This Is the Only Prestige Drama Promising a ‘Story-Based’ Fart

Thanks to gaseous pioneers such as Mel Brooks, these days it’s not uncommon for characters in comedic movies and TV shows to fart — from South Park’s Terrance and Phillip, to Ed from Shaun of the Dead, to every single interview with Leslie Nielsen (RIP).

But prestige TV dramas, on the other hand, rarely feature fart scenes. Think about it: Don Draper never cut the cheese between pitch meetings in Mad Men, there was absolutely no flatulence in The Wire and, as far as we remember, nobody in Breaking Bad ever broke wind. 

But at least one acclaimed streaming series features a surprising number of farts: Slow Horses.

For those of you who haven’t seen the Apple TV+ spy show, it features Academy Award winner and Tiptoes star Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, the head of MI5’s Slough House, a special unit where the agency sticks screw-ups and rejects. It’s sort of a cross between John le Carré and The Bad News Bears.

To say that Lamb is a slob is putting it mildly; he’s dirty, foul-mouthed, and has emitted more gross smells than every single member of the Klump family. The first time we see the character, he literally farts himself awake from deep sleep.

Lamb’s toots have become so famous that when Oldman appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert earlier this year, he was treated to a clip reel of some of his other famous performances — including in movies like Bram Stoker’s Dracula and The Darkest Hour — but with Lamb-like farts edited into each scene.

With Slow Horses returning for its fifth season next month, showrunner Will Smith (not that one) spoke to Empire Magazine about the show and, specifically, Oldman’s gas issues. “It’s sometimes about knowing when to hold back,” Smith stated, before pointing out that “people think (Jackson Lamb) farts more than he does.” 

Smith went on to reveal that in the upcoming fifth season, Lamb will fart one time, but it is “a weaponized fart. A story-based fart.”

Lamb often uses his disheveled appearance to lower people’s guards, and thus gain the upper hand. So, while we’ll have to wait and see what a “story-based fart” looks like exactly, it’s not a total surprise that the show would find a way to have his bodily functions contribute to the narrative. 

Should this become a trend, perhaps the Television Academy will consider an “Outstanding Fart in a Drama Series” category.