Surprisingly, there was nothing particularly cryptic about MI5’s Christmas message.
The main twist, in fact, was that Gary Oldman narrated it as his character from the hit espionage drama series Slow Horses.
In the Apple TV+ show, Oldman plays Jackson Lamb, a jaded spy who falls out with MI5’s head office, and is banished to fictional Slough House, the home of disgraced operatives.
But this year, real security chiefs hired the Darkest Hour star, 66, to recite their seasonal poem as Lamb, to accompany a virtual tour of Thames House, MI5’s genuine home.
The intelligence network quipped on Instagram: ‘At MI5 this Christmas we’ve decided to forgo traditional turkey in favour of some lamb – Jackson Lamb,’ as it announced the verse.
Reading a variation of The Night before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore, Oldman says: ‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through Thames House not a creature was stirring, just a click of a mouse.’
Slow Horses, based on author Mick Herron’s Slough House books, has won nominations for Baftas, Emmys, and Golden Globes. Rather than presenting spies as slick James Bond types, it portrays them as deeply flawed characters.
MI5 stressed that staff will be working over the festive period to monitor national security.