Over the past decade, the TV landscape has been revolutionised by streaming. Where once everyone was limited to a handful of channels and had to put up with endless repeats of Last of the Summer Wine, viewers are now faced with a glut of potential streaming services – making it harder than ever to know what to switch on.
Throughout most of the 2010s, Netflix was all but synonymous with the idea of original streaming content. But the past few years have given rise to a number of compelling alternatives, including Disney+, Prime Video, and Apple TV+.
Since its launch in 2019, Apple TV+ has established itself as one of the most reliable emergent streaming services, when it comes to original content. From dramas such as For All Mankind and Pachinko to lighter comic fare like Ted Lasso and Mythic Quest, the streamer has proved that it can more than hold its own against the competition. In 2019, Apple TV+ even became the first streaming service to produce an Oscar Best Picture winner, in the sentimental drama Coda.
And with its television output, Apple has worked with a number of esteemed creatives such as Pablo Larrain and Clio Barnard, as well as some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Anne Hathaway and Harrison Ford.
With dozens of past and ongoing TV series in its catalogue, and many more in the pipeline, Apple TV+’s range of options may still be intimidating for new subscribers.
To help you out, The Independent has assembled a list of the very best shows Apple TV+ has to offer.
Here are 17 of our favourite TV series to watch now on Apple TV+…
Severance
This chilling corporate satire about work/life balance sees staff at a mysterious company, Lumon, get “severed” – slicing their work selves apart from their home selves so that one part of their consciousness never leaves the office and the other part never goes in. Starring Adam Scott and Patricia Arquette, it’s surreal, blackly comic, beautiful and profound. And the season finale was a nailbiting masterpiece. The first series made it onto our list of the best shows of 2022, which you can read in full here. EH
Watch Severance with a seven-day free trial of Apple TV+
Ted Lasso
Jason Sudeikis’s Yank-out-of-water comedy about a belligerently good-natured NFL manager who tries his hand at Premier League football is probably Apple TV+’s most talked about original series. The increasingly indulgent second and third seasons have proved divisive – as have the show’s constant Americanisms and spurious butchering of the beautiful game – but its first season in particular remains a charming, light-hearted endeavour. LC
Watch Ted Lasso with a seven-day free trial of Apple TV+
Pachinko
An ambitious historical epic detailing the lives of four generations of Korean immigrants, Pachinko launched on Apple TV+ in 2021 to universal acclaim. There’s some real talent both behind and in front of the camera: The Terror’s Soo Hugh served as showrunner, while Columbus and After Yang filmmaker Kogonada split directing duties with Justin Chon (Blue Bayou). A second season, currently in development, is likely to be a source of feverish anticipation among fans. LC
Midlife marriage crisis: Gabrielle Dennis and Chris O’Dowd as Cassie and Dusty in ‘The Big Door Prize’
Watch Pachinko with a seven-day free trial of Apple TV+
Bad Sisters
Where Sharon Horgan goes, razor-sharp comedy can usually be found. She was already pretty universally adored for her writing on Catastrophe and Motherland, and then the Garvey girls tore onto the scene in Bad Sisters. It follows four Dublin sisters who are conspiring to murder the horrible husband of the remaining, fifth, sister. Horgan, who also stars in it, is terrific, and Eve Hewson is a revelation as plucky youngest sibling Becka. EH
Watch Bad Sisters with a seven-day free trial of Apple TV+
Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden in ‘Slow Horses’
