung-roddy-ho-season-six-1236713993\/","title":{"rendered":"To ‘Slow Horses’ Star Christopher Chung, “I Hate Your Character” Is Actually a “Lovely Compliment”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t[This story contains spoilers from Slow Horses<\/em> season six, through episode three, \u201cResurrection.\u201d]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSlow Horses<\/em> was recently renewed for season eight<\/a>, but Christopher Chung \u2014 who plays the show\u2019s narcissistic tech expert Roddy Ho \u2014 may not be quite convinced of his job security. The proof? When he hops on a Zoom call to talk about the current season, he\u2019s just spent the morning on his side hustle, working with three clients as a personal trainer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cI guess it\u2019s just the pragmatic part of my brain. I\u2019ve always been a hustler and a hard worker,\u201d he tells The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> when pressed on why he keeps the gig despite his long-running role on the Emmy- and BAFTA-winning series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tRoddy Ho is not written as physically fit in Mick Herron’s Slough House<\/em> books, on which the Apple TV spy show is based \u2014 though the character certainly pictures himself that way. But when Chung landed the role, it became one of many specific personality traits that helped him make Ho more engaging \u2014 something he thinks a lot about on a show that he calls “a real character piece.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tElsewhere in the conversation, the actor touches on the just-released third episode of season six, which sees Ho on the road with Gary Oldman\u2019s Jackson Lamb and guest star Lenny Rush. He recalls his excitement to work with BAFTA winner and “comedic genius” Rush, who plays Reece, who witnessed his father\u2019s murder in the season premiere. Separately in the episode, River (Jack Lowden<\/a>) and Sid (Olivia Cooke<\/a>) are on the run from a pair of assassins, while the rest of the team circles the wagons en route to a safe house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tChung also shares plenty of behind-the-scenes stories, like a sequence that had to be reworked when he missed a shoot day because of food poisoning, why he asked the props department for a massive number of condoms left over from last season, and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t***<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tEveryone in Slough House has a character flaw, but Roddy\u2019s is his whole personality. Despite that, you\u2019re kind of a fan favorite. How do you approach Roddy as a character, and why do you think audiences like him so well when the other characters don\u2019t?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWith every character that I play, I try and find a justification, an access point into them where their worldview makes complete sense to them. That affords me a kind of humanizing of them. When I read the books initially, there\u2019s a lot about Ho that\u2019s quite abrasive and malicious and nasty. He doesn\u2019t have that kind of depth in the books, and I remember in season one when I was working with [director] James Hawes, he really helped me carve out and shape the levels of which Roddy can be abrasive, but he also has to be accessible to the audience, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSo I\u2019ve worked really hard with showing moments throughout a season; maybe just one moment throughout each season where you find a point of the crack in Ho\u2019s armor. For season one, it\u2019s when Ho is genuinely asking River, \u201cI want the information on why I\u2019m here.\u201d That\u2019s a moment of vulnerability for him. Then, in season four you have when Coe [Tom Brooke] tells him that his girlfriend is a bot and you see he\u2019s vulnerable in that moment, and then it shuts down again. It\u2019s always about showing moments of him stepping out of his own world and into the actual, real world and the current situation. Having those moments of vulnerability are the things that keep the audience engaged with him and don\u2019t ostracize him out of the piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYeah, it seems like he grows a little bit each time we see one of those things.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYeah, tiny bits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tHow do fans perceive you when they recognize you as Roddy Ho?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tI think the most common interaction I have with fans is like, \u201cOh my God, I absolutely hate your character. You\u2019re so good at it, you\u2019re amazing.\u201d That\u2019s such a lovely compliment. I\u2019ve done a lot more press in the last 12 to 18 months, having done a bigger stint in season five and I\u2019ve had another show come out in Australia [My Brilliant Career<\/a><\/em>, available on Netflix] and having a little bit more on-camera interviews and people seeing who I am as a person and not as Roddy Ho, it\u2019s so funny to see what people say. They\u2019re like, \u201cOh my God, he\u2019s nothing like the character,\u201d which is quite relieving for me. (Laughs<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt must be more fun to be known as yourself than as this kind of repulsive person.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYeah, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\tChung as Roddy Ho on Slow Horses<\/em> season six. <\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Apple TV<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhen we see Roddy in his office, he\u2019s often doing something a little bit strange when they first show him. At one point he\u2019s doing<\/strong> a miniature Zen garden and burning sage, another time he\u2019s drinking raw eggs and trading crypto, he\u2019s got his weights machine in there. Are those all in the script, or where do they come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThey\u2019re all very specific choices. He\u2019s always at his computer. When you come into those scenes in his office, you\u2019re coming in for information to move the story along, and in terms of making a TV show, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s super interesting to always be coming in to someone sitting doing computer business. It\u2019s always more engaging to have him in the middle of him doing something that is very character specific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIn episode two, I think it was just written on the page that he was at the computer doing work. I was like, \u201cnah.