Diana Taverner

MI5's ambitious Second Desk and head of operations.

Diana Taverner is the Deputy Director General of MI5 and its head of operations, known as Second Desk. In the Slow Horses novel she is also called "Lady Di". In the Apple TV+ series she is played by Kristin Scott Thomas.

Lore & Background

In the first story she plants a former Slow Horse, Alan Black, inside the far-right Sons of Albion so that a kidnapping can be foiled as a publicity stunt for the agency. When the journalist Robert Hobden threatens to expose the scheme, she persuades the Slough House officer Jed Moody to go after him, and when the plan falls apart she tries to put the blame on Jackson Lamb. In the series she is promoted to First Desk, Director General of MI5, at the end of series 5.