Mary McNamara: TV used to bore Kristin Scott Thomas. How 'Slow Horses' changed her mind

Ten years ago, when asked if she had considered following Maggie Smith from "Gosford Park" (in which they both starred) to "Downton Abbey," Kristin Scott Thomas could not have been more clear: She had no interest in television.

"It just goes on and on," she told the Guardian. "I get terribly bored. Series bore me."

Five years later, she mercifully changed her mind.

Not about "Downton Abbey" — "I do not regret anything with a corset" she says now — but about television. First with "Military Wives" and a brief yet spellbinding appearance in "Fleabag," but most importantly with "Slow Horses," in which she plays MI5 second-in-command Diana Taverner alongside Gary Oldman's sidelined but still tricky operative Jackson Lamb.

There are few cinematic experiences as exquisite as watching Scott Thomas face off with Oldman. Or anyone else, for that matter.

And after two years of critical raves, a devoted fan base and oddly muted marketing, "Slow Horses" ended its fourth season on Apple TV+ on Wednesday as the show everyone is talking about. Including Scott Thomas.

"I'm watching it as if I weren't in it," she says during a recent interview over Zoom. "The plots are so complicated and have so many twists and turns, I get completely lost. 'Oh right, I forgot