JACKSON LAMB Explained: The Best Character on TV Is a Disguise

Jackson Lamb: “George Smiley if Everything Went Wrong”

The video argues that Jackson Lamb’s farting, insults, and general foulness are a disguise. Beneath them is a brilliant, deeply guilty spy—perhaps best understood as “George Smiley if everything went wrong.”

Lamb and Smiley

The video begins with Gary Oldman’s performance as George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: a quiet, watchful investigator who finds the traitor without running or raising his voice. Oldman was reportedly set to return for Smiley’s People, but the project encountered a rights issue. Le Carré’s sons later chose a different actor for a new Smiley series.

The video sees an irony in Oldman finding another spy to play: Lamb, whom Oldman has described as sharing Smiley’s brain but having taken a darker path. Smiley is an owl; Lamb is a hyena. Even their habit of sitting with their eyes closed suggests a similarity: both are thinking, though Lamb’s colleagues may assume he’s asleep.

The Mistake That Haunts Lamb

In the books, Lamb was an undercover agent in Berlin, working under Charles Partner, who was secretly selling information to the Russians. Lamb let slip the gender of his source, Bogart. The enemy didn’t know which of three women she was, so all three were killed.

The video connects that disclosure to a conversation in season two, when Lamb admits he wishes he could forget the photographs.

Partner was eventually used as a double agent, then murdered. Unlike Smiley, who finds his mole but leaves someone else to kill him, Lamb kills Partner himself in a bathtub and stages the death as suicide. Catherine Standish, Partner’s secretary, finds the body—and for years, Lamb lets her believe Partner killed himself.

A season-one flashback had already shown Lamb’s part in Partner’s death, shortly after a line about Smiley. But the show waited years before bringing the secret back into the open.

The Secret Comes Back

The reveal arrives at David Cartwright’s funeral in season six. Lamb jokes about missing the old man, and Diana Taverner replies that she isn’t Charles Partner and Lamb won’t have to shoot her. Catherine is there to hear it.

The video draws attention to Lamb’s lack of reaction and Catherine’s response. In the next episode, she buys wine and a corkscrew—a worrying choice for someone in recovery. The narrator suggests Diana knew exactly when to use the secret for maximum impact.

Lies, Loyalty, and Protection

The video points to Lamb’s many other lies as evidence of his calculating, protective side. He gives Diana fake files hidden beneath an Angling Times, claims River is dead to protect his cover, and bargains with Diana using information that could make her head of MI5.

His bluntness is funny, but his actions show that he cares intensely about his people. In season three, when Catherine is kidnapped, Lamb threatens a government minister and quotes Churchill’s “tiger” line. The joke is that Oldman won an Oscar for playing Churchill.

Why Lamb Stays at Slough House

The video offers a more sympathetic explanation for Lamb’s decision to stay at Slough House than the idea that he simply wants to run out the clock.

In season five, Lamb tells a story about a tortured agent whose lover and unborn child were killed. Catherine asks whether it happened to him. Later, the show reveals Lamb’s scarred feet. The narrator suggests Lamb may have been a Joe left behind himself, and that Slough House gives him a chance to become the handler Partner should have been: an abrasive guardian who still shows up when his people are in danger.

What Comes Next

The video predicts that season six may give Catherine the full story directly from Lamb, rather than letting her learn it through Diana. Its central question is whether Catherine can forgive him.

Spoiler note: The video includes book spoilers and discusses the show only through season six, episode three.

People and characters discussed: Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), George Smiley, Catherine Standish, Diana Taverner, Charles Partner, David Cartwright, River Cartwright, Mick Herron, Gary Oldman, Will Smith, John le Carré, Stephen Cornwell, Matthew Macfadyen, and Douglas Urbanski.