Exhibition
MI5: Official Secrets
Step inside the hidden world of MI5 and explore the extraordinary stories behind the security of a nation.
Display
Slow Horses at The National Archives
- Date
- 16 September to 23 November 2025
- Price
- Free
About this image
Apple
About Slow Horses at The National Archives
Spy drama meets real-life espionage at The National Archives.
Get up close to the drama of Apple TV+’s Slow Horses series with our new display of props from the award-winning series.
For over a hundred years, MI5 has operated in almost complete secrecy, leaving fiction writers free to satisfy our intrigue into the world of spies and spy-catchers.
The spy drama Slow Horses, an adaptation of author Mick Herron's Slough House book series, follows a dysfunctional team of British intelligence agents exiled for their career-ending mistakes to a fictional dumping ground department of MI5, known unaffectionately as Slough House.
Recreating the drab office environment of Slough House, this display uses original props and furniture from the series together with outfits worn by the characters Jackson Lamb (played by Gary Oldman) and Diana Taverner (played by Kristin Scott Thomas).
Slow Horses series 1-4 are now streaming on Apple TV+. Series 5 premieres on Wednesday 24 September on Apple TV+.
MI5: Official Secrets
This display complements MI5: Official Secrets, our ongoing exhibition in partnership with the Security Service, which presents original case files, photographs, papers and equipment from MI5.
The display
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Alongside your visit to our exhibition, MI5: Official Secrets, don't miss this display from a fictional world of spies.
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Get up close to original props from the Slow Horses series.
Plan your visit
What is The National Archives?
The National Archives is the official archive of the UK government, and England and Wales. We are the guardians of over 1,000 years of iconic national documents.
Everyone is welcome to visit our headquarters in Kew. We put on exhibitions, events and displays and offer reading rooms giving access to our collections there.
Getting here
If you're planning to bring a group of ten people or more, please contact whatson@nationalarchives.gov.uk before making arrangements.
Children and families
We provide a warm welcome to visitors of all ages, including children and family groups.
- Explore the exhibition together with our MI5: Official Secrets family trail, for ages 8+, and decode a secret message
- Free activity sheets (for ages 1+) are available from the Time Travel Club trolley in our entrance hall
- Our café is child-friendly and there are picnic benches outside
- Prams and buggies are welcome, and we have a buggy park
- Baby changing facilities are located by our entrance hall, at the top of the main stairs, and in the library
- Emergency supplies of nappies and wipes are available
Eat and drink
We have a café and coffee bar provided by Maids of Honour, a historic local tea room and bakery. It has spacious indoor and outside seating and a soft play area.
On the menu is a variety of high-quality lunchtime meals, sandwiches, snacks, soft drinks, tea and coffee. Vegetarians, vegans and other dietary requirements are all catered to.
Explore the real MI5