If you’ve ever been tempted to take out a subscription to Apple TV now might be a good time to take the streamer for a free test run.
Per an announcement this week, Apple TV+ is free for the first weekend of 2025 (January 3 through January 5 on any device where Apple TV+ is available. All you need is an Apple ID.) meaning you can gorge yourself on any number of prestige dramas you’ve heard about but haven’t had the chance to binge until now.
With so many shows to choose from, it’s going to be impossible to get around to everything, so we’ve made a short list of the streamer’s best offerings, along with details on how many seasons have aired to date to give you the best chance at a more rounded viewing experience.
SEVERANCE
Genre: Psychological thriller with dystopian sci-fi elements
Premise: Mark works for an ominous corporation called Lumon Industries, who appear to have fingers in many pies. The workers at Lumon are all required to undergo a “severance” procedure (via the insertion of a microchip) in which their memories are severed between their work and personal lives in order to protect Lumon’s various IPs.
While at work, Mark and his colleagues have no recollection of their outside lives, and outside of Lumon, no idea what goes on inside the imposing facade.
However, the procedure has made Mark and his fellow employees subject to cruel abuse, coercion and manipulation that cannot be addressed. Season one explores the lengths Mark goes to in order to whistleblow Lumon’s sinister agenda.
Our view: Intriguing, sad and hopeful at turns, original and deeply weird, Season One’s cliffhanger ending is the best we’ve seen on TV in years.
Starring: Adam Scott, Zach Cherry, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Jen Tullock, Dichen Lachman, Michael Chernus, John Turturro, Christopher Walken, and Patricia Arquette.
Season/Episode Count: A 9 episode first season is available. Season 2 drops January 17, 2025.
SLOW HORSES
Genre: British Spy Thriller
Premise: Based on the Slough House novel series by Mick Herron, the TV series, led by Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden, follows the spy missions of a team of MI5 rejects who have been relegated to Slough House for failures in the field of duty.
Passed off and ridiculed as “slow horses” (a play on the word “slough”), the team are led by the unkempt and unapologetic Jackson Lamb, a seemingly uncaring boss who expects them to quit from boredom or frustration.
However Lamb’s appearance and attitude belie an inner shrewdness and moral backbone. Which is handy as the Slow Horses continually find themselves at the centre of major events that threaten not only their already tarnished reputations, but their lives, and the very safety of Britain itself.
Our View: Short seasons make Slow Horses a show you’ll want to keep binging. Episodes are action-packed, clever, well plotted, and filled with dark humor. Its tender moments — few and far between — will catch you off-guard nonetheless, making you realize just how much you love these idiots.
Starring: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, Rosalind Eleazar, Christopher Chung, Samuel West, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Ruth Bradley, Tom Brooke, Joanna Scanlan and Jonathan Pryce.
Season/Episode Count: 4 Seasons are available to stream (Slow Horses, Dead Lions, Real Tigers, and Spook Street) consisting of 6 episodes each. Each season wraps the current storyline in the manner of the books the show is based on. Slow Horses has been renewed for Seasons 5 and 6, which are both set to air in 2025.
SILO
Genre: Dystopian sci-fi/Action Drama
Premise: Another slice of dystopian sci-fi! This one is based on on the Silo trilogy of novels (Wool, Shift, and Dust) by author Hugh Howey, and tells the story of the last ten thousand people on Earth, their mile-deep home protecting them from a toxic and deadly world outside.
The thing is though, nobody quite knows when or why the silo was built and any who try to find out face the fatal punishment of being “sent out to clean.”
Juliette is an engineer who seeks answers about a loved one’s murder but soon tumbles onto a mystery that goes far deeper than she could have ever imagined, leading her to discover that if the lies don’t kill you, the truth will.
Our View: A lot of expense has gone into making Silo’s world feel incredibly real. You may come for Rebecca Ferguson, the various silo factions and their robust personalities, or even the quasi religious-political structures therein, but you’ll surely stay for the deeper mystery: How did these people end up here? And what’s really happening outside?
Starring: Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Robbins, Common, Harriet Walter, Avi Nash, Chinaza Uche, Shane McRae, Remmie Milner, Billy Postlethwaite, Rick Gomez, Clare Perkins, Caitlin Zoz, Tanya Moodie and Iain Glen among the large ensemble cast.
Season/Episode Count: Set to end after Season 4, there are currently 2 seasons available to watch right now. Each consists of 10 episodes. The show has been renewed for Seasons 3 and 4.
DISCLAIMER
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Premise: Another Apple TV show based on a book you say? This one is set around the events occurring in the novel of the same name by Renée Knight. The plot is rather simple: Famous documentary journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchette), finds out she’s a prominent character in a novel that purports to reveal a secret she has tried to keep hidden.
The story is eked out in a non-linear fashion over 7 episodes that alternate between a holiday in Italy where young Catherine’s first meets Jonathan who later dies by drowning, and in London twenty years later where the truth finally emerges.
Our View: We said the plot is simple, but the execution is not. We love a good old-fashioned “unreliable narrator” story and Disclaimer does a great job at presenting two sets of “facts” about Ravenscroft’s past — one from Nancy Brigstocke’s speculative point of view and later from Catherine’s first person experience.
Starring: Cate Blanchette, Lesley Manville, Louis Partridge, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Leila George, Hoyeon, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Indira Varma as the narrator.
Season/Episode Count: As Disclaimer is a one-and-done miniseries, there are only 7 episodes, total.
SUGAR
Genre: Noir Thriller (plus one other secret genre)
Premise: The series stars Colin Farrell as John Sugar, a P.I. who prides himself on discretion and his ability to deliver. Sugar takes on missing person cases — often for the rich and famous. His latest case involves the mysterious disappearance of Olivia Siegel, the beloved granddaughter of legendary Hollywood producer Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell).
As Sugar tries to figure out what happened to Olivia, and why so many of her family members don’t seem to particularly care for answers, he begins to unearth Siegel family secrets; some very recent, and others long-buried.
Our View: Sugar feels pulled from 1950’s cinema, but contains a depth of tone and sensitivity a modern audience can get behind. A shocking genre twist in the show’s final episodes will divide opinion. Personally, we loved it. (Catch our original spoiler-free review Here.)
Starring: Colin Farrell, Kirby, James Cromwell, Amy Ryan, Jason Butler, Anna Gunn, Eric Lange, Dennis Boutsikaris, and Sydney Chandler.
Season/Episode Count: An 8 episode first season solves the case but blows open this world-weary P.I.’s door to new adventures. Just as well because Sugar has been renewed for Season 2.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Nods to For All Mankind (speculative fiction), Ted Lasso (comedy with heart), Foundation (hard sci-fi) and Bad Sisters (dark Irish comedy drama) which are all excellent shows in their own right, but have multiple seasons or grand serialized story arcs under their belts and can’t be easily dipped into over a single weekend. Of course, Apple TV+ would love you to subscribe to the streamer after you’ve binged your way through the weekend’s offerings so you can watch even more TV.
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