If someone said they had a crush on a character from Slow Horses, we doubt your mind would go straight to IT whizz Roddy Ho. Olivia Cooke as Sidonie, perhaps. Jack Lowden as River Cartwright. These are more obvious options.
But while Roddy may not be a traditional choice of heartthrob, it turns out the actor behind him, Christopher Chung, absolutely is.
Slow Horses was nominated for an incredible nine Emmy Awards and took home one at last night's ceremony – Saul Metzstein picked up the award for best directing for a drama series. The cast were out in force, with Gary Oldman (who lost out to The Pitt's Noah Wyle for lead actor in a drama series), Jack Lowden, Saskia Reeves, Ruth Bradley, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Rosalind Eleazar, Tom Brooke, James Callis and Jonathan Pryce all in attendance to support the show.
There was also Christopher Chung, who plays Roddy. And when we spotted the photos of him from the red carpet, we had to do a double-take. This is because – and no shade intended on Roddy – Christopher looked incredible. In an all-black ensemble, the actor looked miles away from the computer nerd we're used to seeing in schlubby T-shirts and attention-grabbing prints.
We think the hair makes a big difference. We're so used to seeing Roddy Ho with his hair all over his face – whether blue or blonde. In normal, offscreen life, Christopher Chung tends to push back his hair to let his features show. And what a change it makes.
The actor has previously talked about the challenges – and fun – of playing the 'obnoxious' character. He told Variety: 'I think the thing with Ho is you never play it for the joke, everything is just genuine, it’s real. Like, that is his reality and everyone else is just kind of a small pawn in it. So really holding on to that as my anchor throughout this season was the thing that allowed me to navigate all of the beats, where I was like, “Oh, this could spill into something that’s way too much”.'
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Roddy Ho's hair on the show is also, it turns out, a big conversation point. Christopher has previously revealed that for series five of Slow Horses, he 'really wanted' Roddy to have a man-bun as a form of 'peacocking'.
Christopher is very used to surprising viewers with how different he is to Roddy. In an interview with The Observer, he revealed: 'People who listen to my live interviews are always astounded that one, I’m Australian, and two, I’m not an obnoxious prick.'
We'll all get to be stunned by the actor's performance this week when Slow Horses finally returns for series six. The last series, we saw Libyan terrorist attacks send London into chaos, plus the slightly heartbreaking revelation that Roddy had fallen victim to a honey trap operation. Series six will pick up with plenty more drama and action – Sidonie is back, for one thing, and for the first time, one series will be an adaptation of two novels – Joe Country and Slough House.
You can watch the trailer for the upcoming series below:
