Ruth Bradley hadn’t actually watched Slow Horses when the part of Emma Flyte came up. “I had heard it was great, and obviously I was like, wow, Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas are in a show together, I need to watch that,” she explains. “But I think that’s the story of my life; there’s just so much great stuff to watch… so it was on my list, but I hadn’t seen it yet when I was sent the scenes.”
This fact is perhaps less surprising when you realise the timelines involved – viewers might have only been introduced to Emma, Head of Security for MI5 and leader of The Dogs, at the beginning of season four last year, but discussions about the part began in 2022, when the first series of the Apple TV+ show had only just debuted. “Season one was brilliant, but it was kind of like a sleeper hit. I think it’s become a bit of a word-of-mouth success. So, at that stage it wasn’t what it is now,” Ruth reasons.
Ruth wears: white dress with buckle by Roland Mouret
Even so, she did not originally know what it was that she was auditioning for. “You just receive watermarked sides. So basically, just scenes with different names, and a fake name for the project,” she reveals. “I didn’t know when I first read the material what the show was. When I did find out, it made sense as to why it was so brilliantly written. I just think the books are fabulous, and Will Smith, the showrunner is so amazing, so that alchemy jumped off the page when I got the scenes initially.”
It is, undoubtedly, a dream role, and for Ruth, there is one particular highlight. “I mean, it’s always Gary for me,” she exclaims. “Gary was my idol as a kid, and I really wanted to be him, so it never gets boring. It never gets de rigueur, or commonplace. It’s always a pinch me kind of moment, to be doing a two-hander with somebody who was the reason you wanted to become an actor, really. So, they are always my favourite moments on the show.”
How were those first day nerves when faced with a childhood hero, I ask. “I am just trying to remember, I’m sure I did feel nervous,” Ruth admits. “But what was much stronger was my excitement. A friend of mine explained that the physicality and the internal workings of the feelings in your body when it comes to nervousness and excitement are actually the same – it’s just how you decide to frame it. So, that really makes sense with my first scenes with Gary, I guess because I was just so excited, maybe I was nervous, but I couldn’t get a hold on that. I just couldn’t wait to get on the set and work with him, really. And I still feel that way!”
Fortunately for Ruth, she can look forward to working with Gary for at least a little longer. “We’ll definitely be seeing another season – I know it’s been commissioned,” she confirms. “That’s what’s great about the show as well, I know so often you’re waiting so long for something, but with this, at the end of each season, you can see a little trailer for what’s going to happen. So, yeah, there is more to come…”
For now, season five has just premièred, and Ruth is finding her stride with the part. “This time around, Emma kind of became very second nature,” she tells me. “I mean this was the second season, so yeah, I felt her even more in my bones this year. With this show you can read ahead with the books, so, I had a kind of an overall arc of where I knew she was going, which meant I could really lean into playing certain things. She’s a bit of an ice queen in the fourth book, and I really wanted to lean into the, I don’t know, maybe cockiness at the beginning of season four. But she has to kind of check herself a bit by the end, because obviously season four is a wild rollercoaster ride for Flyte. When she comes into five, she’s in a very different place, and maybe, I think, a more grounded place. It went hand in hand really – what Flyte is feeling and what I was feeling.”
Flyte is certainly a complex character; what exactly is it that makes for a good part, I ask Ruth. “Darkness and light, like three dimensions – the whole scope of human nature,” she explains. You know, I think really, it’s about the broad spectrum of the human, the complexity of being human, that makes for a good role. And it’s not always there, in scripts, but when you read it, you know it’s there.”
Evidently this is a non-negotiable for Ruth, when it comes to taking on new work. “I try to say no to things; that’s really the thing that I feel like we have as actors. You know, there’s a lot of rejection, and there’s a lot of up and down, but your ‘No’ is yours. So, if I read something, and I think, I don’t see what I’m looking for, I’m pretty comfortable to say no and to not know what’s coming next, which probably seems wild, but that’s all part of the gamble of it. It is scary, but I guess the longer I’m doing this, the more I’m like, well, I’ve just got to have faith, and something will come up. And sometimes I think I must be insane, but then I’m like, well if I was looking for a safe and easy ride, I would be doing a different job!”
Acting certainly doesn’t offer job security; how does Ruth cope with the uncertainty? “Tenacity. Blind faith,” she shrugs. “Some combination of the two, and there must be something about the fact that I am like a dog with a bone. I just can’t let it go – that’s not an option. And, I mean, I know it’s not a quality, but I’ve had a huge amount of luck, and that must be a part of it.”
“GARY WAS MY IDOL AS A KID… IT’S ALWAYS A PINCH ME KIND OF MOMENT, TO BE DOING A TWO-HANDER WITH SOMEBODY WHO WAS THE REASON YOU WANTED TO BECOME AN ACTOR”
Ruth wears: dress by Laura Pitharas; and earrings and ring by Maya Magal
Over the years, Ruth has also learned the importance of not comparing herself to others. “There’s a huge notion of competition in this career, like you know, who’s doing what, and obviously so many of my contemporaries are my friends… I think I’ve learned that competition doesn’t serve me at all – like I can be in competition with myself, but when I get dragged into discussions that feel judgemental or competitive, I step out, and I’m so much happier as a result. I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned, and that there is space for all the women in this industry. I think probably when I was a kid starting out, the word on the street was that there wasn’t, but there definitely is, and the more I embrace that, the better everything is.
As uncertain as it can be, this is the only job Ruth has ever wanted to do. “I always thought I was an actress, before I really knew what it was; I was always interested in the psychology and the emotion, and performing that, to nobody,” she admits. Unbeknownst to Ruth at that point, her mum had actually been an actor, too. “She had taken a few years out to raise me and my siblings. And she went back to the theatre when I was eight, which was totally unbelievable to me, because I thought I was the actor! It turns out she had been there doing it all the time! And it transpired that I had been in the rehearsal rooms when I was six months old – she took a hiatus when my brother was born, so she had been an actress when I was really small, and I had sat in rehearsal rooms all day, every day. I was speaking to an actress lately who was in one of those shows, and she said that when I was a baby, I just sat there and didn’t make a sound, I just watched. So, I think really, that’s probably why I always wanted to do this, because I had witnessed it when I was preverbal. So, it has always been there, and it’s always been what I wanted to do. There’s never been any other path for me and still isn’t. That’s it, and I’m sure it’s got something to do with my mother.”
As well as her mother, Ruth will always thank that particular theatre company for setting her along the path she is now on. “They were incredible. They are called Passion Machine, and they were huge in Dublin,” she tells me. That early love of the stage remains strong. “I haven’t done any theatre in about six years, but that is absolutely what I’m desperate to do next,” she reveals. “I used to think I wanted to play Lady Macbeth, but now I’m not sure… if it comes my way, definitely. But that’s one of those things that I think, in my 20s, I was like, yeah, but now so many amazing people have done it, and it’s difficult to go into a classical role like that, I think. So, at the moment, I’m interested in doing something either new, like really new writing, or something that’s being staged again that we haven’t seen in a long time.”
Ruth wears: blazer and trousers by Paul Smith; and earrings by Misho
Whether or not that will materialise remains to be seen – it is especially hard to know what the future holds in an industry like acting. Indeed, when it comes to planning ahead, Ruth says that she prefers to take things a day at a time. “I’m all up for change, but I never think beyond kind of this evening!” She laughs. “Where do I see myself in 10 years’ time? Probably just doing what I’m doing and being very grateful for it. And painting a room, probably; trying out a whole new interior design style!”
Is the latter something she particularly loves, I ask. “I really enjoy doing up my home. I love interior design. I’m a serial mover, I move all the time – so, every time I move, I have realised that it is an art form to me,” she admits. “My style has kind of changed with each one I’ve done; it’s like I’m always trying to lean into something different. So, I have done the hygge thing, and at the moment it’s definitely colour drenching maximalism. Every corner has got something going on. Even today, I was like, I might paint that ceiling red, you know. It’s definitely my maximalist era! And the brilliant thing is that you can always restart a room when it is finished! It’s like a big canvas, isn’t it, your home, and so it should be. In an ideal world, you should walk into it, and feel like, oh, this is my soul reflected in here. It’s just kind of getting the time to do it. But I enjoy it, so yeah, it will never be finished.”
Home right now is London, Ruth reveals. “I moved here as a teenager, and during lockdown we left and moved to Sheffield – you know sold up and bought up there and did that whole thing. But I came back two years ago, and essentially started from scratch,” she tells me. “I think leaving made me realise how much I love London. And what do I love about it? I love that you can get any kind of food, at any time of the night. I love that you can just get into town in no time at all, and go to see an incredible play, or walk on the South Bank, or pop into the National Gallery, or visit that gorgeous church in the middle of the Barbican. There is just so much that I love, I could go on all day, but I think London itself is a character that I’m in love with and always will be!” I couldn’t agree more.
