Fans praise 'fantastic' third season of Slow Horses and 'high-quality writing' by creator Gary Oldman

• Warning: Contains spoilers

Fans praised the “fantastic” finale of Slow Horses season 3 and “high-quality writing” from creator Gary Oldman.

The final episode debuted on Apple+ on Wednesday, after the first batch of episodes received a near-perfect approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In the series, Harry Potter star Gary, 65, is seen as part of MI5 who are just trying to do their job despite all the obstacles in their way.

The spy thriller concluded its final season with an episode full of betrayals and shocking revelations at Slough House.

Among the episode's surprises is Katherine Standish's (Saskia Reeves) revelation about Jackson Lamb's involvement in the death of traitorous former MI5 Director General, Charles Partner (Game of Thrones' James Faulkner).

River and Louisa manage to escape the facility, with Shirley meeting them at the hatch to let them out in time. This means that they were able to take the files out of the facility and destroy them.

However, Sean Donovan never made it out of the facility alive, as he was killed by MI5 agents assigned to extract him and the others.

Eventually, it turned out that River cheated on his grandfather because he kept copies of the files in his car, which he later leaked, believing that Ingrid Tierney had to pay for Allison Dunne's murder.

Fans were blown away by the final episode and are already demanding a season 4 release.

One person wrote: “The Slow Horses finale was fantastic. High quality writing that's hard to beat.”

One viewer wrote: “Another strong season of Slow Horses.” Why do I rarely hear about this program? “People should cheer him on.”

Season 4 was filmed in spring 2023 and completed, but its release date has not been confirmed.

Season 3 of Slow Horses has a near-perfect approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In the days leading up to its premiere, early critic reviews led to it being ranked high on the film review website.

Immediately after the series premiered, Empire praised the series as a “well-crafted prestige drama” that was “deserving” of a slot on BBC One.

“This horse flies under the radar like his crew of unlikely super-spies, and is darker than slow,” they wrote.

“A beautifully crafted prestige drama that deserves a prime time slot on BBC One.” If you have ever had one, this should be reason enough to bite the bullet.

The AV Club noted that the show was still “very entertaining” in its latest edition while the Evening Standard praised the “sinister plot” featured in the drama.

“In an age when streaming shows often buckle under the weight of episode requests the writers can't seem to meet, there's something so refreshing about a show like this that doesn't have a little fat in its six episodes,” The Playlist wrote.

There's never a point where it slows down, and yet it's not a hectic show at the same time.

It allows for the right balance between plot and character, often pushing both forward at the same time.

Before taking on the series' lead role of Jackson Lamb, Gary hinted that he was considering retiring from acting after nearly 50 years in the industry.

Speaking on Chris Evans' Breakfast with Sky on Virgin Radio, Gary said: “I think Lamb gives the world the impression that he doesn't care, and maybe, just maybe, he cares more than most people.”

Maybe he's trying to pack it all in. It's kind of like treading water and watching the clock until retirement.

“But like many of us who may have sometimes felt like stepping away and packing everything in, we're kind of addicted to what we do.”

Slow Horses is available to stream now on Apple TV+.