'Slow Horses' creator Will Smith

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.5 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Will Smith is the creator and showrunner of the hit Apple TV spy thriller Slow Horses. Smith talks with Jesse about the show's unique blend of drama, action and comedy. He also shares how he learned from Armando Iannucci, the best in the biz, while working on Veep and The Thick of It. Also discussed: farts! And how star Gary Oldman's character Jackson Lamb uses them as a plot device.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
0:05.4	RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.
0:12.1	Learn more at RWJF.org.
0:15.5	Hey, gang, it's Jesse. Before we get into this next Bullseye interview, I wanted to give you a
0:19.3	heads up on something really exciting. We are ringing in 25 years of bullseye all through this fall. 25 years. I started
0:28.4	this show in my dorm room when I was 19. What does that mean? Well, we will have a whole month
0:33.7	of special shows, new and old this autumn. We're also going on the road, bringing you three
0:40.4	very special anniversary live shows. Thursday, October 16th, will be at LAist in Pasadena, California.
0:47.1	I will be joined by Roy Wood Jr. and Jason Manzoukis. We will have music from Rebecca Sugar,
0:52.0	the creator of Stephen Universe, and comedy from the great
0:55.5	Aparnanancharla. Saturday, November 1st, will be at the Cumbua Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, California.
1:02.3	I will be talking with Adam Scott, Boots Riley, and Glenn Washington. We will have comedy from
1:07.4	Scott Simpson. Finally, on Saturday, November 15th, we'll head to the pit in New York
1:12.9	City, the pit theater. My guests, Jad Abumrod from Radio Lab, H. John Benjamin from Archer and
1:18.9	Bob's Burgers, comedy from Josh Gondelman, music from songwriters, Kristen Anderson Lopez,
1:24.5	and Bobby Lopez, the latter of whom is an actual egot, it is going to be an
1:29.5	extravaganza in all three cities. I hope you will celebrate with us. Go to maximum fun.org
1:35.4	slash events for info on all of it. That's maximum fun.org slash events. And thanks.
1:44.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorne is a production of maximum fun.org and is distributed by NPR.
2:04.8	It's Bullseye. I'm Jesse Thorne.
2:07.4	The TV show Slow Horses.
2:13.0	If you just looked at the premise, you might not be that excited.
	...

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