Gary Oldman has signed up to star in a TV adaptation of Mick Herron's Slough House spy novels.

The series is a real coup for the new Apple streaming service, because it marks the Oscar-winning actor's first ever series regular TV role. In the past, he's only ever starred in TV movies or made the odd guest appearance in shows including Friends.

Titled Slow Horses after the first novel in Herron's Slough House series, the spy drama will take place at the fictional Slough House, a dumping ground for British spies who've made major mistakes in their career. Oldman will star as Jackson Lamb, the talented but tetchy leader of the unwanted spies who've been exiled there, Variety reports.

Will Smith, British comedian and a former writer on Armando Iannucci's acclaimed political sitcoms Veep and The Thick of It, will write and executive produce the series. If it proves successful, there's plenty of scope for multiple seasons: Herron's Slough House series now runs to six novels and two novellas, with another novella due in the New Year.

Oldman previously delved into the spy genre in the 2011 movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, for which he earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Six years later, he won the award for his performance as Sir Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.

Oldman is currently filming Mank, David Fincher's biopic of legendary Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, set during the making of Citizen Kane. His latest movie Mary, a horror drama, opened in October.

Are you looking forward to seeing Gary Oldman in Slow Horses?