As Slow Horses season 5 wraps up with its sixth episode Wednesday, Apple TV cues up a second thriller, Down Cemetery Road, in collaboration with novelist Mick Herron. You can watch its first trailer below, or jump right into the first two episodes. The new series stars Academy Award winner Emma Thompson and Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson. It’s based on Herron’s “Zöe Boehm” book series.
Reviews of Down Cemetery Road so far seem thrilled with the show. “If you like Slow Horses, you’ll love conspiracy thriller Down Cemetery Road,” raves Time magazine. It “hits the sweet spot of thrills and odd-couple comedy,” adds AV Club. Critics call Thompson’s performance “magnificent” and “superb,” among other superlatives.
Star-studded cast leads complex conspiracy thriller series Down Cemetery Road on Apple TV
Photo: Apple TV+
July 29, 2025: Apple TV subscribers will have a new thriller with a promising pedigree to add to their watchlist this fall. The streaming service unveiled its first look at Down Cemetery Road, starring Academy Award winner Emma Thompson and Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson. The show marks another collaboration between Apple TV and acclaimed crime novelist Mick Herron, whose work previously brought viewers the Emmy Award-winning spy drama Slow Horses.
Down Cemetery Road is adapted from Herron’s novel of the same name, part of his “Zöe Boehm” book series. It promises to deliver the same intricate plotting and character development that made Slow Horses a critical and audience favorite.
The eight-episode series premieres Wednesday, October 29. The first two episodes stream immediately, followed by weekly releases through December 10.
Watch the Down Cemetery Road trailer
In the new series Down Cemetery Road, Thompson takes on the role of private investigator Zoë Boehm. Wilson plays Sarah Tucker, a neighbor who becomes obsessed with finding a missing girl after a house explosion rocks their quiet Oxford suburb. The unlikely partnership between these two women launches them into what Apple describes as “a complex conspiracy that reveals people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead.”
Thompson, known for her versatility in films like Sense and Sensibility and recent television work, also serves as executive producer on the project. Her involvement signals Apple TV’s continued commitment to attracting top-tier talent both in front of and behind the camera. Wilson, whose previous work includes the BBC’s Luther and HBO’s The Affair, brings her proven ability to portray complex, driven characters to the role of Sarah Tucker.
Creative team brings proven expertise
The series comes from 60Forty Films, with writing duties handled by Morwenna Banks, who previously worked on Slow Horses. Banks’ familiarity with Herron’s work and Apple TV’s production standards should help maintain the quality storytelling that Apple subscribers have come to expect from the platform’s original content.
Executive producers include Thompson, Banks, Herron himself and the 60Forty Films team of Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta and Tom Nash. Natalie Bailey, known for her work on Bay of Fires, serves as lead director, bringing her experience with character-driven thrillers to guide the series’ visual storytelling.
Expanding Apple TV’s thriller catalog
Photo: Apple TV+
Down Cemetery Road joins an impressive lineup of thriller and mystery content on Apple TV, most notably Herron’s Slow Horses, which was recently renewed for a seventh season. The Gary Oldman-led series will return for its fifth season on September 24, 2025, giving Apple subscribers a double dose of the author’s compelling crime narratives.
This strategic expansion of thriller content reflects Apple TV’s broader push to diversify its original programming while maintaining the high production values that have earned the platform critical acclaim and industry recognition. The success of Slow Horses, including its Emmy win, likely influenced the decision to adapt more of Herron’s work.
For Apple TV subscribers, Down Cemetery Road represents another reason to maintain their subscription through the fall season, particularly for fans of British crime drama and character-driven mysteries. The weekly release schedule, rather than a full-season drop, should help maintain subscriber engagement throughout the final months of 2025.
Watch thrillers on Apple TV
You can stream Slow Horses, Down Cemetery Road and other thrillers on Apple TV now. Get it by subscription for $9.99 with a seven-day free trial. You can also get it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle. Customers who buy a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.
After launching in November 2019, “Apple TV became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 580 wins and 2,787 award nominations and counting,” the service said.
More than 200 exclusive movies and TV shows call Apple TV home (including breakout soccer comedy Ted Lasso). The service also offers documentaries, dramas, comedies, kids shows and more.
This post first published on July 29, 2025. We republished it with new information on September 29, 2025 and October 29, 2025.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