\u201d I asked the props guy, \u201cHey, do we still have a large amount of condoms from Ho\u2019s flat from last season?\u201d He managed to fashion up all of these condoms so that Ho could be sorting them out when the phone goes. It\u2019s such a character thing to do, but it\u2019s the things the audience picks up on. I think it\u2019s the reason why the show continues to engage with audiences, because it\u2019s a real character piece. Everyone has very specific moments that they get to show their character. It might be really brief, but they actually flesh the world out so clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIn episode three, you spend a lot of time not<\/em> at the computer, surprisingly. You\u2019re out and about with Lamb and Reece, in the car and at the arcade. What do you remember most about filming those scenes?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tUm, they were really cold days, I remember that. (Laughs<\/em>.) I remember being really disappointed when we went into the arcade and none of the games worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWas that not a functioning arcade?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tI think some of the ones in the front of the arcade worked, but the one that me and Lenny were in front of, for visual effects and things like that, actually didn\u2019t work, so we didn\u2019t get to play any games. That was disappointing. (Laughs<\/em>.) But I think that was the first time Lenny and I got to do any scenes together. I was really excited about that because I\u2019d seen his work before and he\u2019s a BAFTA winner [for Am I Being Unreasonable?<\/em>]. He\u2019s a comedic genius and he\u2019s just an all-around nice guy. I was really excited to start doing my scenes with him. [Writer\u2019s note: Rush has also been <\/em>cast as Dobby<\/em><\/a> in HBO\u2019s Harry Potter series<\/em>.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\tLenny Rush as Reece Nesmith and Chung as Roddy Ho on Slow Horses<\/em> season six. <\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Apple TV<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut I have more of a recollection of episode two, when they call Blake\u2019s Grave. There was a specific moment when we\u2019re all supposed to be at the grave, and actually Ho was supposed to be there as well, but I couldn\u2019t make it to filming that day because I had food poisoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOh, no.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYeah, it was terrible. They managed to rearrange the scene, improvise around it and make it work, and that is a testament to how strong the show is, that they can pivot and not lose a day and still make such a high-quality scene out of it, and have me picked up out in front of St. Paul\u2019s. That scene was not in the original drafts, but we had to write that in, so River had chucked me out the car and Lamb had to come and collect me. They\u2019re able to do things so quickly, and that\u2019s the power of having a long-running series where you\u2019re working with the same crew all the time, that you can make those quick adjustments. In actuality, you save a lot of money because you don\u2019t have to reschedule the whole day. You can just make a story point work really quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYeah, that\u2019s surprising to me because that totally made sense that River would have kicked him out of the car.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSpeaking of the long-running nature of the show, along with the crew, the cast have all been working together for a long time, and Olivia Cooke came back this season after not having been on the show since season one. Can you talk about that dynamic of people coming and going and how you heard she was coming back?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWe do find out things quite far in advance, but I think because I had read the books, I knew she had come back in those. I was excited for her to be back on set, but I didn\u2019t share any scenes with her, so that was disappointing because she\u2019s great fun. I think she was so jealous that we got to stay in Slow Horses<\/em> and she had to get shot in the head and wait five seasons to come back, because we have been having a brilliant time and it\u2019s evident in the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt\u2019s always really difficult when a member of the ensemble cast goes. We really felt it when Kadiff [Kirwan], who plays Marcus, left, and the same for Dustin [Demri-Burns], who plays Min. [Their characters died in season four and season two, respectively.] Even though they\u2019re not in the show anymore, their DNA is still all over the piece in so many ways. Especially when you go into Slough House, because actually even though it\u2019s a set, you totally feel the ghosts of those that have been in that environment, so it\u2019s always sad when someone goes, but it does give such an incredible history to the world that you\u2019re getting to play in as an actor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt also gives you the opportunity to bring in new people.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYeah, and the thing about Slow Horses<\/em>, as an actor, and having talked to so many of my friends that are actors, it\u2019s the show that everybody wants to be in. It\u2019s the best. Because of the quality of the work but also the quality of the cast and the crew that we all get to work with. It\u2019s incredible for me to have this be kind of my really big role that\u2019s given me a bit of visibility. I feel so lucky to be still doing it. Long may it continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYou\u2019ve talked in a few interviews about how you also work as a personal trainer. Is that still true?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYes, I had three clients this morning. (Laughs<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOh my gosh. Even though you have this show that\u2019s been going on for six seasons, and it\u2019s been renewed for eight?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tI guess it\u2019s the pragmatic part of my brain. I\u2019ve always been a hustler and a hard worker. And there are a lot of times within a season that \u2014 the season is probably 100 days to shoot and I maybe work 25 to 30 of them, and not in a block, they\u2019re kind of spread out. It makes it difficult to facilitate other acting work, so I like to have something else to do so my mind is continually busy, but also, I guess I\u2019m always afraid of the bottom falling out of my acting career and being destitute. (Laughs<\/em>.) Just gotta keep it real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAnd you\u2019ve gotten to work it into your character too, that he\u2019s very into his fitness.<\/strong> Have you tried to get more involved in the stunts, considering?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYeah, but Roddy doesn\u2019t really get a whole bunch of stunts. I\u2019m always really jealous of Aimee[-Ffion Edwards], who plays Shirley, because she gets to do all this crazy-fun stuff, like shooting guns. I did say to Adam [Randall, the director] when we started this season that I want to shoot a gun. It doesn\u2019t have to be well, but at least some shots. (Laughs<\/em>.) I want to shoot somebody with the gun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe tech guy doesn\u2019t usually get to do that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tI know! That\u2019s why it\u2019s great! Maybe in the upcoming seasons there will be more action for Ho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThat would be fun. I understand you have a musical theater background, too. Is that something you\u2019re hoping to do more of in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tI do want to get back onstage at some point. The thing that\u2019s difficult about filming is it leaves no time to be able to do that. There\u2019s a show that I really want to do in London, which is on Broadway at the moment. Do you get to see any Broadway shows?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tNot really, I\u2019m in L.A.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAh, you\u2019ve got to go to Broadway. There\u2019s a show called Maybe Happy Ending<\/em>, and it\u2019s so great. I hope that they bring it to London and they put me and my wife [Frances Mayli McCann] in it, because my wife is also in musical theater, so that\u2019s the dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t***<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe first three episodes of <\/em>Slow Horses season six are available on Apple TV. New episodes will drop weekly on Wednesdays until Oct. 21. See <\/em>THR\u2019s interview about the season with <\/em>director Adam Randall here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As season six of the quirky espionage drama rolls out, the actor is happy to be playing Slough House\u2019s abrasive tech expert Roddy Ho \u2014 \u201clong may it continue,\u201d he says \u2014 and even happier that people are starting to realize he\u2019s not that guy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":979825,"featured_media":1236713987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","authors":[],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":true,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","_pmc_featured_video_override_url":"","_pmc_featured_video_response_data":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"","_pmc_opengraph_title":"","_pmc_opengraph_description":"","categories":65854,"subcategories":65856,"thr-review-summary-credits":"","thr-full-credit":"","thr-review-mpaa-rating":"","thr-review-running-time":"","_synopsis":"","_air_date":"00-00-00","pmc-imdb-id":"","pmc-review-type":"","pmc-review-rating":"","pmc-review-rating-out-of":"","pmc-review-snippet":"","pmc-review-title":"","pmc-review-canonical-link":"","pmc-theatrical-release-date":0,"pmc-director":"","pmc-review-image_attachment_id":0,"thr_post_headlines":"As season six of the quirky espionage drama rolls out, the actor is happy to be playing Slough House\u2019s abrasive tech expert Roddy Ho \u2014 \u201clong may it continue,\u201d he says \u2014 and even happier that people are starting to realize he\u2019s not that guy.","_variety-sub-heading":"","mt_seo_title":"'Slow Horses' Star Christopher Chung Says He's Nothing Like Roddy Ho","mt_seo_description":"'Slow Horses' season six star Christopher Chung on playing Slough House\u2019s abrasive tech expert and even happier people are realizing he\u2019s not that 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‘Slow Horses’ Star Christopher Chung, “I Hate Your Character” Is Actually a “Lovely Compliment”","url":"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/slow-horses-christopher-chung-roddy-ho-season-six-1236713993\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/slow-horses-christopher-chung-roddy-ho-season-six-1236713993\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slow_Horses_Photo_060212.jpg?w=200&h=200&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slow_Horses_Photo_060212.jpg"},"articleSection":"TV Features","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa de los Reyes"}],"creator":["Lisa de los Reyes"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Hollywood Reporter","logo":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thr-site-icon.png"},"keywords":["apple tv","christopher chung","slow 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